Lauchlan MacLean WattFRSE (24 October 1867 – 11 September 1957) was theminister ofGlasgow Cathedral from 1923–34, and theModerator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1933. He was a published poet and author, and a literary critic.
Maclean Watt was born on 24 October 1867 atGrantown-on-Spey, Morayshire, the only son of Margaret Gillanders MacLean fromSkye, and her husband Andrew MacLean Watt.[1]
He studied for a general degree atUniversity of Edinburgh graduating with an MA in 1894. He then went on to study divinity, graduating with a BD in 1897.
He was ordained as minister ofTurriff in 1897. In 1901 he was translated to the joint parishes ofAlloa andTullibody. In 1911 he moved to the prestigiousSt Stephen's Church, Edinburgh. Soon after arrival he was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers wereRev Thomas Burns,Norman Macleod,George Chrystal andArthur Pillans Laurie.[2]
In 1907 he accompanied theKing of Denmark toIceland as a correspondent forThe Times,The Scotsman andThe Manchester Guardian. During theWorld War I he was a chaplain with theGordon Highlanders in the 7th Division. He was sent by the Government as Commissioner to the US andCanada in 1918 to clarify UK war aims.[1]
In 1923 he moved to High Kirk ofGlasgow, better known asGlasgow Cathedral (1923–34).
He was Turnbull Trust preacher at The Scots' Church in Melbourne in 1932. TheUniversity of Glasgow awarded him an honorary doctorate (LLD) in 1933 for his publications.
In 1933 he was electedModerator of the General Assembly of theChurch of Scotland, in succession toVery Rev Hugh ross Mackintosh, the highest position in his church. On completion of this duty in the summer of 1934 he retired aged 67. He was succeeded as Moderator by RevPeter Donald Thomson.
He died atLochcarron on 11 September 1957 and is buried in the Lochcarron Burial Ground at the east end of theLochcarron Old Parish Church.
He was a prolific author in prose and verse, on folk-lore, history and antiquities, especiallyCeltic andGaelic as well as aspects of religion, literature and the life of a soldier, and gave the Warrack Lectures and McNeil-Frazer Lectures on preaching in 1930.
A number of his poems and books are war-related.[3]
In June 1897 he married Jenny (or Jeannie) Hall Reid. They had one son, Hector MacLean Watt (b.1900).
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