Thomas Martin LindsayFRSE (1843–1914) was aScottish historian, professor and principal of theFree Church College, Glasgow. He wrote chiefly onchurch history, his major works includingLuther and the German Reformation (1900), andA History of the Reformation (1906–1907).
He was born on 18 October 1843 inLesmahagow[1] inLanarkshire, the eldest son of Rev. Alexander Lindsay, and his wife, Susan Irvine Martin. He was educated in Lesmahagow.
Lindsay studied divinity at theUniversity of Glasgow and then at theUniversity of Edinburgh. In 1869 he entered the ministry of theFree Church of Scotland, and in 1872 was appointed Professor of Church History at theFree Church College, Glasgow. He was then living at "Thornliebank" on Ann Street in theHillhead district[2] when he married Anna Dunlop.Anna Lindsay had just been a student in Edinburgh.[3]
Lindsay took up the position of Principal of the College in 1902.[4] He then moved to the more affluent address of 37 Westbourne Gardens inKelvinside,[5] an attractive three-storey and basement Victorian terraced house.
He was a founder member of theGlasgow and West of Scotland Association for Women's Suffrage[6]
Lindsay unsuccessfully supportedWilliam Robertson Smith in a trial forheresy between 1877 and 1881 which resulted in Smith's losing his position at theAberdeen Free Church College.[4]He died in Glasgow on 6 December 1912.[7]
He was a contributor toEncyclopædia Britannica and to theCambridge Modern History.[4]
Lindsay married Anna Dunlop. TheGlasgow Association for the Higher Education of Women was started at the suggestion of Mrs Jean Campbell in 1868.[8] Anna Lindsay was one of its founders. Lindsay's name was said to be synonymous with the women's movement in Scotland.[3] Their children includedAlexander Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker, Professor of Moral Philosophy in theUniversity of Glasgow,Master of Balliol College, andVice-Chancellor of theUniversity of Oxford.[9]
