"What do I see?"
said the Laird of Torfoot. "But one trooper, and the motley
crowd is a rabble - not a troop. The trooper is not of
Claverhouse's, nor does he belong to Douglas, nor to Inglis, nor
in Strachan's dragoons. He waves a small flag. I can discover the
scarlet and blue colour of the Covenanters' flag. Ha. welcome,
John Howie, of Lochgoin, but what news? Lives our country? Lives
our good old cause?"
"Glorious news".
exclaimed Howie, "Scotland for ever! She is free. The tyrant
James has abdicated. The Stuarts are banished by an indignant
nation. Orange triumphs. Our wounds are binding up. Huzza!
Scotland and King William and the Covenant for ever".
The man who brought this
weighty news to Torfoot was the grandfather of John Howie, of
Lochgoin, the famous author of 'Scots Worthies'. The Rev. Robert
Howie, of St Mary's, Govan, was a direct descendant of the famous
old Covenanters who fought and worshipped among the moss haggs of
Lochgoin in the Parish of Fenwick. He first saw the light of day
in the farm of Torlands in Kilwinning Parish, in the month of
February, 1832. Reared at a farm and amongst farmers, he bore
about him the physical imprint of the country, which neither hard
study nor unceasing labour was able to destroy. In the broad
shoulders and ruddy tint, and the big laughing blue eyes, the
clergyman was difficult to recognize; indeed it needed but a suit
of Scotch tweed to transform him into the "beau ideal"
of a Scottish farmer.
Mr Howie received his
early schooling at Irvine Royal Academy, where he took the
Eglinton prize medal in the English department and many minor
prizes. At the age of 16, he matriculated at the old Glasgow
University in High Street and in the following year took honours
in classics and was a prizeman also in logic and mathematics. In
Sir William Thomson's classes he was first prizeman in natural
philosophy in his fourth year, and the following year he won the
Bredalbane scholarship in competition with the M.A.'s who had
distinguished themselves in mathematics and natural philosophy
the previous year. The same year he was first prizeman in civil
engineering under Professor Maquorn Rankins and was one of the
remaining theological students who studied in the old Thistle
Street Academy under Professors Gibson and Fairbairn, before the
establishment of the old Free Church College.
An essay on "The
Unity of God" read about this time by him before Professor
Gibson, caused that very orthodox gentleman to arraign its author
before the Presbytery on a charge of 'Heresy', which, however,
despite the efforts of Drs Begg, Gibson, and the then 'Highland
Contingent' fell to the ground. The incident, however, created
such a rupture that Mr Howie repaired to Edinburgh University,
where he finished his curriculum under Professor Cunningham and
others.
In the year 1859, the
year previous to receiving his license, he started the first
mission in Dreghorn amongst the miners. There was no church or
meeting place of any kind there at the time, but the results of
his mission there can be seen in the lovely churches there are in
the village today. In November, 1860, he was licensed, and the
same month preached the Wynd church vacant on the occasion of Mr
McCall's removal to the new church in Bridgegate, Edinburgh. The
following day, at a special meeting, it was agreed to give Mr
Howie a unamimous call to the vacancy. Notwithstanding that the
same week, Mr Howie had four calls to consider. With
characteristical promptitude, he decided to cast in his lot with
the Wynd congregation as a city missionary. He started off there
with 110 members and three and a half years later his church was
filled to the door, with a membership of 750, the result of hard
work, open-air preaching on the Green and at other public places.
In 1864, he went to Trinity Free Church,
Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, for the erection of which he had
collected himself £6,000, and within the next twelve months the
new church was entirely free of debt. While there, Mr Howie
started a mission on the south side of the city, and raised the
money to purchase what became known as the Cunningham Free Church.
In 1872, with the spirit of the true missionary, he left this
congregation, which was a flourishing congregation with a
membership of 1,100 and full working missionary agencies at work
all around the district, and went to Govan, where he had neither
church nor people, and started a mission in Govan Town Hall,
where, as was characteristic of the man, he built and opened the
fine church of Free St Mary's, at a cost of £10,000. Mr Howie
had a wonderful knack of raising money and gathering people round
about him, and it was true to say that for church extension
schemes within the City of Glasgow he raised upwards of £50,000.
His interest in foreign missions was equally
keen and many young men who went out to assist Dr Stewart at
Livingstonia, were trained under his eye.
But Mr Howie was not a minister of the kid
glove variety. As a preacher he was simple and evangelical in
style, vigorous in his denounciation of many of the departures
from the good old heroes of the early days of the Reformation set
forth by his forbearers the Howies of Lochgoin. The secret of his
success was the secret of all success - hard work. For twenty
years he had, during the summer months, on Sunday and week-day
evenings, regularly conducted open air services at Glasgow Green,
Govan Cross and elsewhere, and everywhere he left behind him the
indelible mark of a dedicated man.
The above article was
printed in 'THE IRVINE HERALD' on 13 Nov 1970.
The Howie Genealogy
Society has been unable to track down the author as all records
at the Irvine Herald offices were destroyed by fire. There are
one or two points which we should add.
1. To our knowledge, at
this moment in time, no definite line of descendancy between John
Howie of Lochgoin and Robert Howie have been proven.
2. Robert Howie was born
on the 4 Feb 1836. The farm Torlands later became Towerlands, and
is now a community centre.
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