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Burns, Thomas
Full NameBURNS, Rev Dr Thomas, D.D. (Edin)
Date of Birth10 April 1796Date of Death23 January 1871Biography
He was the son of Gilbert Burns, and nephew of Robert Burns the poet (who was brother
of Gilbert). He entered the Edinburgh University in 1812 to study for ministry under the Church of Scotland; while there he was tutor in the family of Sir John Dalrymple in Berwickshire.
Licensed by the Presbytery of Haddington (Church of Scotland) in 1823
Received from Sir John the presentation of the Parish of Ballantrae, where he was ordained in 1826, serving there for four years.
Served at Monckton in Ayrshire from 1830; he was still at Monckton when the Disruption occurred in 1843, and he was one of those who ‘came out’.
He sacrificed his salary of £400 and threw in his lot with the Free Church of Scotland.
As a minister of the Free Church his people adhered to him and his principles. He was still at Monckton as Minister of the Free Church for two more years; he established Free Churches in various parishes where the Minister had remained in the Church of Scotland, and many members ‘came out’.
In 1843 he became interested in the scheme to establish a Free Church settlement in Otago New Zealand. This scheme was adopted by the Free Church General Assembly, and six months later he accepted the post of Minister to the settlers going to 'New Edinburgh.'
The scheme was temporarily suspended but Burns advocated for it widely. In 1846 he accepted the charge of Portobello (Edinburgh) as he could not afford to be without salary any longer. He was in Portobello for 18 months, and then sailed in the ‘Philip Laing’ for Otago on 27 November 1847, with James Blackie, the first teacher for the new settlement, and over two hundred passengers.
They arrived at Dunedin on Saturday 15 April 1848 and Rev Burns held the first service the next day in wooden barracks occupied by passengers from the 'John Wycliffe' which had arrived shortly before. The First Church was opened on 3 September 1848; the first Communion on 14 January 1849 with the Fast Day services the preceding Thursday. After the arrival of the Rev William Bannerman and the Rev William Will the first Presbytery of Otago was inaugurated on 27 June 1854 with Rev Burns as Moderator. For the 6 years before Bannerman and Will arrived,Rev Burns alone had travelled through Otago wherever Presbyterians were to be found to minister to them. Where Church and state were so close, a Minister was constantly called on to settle social, economic, and even sometimes political issues.
His labours and success in his ministry were marked by the award of an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Edinburgh University conferred upon him on 2 November 1860, one of the first to be conferred on a Free Church Minister.
When Otago University was established in 1869, he was elected to be its first Chancellor on 10 November 1869, but he did not live to see the inaugural ceremony. He was present at the laying of the foundation stone of the present First Church in Moray Place but died before the church was opened. A memorial to him was placed in the front porch of the Church.
‘And there was genuine sorrow in the land.’
Date of Birth10 April 1796Date of Death23 January 1871Biography- born 10 April 1796 Mossgiel, Ayrshire, Scotland
- married 1830 Clementina GRANT, died 1878 (Refer separate entry under Burns)
- died 23 January 1871 and interred in the Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.
He was the son of Gilbert Burns, and nephew of Robert Burns the poet (who was brother
of Gilbert). He entered the Edinburgh University in 1812 to study for ministry under the Church of Scotland; while there he was tutor in the family of Sir John Dalrymple in Berwickshire.
Licensed by the Presbytery of Haddington (Church of Scotland) in 1823
Received from Sir John the presentation of the Parish of Ballantrae, where he was ordained in 1826, serving there for four years.
Served at Monckton in Ayrshire from 1830; he was still at Monckton when the Disruption occurred in 1843, and he was one of those who ‘came out’.
He sacrificed his salary of £400 and threw in his lot with the Free Church of Scotland.
As a minister of the Free Church his people adhered to him and his principles. He was still at Monckton as Minister of the Free Church for two more years; he established Free Churches in various parishes where the Minister had remained in the Church of Scotland, and many members ‘came out’.
In 1843 he became interested in the scheme to establish a Free Church settlement in Otago New Zealand. This scheme was adopted by the Free Church General Assembly, and six months later he accepted the post of Minister to the settlers going to 'New Edinburgh.'
The scheme was temporarily suspended but Burns advocated for it widely. In 1846 he accepted the charge of Portobello (Edinburgh) as he could not afford to be without salary any longer. He was in Portobello for 18 months, and then sailed in the ‘Philip Laing’ for Otago on 27 November 1847, with James Blackie, the first teacher for the new settlement, and over two hundred passengers.
They arrived at Dunedin on Saturday 15 April 1848 and Rev Burns held the first service the next day in wooden barracks occupied by passengers from the 'John Wycliffe' which had arrived shortly before. The First Church was opened on 3 September 1848; the first Communion on 14 January 1849 with the Fast Day services the preceding Thursday. After the arrival of the Rev William Bannerman and the Rev William Will the first Presbytery of Otago was inaugurated on 27 June 1854 with Rev Burns as Moderator. For the 6 years before Bannerman and Will arrived,Rev Burns alone had travelled through Otago wherever Presbyterians were to be found to minister to them. Where Church and state were so close, a Minister was constantly called on to settle social, economic, and even sometimes political issues.
His labours and success in his ministry were marked by the award of an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Edinburgh University conferred upon him on 2 November 1860, one of the first to be conferred on a Free Church Minister.
When Otago University was established in 1869, he was elected to be its first Chancellor on 10 November 1869, but he did not live to see the inaugural ceremony. He was present at the laying of the foundation stone of the present First Church in Moray Place but died before the church was opened. A memorial to him was placed in the front porch of the Church.
‘And there was genuine sorrow in the land.’
P-A132.2-2
Relates to
Recollect CollectionPeopleOtago/Southland
Otago/SouthlandBurns, Thomas. Presbyterian Research Centre, accessed 19/04/2025, https://pcanzarchives.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/112660
