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Famous Scots - James Barr Rev

Rev James Barr (1862 – 1949) was a British Labour Party politician and a noted pacifist and socialist. He was also a strong supporter of home rule for Sctland a minimum wage and the Temperance movement

Barr was Member of Parliament (MP) for Moherwell, from 1924 to 1931 and then for Coatbridg from 1935 to 1945.

He was Chairman of the Select Committee on Capital Punishment, 1929 - 1930 which reported at the end of the latter year.

In 1930-1931 he was Chairman of the Liaison Committee, as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party was then known at any time when the party was in government.

A Presbyterian minister, Barr strongly opposed any link between Church and State; in his view, the Church must support and maintain itself on an entirely voluntary basis.

For this reason, he was a prominent member of the United Free Church of Scotland and he led the opposition to that group's reunion with the Church of Scotland in 1929; he and those of like mind did not participate in the re-union and continued as the United Free Church of Scotland, which is still in existence.

His maiden speech as an MP was an attack on the Church of Scotland   (Property and Endowments ) Act 1925 and lasted just under an hour and a half. 

As its early days were preoccupied with the aftermath of union, so its later days were with the coming union with the Church of Scotland  . The Church of Scotland (Eaglais na h-Alba known informally by its Scots language name The Kirk, is the National church of Scotland. The problem was the CofS's position as an established church conflicted with the Voluntaryism of the UFC. An established church is a church officially sanctioned and supported by the government of a country e Voluntaryism is a Philosophy that opposes anything that it sees as unjustifiably invasive and Coercive. Discussions began in 1909, but were complex.

The main hurdles were overcome by two parliamentary statutes, firstly the Church of Scotland   Act 1921, which recognised the CofS's independence in spiritual matters (a right asserted by its Articles Declaratory of 1919). The Church of Scotland Act 1921 is an Act of the British Parliament, passed in 1921 The Articles Declaratory of the Constitution of the Church of Scotland – often known as the Declaratory Articles - were drawn up early in the 20th century to facilitate the The second was the Church of Scotland (Properties and Endowments) Act 1925, which transferred the secular endowment of the church to a new body called the General Trustees. These measures satisfied the majority of the UFC that the Church-state entanglement of the CofS, which had been the cause of the Disruption of 1843 had at last ended. The Disruption of 1843 was a Schism within the established Church of Scotland, in which 450 ministers of the Church broke away over the issue of the Church's

In 1929  the merger with theChurch of Scotland  largely reversed the Disruption of 1843   and reunited much of Scottish Presbyterianism. Year 1929 ( MCMXXIX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Church of Scotland (Eaglais na h-Alba known informally by its Scots language name The Kirk, is the National church of Scotland. The Disruption of 1843 was a Schism within the established Church of Scotland, in which 450 ministers of the Church broke away over the issue of the Church's However, once more a relatively small minority stayed out of the union, and retained the name of U. F. Church.

 

The continuing UFC, 1929-

Voluntaryism led some to oppose the union (the United Free Church Association, led by James Barr  - minister of Govan and Labour MP for Motherwell. Rev James Barr (1862 &ndash 1949 was a British Labour Party politician and a noted Pacifist and Socialist. Govan ( Scottish Gaelic: Baile a' Ghobhainn) is a district and former Burgh in the southwestern part of the City of Glasgow, Motherwell ( Tobar na Màthar in Gaelic) and ( Motherwill in local Scots - local people tend not to pronouce the 'e' in Motherwell is a large Town When it came, 14,000 UFC members remained outside, calling themselves the United Free Church Continuing (the 'continuing' was dropped in 1934). An agreement between the parties avoided the property disputes of the 1900 union.

The ongoing UFC continues in the 'liberal Evangelicalism' tradition. It was the first Scottish Presbyterian church to ordain a female minister (1935), and elected the same Elizabeth Barr moderator in 1960. The modern UFC is involved in the ecumenical movement in Scotland, and has, at present around 75 congregations in three Presbyteries.

The three Presbyteries are: the East which meets in Bo'ness and covers central Scotland, South Fife and the Lothians; the West which meets in Glasgow and covers Strathclyde and Lochaber; and the North meeting in Aberdeen and Perth covering Tayside, The Highlands, Grampian and the Northern Isles.

The General Assembly meets annually the first week in June alternately in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth.  

 

 

 

 

Headstone Photograph


Further Information

Title: REV

Firstname: JAMES

LastName: BARR

Date of Death: 24th Feb 1949

Age at Death: 86

Cemetery: Fenwick

  Skernieland Road

Town: Fenwick

PostCode: KA3 6EQ

Region: Ayrshire and Arran

Country: Scotland

 

Please Note, the marker on this map indicates the Cemetery location, not the location of a particular grave.


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