19th August 1646

Founder of the Reformed Church in Scotland dies

Alexander Henderson was born in Fife, educated at St Andrew’s University and appointed rector of the University of Edinburgh. He drafted the National Covenant, which maintained that the king didn’t have ultimate power over the church, as the church was answerable only to God.

It wasn’t stated as baldly as this, though, with the wording indicateing that the king had the church authorities’ support, so long as he agreed that he had no authority over the church.

 

 

Other events that occured in August

  • 01

    The Tay Road Bridge opens to traffic
    The 2.25km Tay Road Bridge, linking Dundee and Newport-on-Tay, was designed by William Fairhurst and carries the A92 across the Firth of Tay.

  • 02

    Birth of “the general” Flora Drummond
    Flora Drummond, who led marches on horseback, was a key player in the campaign to give women the vote and for women’s rights in general.

  • 03

    Engineer Thomas Telford is born
    Thomas Telford was born in Dumfriesshire and became one of Britain’s most important engineers. Telford, in Shropshire, is named in his honour.

  • 04

    St Kilda is abandoned
    By 1930, the population of St Kilda had been reduced to the point where living on the island was no longer sustainable.