George Gillespie

Born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on January 21, 1613, George Gillespie was the son of a parish minister and studied at the University of St Andrews. He entered church life during one of the most heated religious struggles in 17th-century Britain and quickly gained attention as a gifted writer and debater.

His 1637 book A Dispute Against the English Popish Ceremonies Obtruded Upon the Church of Scotland made him an important defender of Presbyterian church government and an outspoken critic of state control over the church. Ordained in 1638, he soon took part in major church assemblies, later moved to Edinburgh, and helped frame the Solemn League and Covenant.

Gillespie was one of the Scottish ministers sent to the Westminster Assembly in 1643, where he contributed to debates on worship and doctrine and is associated with the work that produced the Westminster Confession of Faith. In 1648 he was elected moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, but he died that same year, on December 17, in his hometown of Kirkcaldy.