author

John Cairns

1857–1922

A Scottish minister who also made his mark as a biographer, he wrote with a strong sense of church history and character. His best-known book, Principal Cairns, turns family connection into a lively portrait of one of Scotland’s notable religious thinkers.

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Principal Cairns

Principal Cairns

by John Cairns

About the author

Born in Stichill, Roxburghshire, on April 13, 1857, he was the son of the Rev. David Cairns and Elizabeth Williamson Smith. He studied at Edrom Parish School, the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated M.A. in 1878, and later trained for the ministry at United Presbyterian College in Edinburgh and at Leipzig University.

His working life was rooted in the church. After early assistant posts in Dumbarton and Dumfries, he was ordained in 1884 as minister at Buccleuch Street in Dumfries, where he served for decades before retiring in April 1922. He also held important committee roles in the United Free Church, including work connected with colonial and continental missions.

As a writer, he is remembered chiefly for Principal Cairns (1903), a biography of his uncle John Cairns written for the "Famous Scots Series." He also published Our Continental Mission Field and its Historic Background in 1921. He died in Edinburgh on May 13, 1922.