John Wellwood

Born in Glasgow on 18 December 1853, he was educated at Annfield School in Bridgeton and at the University of Glasgow. Although raised in a United Presbyterian family, he chose the Church of Scotland, later explaining that it offered more room for freedom and breadth of thought.

After early ministry posts at Auchterderran, Glasgow Cathedral, and Campbeltown, he was ordained in 1883 and became minister of the parish of Drainie, where he remained for the rest of his life. Alongside his church work, he wrote poetry, biography, and religious pieces, contributed stories and other writing to magazines, and also took an interest in Liberal politics and musical composition.

He married Isabella Herkless in 1883, and they had seven children. Two of his sons were killed in the war of 1914–1918, and contemporary accounts say that this grief weighed heavily on him in his final years. He died on 7 February 1919, and a posthumous collection, Poems, appeared the following year with a memoir and portrait.