Leechman, William; Stirling, Robert

William Leechman was born in 1706 at Dolphinton, Lanarkshire. He was educated at the local school until the Baillie family - in gratitude for the cutting down of the executed body of Baillie of Jerviswood (d. 1684) by Leechman's father - helped him to attend Edinburgh University and the study of Divinity. He graduated in 1724. He then became a tutor to James Geddes (died circa 1748) and to William Mure of Caldwell, Ayrshire. Leechman was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Paisley in 1731 and he was ordained Minister of Beith in 1736. In 1743 he was elected Professor of Divinty at Glasgow University. In 1744 the Presbytery of Glasgow accused him of making heretical statements in a sermon On the nature, reasonableness, and advantages of prayer (1743). In 1757, Leechman was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and in 1761 he was appointed Principal of Glasgow University. William Leechman died on 3 December 1785.

From the guide to the Lectures of William Leechman (1706-1785), 1761-1770, (Edinburgh University Library)