CHAPTER LXIV 



CHAPLAINS. 



The Rev. John Tough, D.D., minister of the Chapel of 

 Ease, St Cuthberts, and the Rev. Joseph Robertson 

 M'Gregor, minister of the Gaelic Church, were both original 

 constituent members of the Society, and were nominated 

 Chaplains at the first meeting for electing office-bearers in 

 1784. The office of chaplain appears to have lapsed for 

 some years previous to the appointment of the Very Rev. 

 Principal Baird. Mr M'Gregor died on 12th January 1801, 

 and Dr Tough on 29th October 1820. 



I. The Rev. Dr George Husband Baird, D.D. — 

 Principal Baird was elected Chaplain to the Society in 

 1807, and acted as such till his death in 1840, a period of 

 thirty-three years. His courteous and amiable manners, 

 and — in his public appearances as an officer of the Society 

 — his careful abstinence from any observation which could 

 give cause of offence to any member (a circumstance highly 

 important in reference to an institution composed of men 

 of all parties and opinions), secured to him the respect of 

 every member of the Society ; and the Directors ordered 

 the expression of the high respect and estimation in which 

 their Chaplain had been held by them to be recorded in the 

 minutes, with their sincere regret for the loss of so estimable 

 an officer. 



Principal Baird was a native of Perthshire, and was, 

 in 1787, ordained minister of Dunkeld. In 1792, he was 

 appointed minister of New Greyfriars, Edinburgh, and 

 during the same year he was elected Professor of Oriental 

 Languages in the University of Edinburgh. On the death 

 of Principal Robertson in 1793, he was placed at the head 

 of the Edinburgh University. In 1799, he was translated 

 from New Greyfriars to the collegiate charge of New North. 



