THOMAS CHALMERS
17th March 1780 - 20th May 1847

The staute of Thomas Chalmers stands at the junction of George Street and Castle Street. Born in Anstruther, Fife, Chalmers was the founder of the the Free Church of Scotland. He was educated at St. Andrews University where he was ordained as a minister in 1799 at just nineteen years old.

He furthered his studies at the University of Edinburgh for two years before returning to St. Andrews to lecture as an assistant to the mathematics tutor whilst also preaching at Kilmany. He then went on to preach at the Tron Church in Glasgow where he argued for new churches in the city. Then later to St. John's once it was established by the town council in 1819.

Returning to St. Andrews in 1823 he became a popular professor of Moral Philosophy. He was also a prolific writer on issues of social welfare. In 1828 he became professor of divinity at the University of Edinburgh and in 1832 moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. His stance against patronage caused distruption in the church and in 1843 he bacame the first moderator of the Free Church of Scotland on the mound.

When he died in 1847 thousands of people lined the streets of Edinburgh to watch his funeral procession from Charlotte Square past his house in Churchill and onto Grange Cementery where he is buried.