Introduction

When — in the famous Disruption of the Church of Scotland, in 1843 — Thomas Chalmers and his evangelical supporters walked out of the General Assembly to form their own breakaway organization, their most pressing task was to raise money. Over a third of its ministers and up to half of its lay members declared allegiance to the new body, which, although not an established church, had high hopes of fulfilling the same role: a national church that would care for the spiritual and educational needs of the whole population. While the voluntary and dissenting churches could support themselves from the contributions of their congregations, they were only viable in the wealthier areas of the towns. In working-class districts and in the country, a church required additional sources of income. For the Free Church of Scotland, with no church or school buildings to call its own, the financial problem was acute.

A huge fund-raising programme was set in motion, at home and abroad. Representatives were dispatched to England and Ireland the same summer, and, later in the year, a deputation set sail for North America, where they reaped the benefit of long-standing links with the Presbyterians there. Reporting back on the visit to the Assembly of 1844, Dr Cunningham estimated that £3,000 had been raised in the United States before the deputation left and £6,000 since, with a few thousand perhaps still to come.