‘Craving Baptism to a child’ in Eighteenth-century Abernethy and Kincardine

This article investigates the registers of baptism for Strathspey’s united parishes of Abernethy and Kincardine during the ministry of Mr William Grant, 1709–64. It focusses on the five years 1740–44 inclusive, so that the baptismal details can be cross-referenced with disciplinary matters in the parallel kirk session minutes. The sacrament of baptism was a crucial part of a child’s entrance into society. Infant baptism was a key interface between the kirk and the community, regularly a time of celebration and for affirming family and neighbourly relationships. The vast majority of parents wanted their children baptised. This gave leverage to the session’s disciplinary processes while it also placed pressure on the Kirk to fulfil parental expectations. Prompt, readily available baptism of infants was a service appreciated by the community and contributed to the acceptance of the established presbyterian polity under the Revolution settlement. The process surrounding infant baptism also helped to mediate the inequality of agency between women and men and to smooth over the irregularities of relationships, provided that panic, fear or anger could be overcome. When the procedure broke down, tragedy and heartbreak could result. The regularity and normality of infant baptism as part of the ministry of William Grant and his elders, the participation of witnesses and sponsors of local social standing, and the almost total reach of this aspect of the Kirk’s ministry across the population of the united parishes all contribute towards a proposal that Presbyterianism was established in this part of the central Highlands in the decades between the Revolution and the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. This establishment, however, can be characterised as a veneer both imposed on and bonding with an enduring Gaelic culture. Further consideration of the Presbyterian establishment in the other parishes of Strathspey is beyond the scope of the current article.