The Last Presentees in the Church of Scotland

This paper examines the final phase of ministerial patronage in the Church of Scotland through the presentations and long ministries of three men: James Murray of Kilmacolm, William Straton Bruce of Banff and James Bonallo of Auldearn. All three men were presented shortly before patronage's abolition in 1874 and served in the same charges into the 1920s. Setting their careers against the earlier ‘Ten Years Conflict’ and a contested Kilmacolm presentation of the 1850s, the article explores how patronage was managed and perceived in its twilight years, the ministers' engagement with agricultural depression and rural welfare, wartime chaplaincy, and the lingering financial legacy of patronage compensation after 1874.