Robert Wodrow
Robert Wodrow - A Famous Scottish Historian
Robert Wodrow (1679 - 1734) Robert Wodrow was born, in Glasgow, in 1679, the second son of Mr James Wodrow (Professor of Divinity at Glasgow University) and Margaret Hair. In 1691 Wodrow entered Glasgow University where he studied the usual mix of subjects, including Theology, which he studied under his father. While there he became the University Librarian from 1697 until 1701 which he used to his great advantage studying the ecclesiastical and literary history of Scotland.
In March, 1703, Robert Wodrow was licensed to preach the gospel and in October 1704 he was ordained the minister to Eastwood, a very small parish near Glasgow. In 1708 Wodrow married Margaret Warner daughter of reverend Patrick Warner of Ardeer, Ayrshire, and minister of Irvine.
Although Wodrow recieved calls to Glasgow (1712) and Stirling (1717) he chose to remain at Eastwood where his clerical duties were light which allowed him to devote much time to the collecting historical material relating to the history of the Scottish Church (also grand-daughter of William Guthrie of Fenwick, author of the "Trial of a Saving Interest in Christ,").
Robert Wodrow's main area of interest was the history of the Covenanting and Presbyterian opposition in the Church of Scotland in the years between the Restoration and the Revolution. His "History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland" (2 vols 1721-2) was the result of many hours work in searching through the national archives held at Laich Parliament House.
Robert Wodrow died on the 21st March 1734 after a period of some eight years of illness.
Wodrow's History remains an important work due to it containing important transcripts of original material. After his death some of his other works were published by historical clubs. Wodrow had written a large number of 'lives' of Scottish divines of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and his "Analecta" (a work relating to the eighteenth century) was published in 1842-43 by the Maitland Club.
The Wodrow Society published 3 volumes of Robert Wodrow's Correspondence in 1843 and the Scottish History Society published more in 1937. However there still remains a mass of unpublished manuscripts of Wodrow's which are held in the National Library of Scotland.
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