Robert Haldane
Encyclopedia
Biography
Haldane was born in London, the son of James Haldane 2nd of Airthrey HouseAirthrey Castle
Airthrey Castle is a historic building and estate which now forms part of the buildings and grounds of the University of Stirling in central Scotland....
, and his wife Katherine Duncan. His younger brother James Alexander Haldane was also a clergyman. Robert and James attended classes at Dundee Grammar School, the Royal High School
Royal High School (Edinburgh)
The Royal High School of Edinburgh is a co-educational state school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland, and has, throughout its history, been high achieving, consistently attaining well above average exam results...
in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, and the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
.
In 1780 Robert joined HMS Monarch
HMS Monarch (1765)
HMS Monarch was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 20 July 1765 at Deptford Dockyard.Monarch had a very active career, fighting in her first battle in 1778 at the First Battle of Ushant and her second under Admiral Rodney at Cape St. Vincent in 1780...
of which his maternal uncle, Adam Duncan, was in command. In the following year he was transferred to HMS Foudroyant
HMS Foudroyant (1758)
The Foudroyant was a 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was later captured and served in the Royal Navy as the Third Rate HMS Foudroyant.-French Navy and capture:...
. He was on HMS Foudroyant under John Jervis
John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent
Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent GCB, PC was an admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom...
during the night engagement
Action of 20-21 April 1782
The Action of 20–21 April was a naval battle fought during the American War of Independence, between a French fleet of three ships of the line protecting a convoy and two British ships of the line off Ushant, a French island at the mouth of the English Channel off the north-westernmost point of...
in April 1782 with the French ship Pegase
French ship Pegase (1781)
The Pégase was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class, launched in 1781.She was captured by the Captain John Jervis on 21 April 1782 in HMS Foudroyant, Jervis was invested as a Knight of the Bath for the capture....
and greatly distinguished himself. Haldane was afterwards present at the relief of Gibraltar in September 1782. Some months later after the peace treaty of 1783
Treaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...
he left the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
.
Soon after leaving the Navy, he settled on his estate of Airthrey, near Stirling
Stirling
Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...
. After selling Airthrey House in 1798 to Robert Abercromby
Robert Abercromby of Airthrey
General Sir Robert Abercromby GCB , the youngest brother of Sir Ralph Abercromby, was a general in the army, a knight of the Bath, and at one period the governor of Bombay and commander-in-chief of the British forces in India.-Military career:...
to obtain funding for his mission work, he bought a home at Auchengray
Auchengray
Auchengray is a small village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.It has a small church whose architect was Frederick Thomas Pilkington , the ground given by George Robertson Chaplin of Colliston House, Arbroath, the uncle of David Souter Robertson of Lawhead House nearby. The church has two stained...
, Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire or the County of Lanark ) is a Lieutenancy area, registration county and former local government county in the central Lowlands of Scotland...
in 1809.
Family
Robert Haldane, 3rd of Airthrey married Catherine Cochrane Oswald, daughter of George Oswald of Scotstown, on 24 April 1785. They were married for 58 years. Robert died on , Catherine six months afterward.They had one daughter, Margaret Haldane, who married James Farquhar Gordon in 1805. Margaret died on 29 September 1849.
Evangelism
His tutor was David BogueDavid Bogue
David Bogue was a British nonconformist leader.-Life:He was born in the parish of Coldingham, Berwickshire, Scotland. After a course of study in Edinburgh, he was licensed to preach by the Church of Scotland, but made his way to London in 1771, to teach in schools at Edmonton, Hampstead and...
of Gosport
Gosport
Gosport is a town, district and borough situated on the south coast of England, within the county of Hampshire. It has approximately 80,000 permanent residents with a further 5,000-10,000 during the summer months...
. The earlier phases of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
excited a sympathy which induced him to avow his strong disapproval of the war with France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. As his over-optimistic visions of a new order of things to be ushered in by political change disappeared, he began to direct his thoughts to religious subjects. Resolving to devote himself and his means wholly to the advancement of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, his first proposal for that end, made in 1796, was to organize a vast mission to Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
, of which he was to provide the entire expense; with this view the greater part of his estate was sold, but the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
refused to sanction the scheme, which therefore had to be abandoned.
In 1797 Haldane sold his castle, left the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
and travelled around Scotland preaching. In December of that year he joined his brother and some others in the formation of the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel at Home," in building chapels or "tabernacles" for congregations, in supporting missionaries, and in maintaining institutions for the education of young men to carry on the work of evangelization. He is said to have spent more than £70,000 in the course of the following twelve years (1798-1810). He also initiated a plan for evangelizing Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
by bringing over native children to be trained as Christian missionaries.
In 1816 Robert Haldane visited the continent, first at Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
and afterwards in Montauban
Montauban
Montauban is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse....
. He lectured and interviewed large numbers of theological students with remarkable effect; among them were César Malan
César Malan
Henri Abraham César Malan was a French-speaking Protestant Christian, minister of the gospel and hymn-writer.-Life:...
, Frédéric Monod
Frédéric Monod
Frédéric Monod was a French Protestant pastor.The brother of Adolphe Monod, he was greatly influenced by Robert Haldane. Along with Count Gasparin, Monod founded the Union of the Evangelical Churches of France; his son, Théodore, followed in his footsteps.Naturalist and explorer Théodore André...
and Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné
Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné
Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné was a Swiss Protestant minister and historian of the Reformation.He was born at Eaux Vives, a neighbourhood of Geneva. A street in the area is named after him. The ancestors of his father Robert Merle d'Aubigné , were French Protestant refugees...
. This circle of men spread the revival of evangelical Protestant Christianity across the continent of Europe (Le Réveil), impacting France, Germany (Die Erweckung) and the Netherlands (Het Reveil). Through conversion and missionary impetus the effects of this revival were felt as far afield as Italy and Hungary.
Returning to Scotland in 1819, Haldane lived partly on his estate of Auchengray
Auchengray
Auchengray is a small village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.It has a small church whose architect was Frederick Thomas Pilkington , the ground given by George Robertson Chaplin of Colliston House, Arbroath, the uncle of David Souter Robertson of Lawhead House nearby. The church has two stained...
and partly in Edinburgh, and like his brother took an active part, chiefly through the press, in many of the religious controversies of the time.
In 1816 he published a work on the Evidences and Authority of Divine Revelation, and in 1819 the substance of his theological prelections in a Commentaire sur l'Epitre aux Romains. Among his later writings, besides numerous pamphlets on what was known as "the Apocrypha controversy," are a treatise On the Inspiration of Scripture (1828), which passed through many editions, and a later Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans (1835), which has been frequently reprinted, and has been translated into French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
.