WITH a poignancy of timing the Very Rev Dr James Leslie Weatherhead, former Moderator and Principal Clerk of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, died in the early morning of Saturday May 20, a few hours before the 2017 General Assembly was appointed to meet.
Born in Dundee in 1931 he was educated at the city’s High School before proceeding to Edinburgh University. There he graduated in arts and law and served as senior president of the Students’ Representative Council. National service in the Royal Navy followed, including active service on HMS Eagle during the Suez Campaign of 1955-56. Thereafter he returned to Edinburgh University to study divinity at New College during which time he was elected president of the Students’ Union.