David Octavius Hill’s painting of the Disruption, featuring figures including Sir James Young Simpson and James Beaumont Neilson
In 1843, the church of Scotland was still a powerful and influential voice in the nation. Yet in that very year it was crippled as a third of its ministers and elders left to form the free church of Scotland. This spectacular rift is known as the Great Disruption, but nowadays barely anyone outside Scotland (and few within) has even heard of it. The 175th anniversary of the event passed with little recognition. Most people, on hearing that it was some form of church dispute, immediately lose interest. Which is a shame, because the Disruption was an affair of honour for those who left the national kirk, a decision based to a great extent on social justice and deeply-held principle. And some of those who left were remarkable figures, now recognised as pioneers in photography, industry and science, their links to the free kirk generally unknown.
It has been said that ‘there’s nae quarrel like a Kirk quarrel’ and the history of reformed churches in Scotland is far from a glowing record of christian unity, with splits and secessions of such frequency and complexity that even the experts’ heads spin. However, there’s something different about the Disruption. To understand it, we have to delve a little into the background of the Scottish church.
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