convener of the Free Church Foreign Mission Committee
In office 1848–1862
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William King Tweedie by Hill & AdamsonRelief of TweedieFormer Tolbooth Church, Castlehill, EdinburghThe grave of Rev William King Tweedie, Grange Cemetery
He was born in Ayr on 8 May 1803 to John Tweedie and Janet King. His parents moved to Buenos Aires in South America while William was young and he was left in the care of an aunt in Maybole. He never saw his parents again, and was effectively abandoned.[5]
He was ordained as minister of the Scots Church at London Wall in 1832.[7] In 1836, Tweedie was appointed minister of Aberdeen South Parish[8] and later in 1842, the Tolbooth Church in Edinburgh, replacing Rev. Thomas Randall Davidson. The Tolbooth Church, designed by James Gillespie Graham and Pugin, had recently been completed. He left the established church in the Disruption of 1843 and was thereafter a minister of the Free Church of Scotland.[9]
Leaving with a large portion of the Tolbooth parish congregation, they purchased the pre-existing Secession Church on Infirmary Street.[10] He lived at 50 George Square, Edinburgh.[11]
From 1848 to 1862, he was Convenor of the Foreign Mission Committee of the Free Church. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity by St Andrews University in 1852.[6]
He moved to 3 Fingal Place in the Grange around 1845[12] but returned to George Square in later life.[8]
The church sold the Infirmary Street church in 1851 and used temporary accommodation until a new church was built circa 1855: a very modest hall on the rear garden of an unfinished Georgian house on the north side of St Andrew Square.[13]
On 11 May 1835, he married Margaret Bell (1803-3 March 1885) in London. She was daughter of Hugh Bell, of Old Garphar, Straiton, Ayrshire, and had five children.[6]
Their children included:
Major General William Tweedie of Lettrick (31 October 1836 - 18 September 1914). Major-General, C.S.I., served in Indian Mutiny Sepoy mutiny, held numerous military and political appointments in India, Political Resident in Turkish Arabia, and H.M. Consul-General at Baghdad.
John Tweedie (1838-1897) of the Bengal Civil Service born 30 July 1838 - died 3 May 1897
