Stevenson was born in
Port Glasgow on 19 January 1765 the son of Thomas Macgill, a shipbuilder on the
River Clyde. His mother, Frances Welsh, daughter of George Welsh, esq., of Lochharet in
East Lothian, may have been a descendant of the
John Welch, son-in-law of
John Knox. Macgill was educated in the parish school at Port Glasgow and
Glasgow University, which he entered at the age of ten and took the nine years' course, gaining many distinctions in classics and theology.[3]
Ministry and early writing
After acting as a private tutor to the Earl of Buchan, among others, he was licensed to preach by the Paisley presbytery in 1790, and in the following year was presented to the parish of
Eastwood, Renfrewshire where he worked from 1791 to 1797.[4] He also received an offer of the chair of civil history in the
united colleges of St. Salvator and St. Leonard at
St. Andrews, together with a small country living, but conscientious scruples prevented his accepting any plurality. In 1790 he contributed the ‘Student's Dream’ anonymously to ‘Macnab's Collection,’ and in 1792 published a tract against the French revolution called ‘The Spirit of the Times.’ In 1797 he was translated to the
Tron Church, Glasgow, and the ‘dearth’ which occurred soon afterwards gave abundant scope for his parochial energies. On 23 August 1803 he received the degree of D.D. from the university and
Marischal College, Aberdeen. He bestowed considerable attention on the prisons, infirmary, and lunatic asylum, and in 1809 published his ‘Thoughts on Prisons,’ advocating extensive reforms, which were not, however, adopted when the Glasgow prison was built. He insisted upon further church accommodation, urging that lack of it encouraged the growth of dissent, and started an association for mutual instruction in literature and theology, before which he read a series of essays, afterwards published as ‘Letters addressed to a Young Clergyman,’ 1809. A second edition, enlarged and dedicated to
Hannah More, was issued in 1820.[3]
University professor
In 1814 he was elected to the chair of theology in the university of Glasgow, vacated by the death of
Dr. Robert Findlay; he demitted his charge of Tron Church on 9 November 1814, and was succeeded by
Thomas Chalmers; and as professor reorganised the study of theology. In 1823 he engaged in a warm dispute with some of his university colleagues, notably
Patrick MacFarlan, on the question of pluralities, and his views were subsequently adopted by a royal commission on the Scottish universities.[3]
Death and legacy
In 1825 he began campaigning for a monument to
John Knox on Fir Hill adjacent to
Glasgow Cathedral. This met with success and is now the centrepiece of the
Glasgow Necropolis which grew around it.[5]