Smith, Walter Chalmers

(1824-1908)

   Scottish poet and hymn writer, born in Aberdeen, he graduated M.A. from Marischal College at the age of 17, studied and at New College, Edinburgh, and was ordained in 1850. A highly respected churchman, he had churches in London, Fifeshire, Glasgow and Edinburgh. In 1867, he was admonished by the General Assembly for his outspoken, liberal views on Sunday observance. When Professor Robertson Smith was charged with heresy for articles he had written in the Encyclopædia Britannica in 1875, Smith argued for him. From 1893 to 1894 he was moderator of the General Assembly; he received the degrees of doctor of divinity from Glasgow University (1869) and doctor of laws from the universities of Aberdeen (1876) and Edinburgh (1893). His poem "Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise" set to the tune St. Denio is included in most hymnbooks. Some of his poetry publications: The Bishop's, 1861. North Country Folk, 1883. Kildrostan, a Dramatic Poem, 1884. Thoughts and Fancies for Sunday Evening, 1887. A Heretic, 1890. Some of his poems: "Glenaradale," "In Edinburgh Castle," "The Cameronian Regiment," "The Macgregors," "The Siege of the Bass."

   Sources: A Sacrifice of Praise: An Anthology of Christian Poetry in English from Caedmon to the Mid-Twentieth Century. James H. Trott, ed. Cumberland House Publishing, 1999. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Poems of the Scottish Hills: An Antholog y. Hamish Brown, ed. Aberdeen University Press, 1982. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1918. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. New edition, revised and enlarged, Oxford University Press, 1939.