John Welsh of Ayr


John Welsh was a Scottish Presbyterian leader. Welsh was born in Dumfriesshire and, after a wayward youth, attended the University of Edinburgh and obtained his MA in 1588. He became a minister in Selkirk, and prior to 1596 and leaving Selkirk, married Elizabeth, a daughter of John Knox by Margaret Knox. Welsh later ministered at Kirkcudbright and at Ayr, where he spent five years and with which his name was later associated. His preaching resulted in his imprisonment by order of King James VI of Scotland. The lawyer Thomas Hamilton wrote to James VI about John Forbes, Welsh, and others. The case was important because many Scottish subjects of James were devoted to the ministers. Hamilton praised the conduct of the Earl of Dunbar. In 1606 he was exiled to France, where he continued his activities. John Welsh of Ayr was the father of Josias Welsh and the grandfather of John Welsh of Irongray.

Life

John Welsh was the son of the laird of Collieston or Colliston, in the parish of Dunscore, Dumfriesshire, was born about 1570. When young he displayed a rather unruly disposition, and, disliking the severe restraints of home, broke from parental control and joined a band of border reivers; but, discovering this adventurous life to be less pleasant and desirable than his youthful fancy had depicted it, he sought reconciliation with his father, and, with a view of studying for the church, he was presently sent to the University of Edinburgh, where he took the degree of M.A. in 1588. On 6 March 1589–90 he was nominated by the Privy Council one of three for maintaining the true religion in the Forest and Tweeddale, and was settled at Selkirk. In 1594 he was translated to Kirkcudbright, and on 29 March 1596 he was appointed one of the visitors for Nithsdale, Annandale, Lauderdale, Eskdale, and Ewesdale.
On 18 December following, when occupying the pulpit of St. Giles's kirk, Edinburgh, shortly after the tumult of the presbyterians against the king, he took opportunity to preach against the king's conduct, ‘alleging that his majesty was possessed of a devil, and after the outputting of that devil there joined to his highness seven devils, quhilk was his majesty's council;’ and that as it was lawful for a son to bind a lunatic father, it was equally lawful ‘to his highness's subjects to bind his majesty, being in the like case’. Failing to answer the charge of having justified the tumult, he was on 17 January denounced a rebel ; but, on the petition of the assembly in the following March he was, mainly through the intervention of Lord Ochiltree, relaxed from the horn and permitted to return to his charge.
By the assembly held at Montrose in March 1599–1600 Welch was again appointed one of the visitors for Nithsdale, and in August of the same year, he was transferred to the parish of Ayr as an assistant to John Porterfield, on whose death in 1604 he was chosen to succeed him. Before this, the preaching of Welch had begun to attract such crowds that the town council on 26 May 1603 resolved to build a new church. When Welch came to Ayr the town was noted for its feuds and riots, but by appearing boldly on the streets, clad in a steel cap, and intervening in disturbances, he speedily succeeded in effecting quite a reformation in public manners.
For having concurred in the meeting of the General Assembly of Aberdeen in July 1605, contrary to the prohibition of the king, Welch, although he did not arrive in Aberdeen until two days after the assembly had been held, was along with John Forbes, the moderator, the first to be called before the privy council to answer for taking part in it, and, having declined to give his oath to answer such things as might be demanded of him in regard to the deliberations of the assembly, he was on 26 July ordained to be committed to ward in the castle of Blackness, where it was stated they were ‘more straitly used than either jesuits or murderers’. On 3 October he and other ministers were summoned to appear before the council on the 24th when they were found guilty, the council reserving the form of their punishment to the king's own will. As they had put in a declinature of the jurisdiction of the council in the matter the king resolved, on this account, to put them on trial for high treason, which was done at an assize held at Linlithgow, when they were by a majority declared guilty The punishment for high treason was of course death, but by the king's direction the sentence was commuted on 23 October 1606 to perpetual banishment from the king's dominions, and they were appointed to go onboard a ship which on 1 November sailed with them from Leith to Bordeaux.
On arriving in France Welch set himself immediately to master the French language, and this with such diligence that within fourteen weeks he was able to preach in French. Shortly afterwards he became pastor of the protestant church of Nerac, then of Jonsac, and finally of Saint-Jean-d'Angély in Saintonge, where he remained sixteen years. For several years after his banishment, the town council of Ayr continued regularly to remit to him his stipend as minister of the parish.
When Saint-Jean-d'Angély, a strongly fortified town, was besieged by Louis XIII during the war against the protestants in 1620, Welch showed great zeal in encouraging the citizens to resistance and assisted in serving the guns on the walls. Having also, after the capitulation of the city, continued to preach as usual, he was summoned before the king, who reprimanded him for violating the law forbidding anyone to use publicly within the verge of the court any other than the established form of religious service. To this remonstrance, Welch shrewdly replied that if the king knew what he preached he would himself both come to hear him and make all his subjects do the same, for what he preached was that there was none on earth above the king, which none who had adhered to the pope would say. This shrewd answer so pleased the king that he answered, ‘Very well, father, you shall be my minister,’ and promised him his protection. When therefore the town was captured again in the following year the king, in accordance with his promise, gave orders that guards should be placed around the house of Welch, and also provided horses and waggons to convey him, his family, and his household goods to Rochelle in safety.
Welch never again returned to his charge, but went to Zealand, whence, finding himself in declining health, he sent a petition to the king of England that he might be permitted to return to his native country, and obtained liberty to come to London, that he ‘might be dealt with.’ There, through Dr. Young, dean of Winchester, an attempt was made to obtain from him a general approval of episcopacy, but without effect. To his wife, who had gone to the king to ask his remission, the king answered that he would gladly pardon him if she would induce him to submit to the bishops, to which she replied that she would rather receive his decapitated head in her lap—‘Please your majesty, I had rather kep his head there.’ On hearing, however, that he was so ill that he would not long survive, the king acceded to his request for permission to preach in London; but he died two hours after concluding the services; ‘and so,’ says Calderwood, ‘endit his dayes at London, after the exile of mannie yeers, with deserved name of ane holie man, a painfull and powerfull preachour, and a constant sufferer for the trueth’. By his wife Elizabeth, youngest daughter of John Knox the reformer, Welch had four sons and two daughters, of whom Josias became minister of Temple Bar, or Temple Patrick, Ireland. Jane Welsh, the wife of Thomas Carlyle, claimed descent from Welch, and through him from John Knox.

Hew Scott's summary

John Welsh or Welch was born about 1570, son of John W. of Colhston, 1600 parish of Dunscore, Dumfriesshire, and Marion Grier. After finishing a somewhat desultory education he joined a band of Border thieves, till like the prodigal " he began to be in want," and being ashamed of himself he returned, and through an intercessor, sought reconciliation with his
offended parent. He went to the University of Edinburgh, graduated M.A. in 1588, and was the first minister who had studied there. He was nominated, 6th March 1589, by the Privy Council one of a committee for maintaining the true religion in the Forest and Tweeddale ; was admitted minister of Selkirk in 1589 ; translated to Kirkcudbright in 1594 ; appointed 29th March 1596 one of the visitors for Nithsdale, Annandale, Lauderdale, Eskdale, and Ewesdale. On 18 December of that year, while supplying the High Kirk, Edinburgh, during the flight of its own ministers, he so offended the king by his illustrations, that he also was obliged to take flight, till application was made by the Assembly on 5th March following for permitting his return to his charge. This in 1599 included Galtaway, Dunrod, and Kilchrist ; translated to Ayr as assistant August 1600. In consequence of the crowds who were attracted by his preaching, the Town Council resolved, 26th May 1603, to erect a new church, which, however, was not carried out till 1652. On John Porterfield's death in 1604, the people unanimously elected Welsh his successor, and on 10 April they requested the Town Council to ratify their choice and assign him a stipend. Though he did not arrive at Aberdeen till two days after an Assembly had been held there, 2nd July 1605, in opposition to the royal will, he zealously approved its proceedings, and has been considered one of its chief supporters. He was summoned before the Privy Council 25 July, and committed prisoner to the castle of Blackness on the 27th. Declining the authority of the Privy Council 24 October, in a cause which he considered spiritual, he, with four others, was tried before the Justiciary at Linlithgow 10 January following, found guilty, and banished from His Majesty s dominions for life, 23 October 1606. He went to France and studied the language of the country so successfully that in fourteen weeks he was able to preach in it with fluency. After preaching at Bordeaux, he was inducted parson at Jonsac in the end of 1608, at Nerac in 1614, and St Jean d Angely about 1617. For several years after he was banished, the Town Council of Ayr regularly remitted his stipend to him. Saint-Jean-d'Angély was besieged in 1620 by Louis XIII. while he was there. By the law of the kingdom no Protestant worship was allowed at the place where the king resided; nevertheless, Welsh continued to hold his services, and when called before the king and demanded how he durst do so, he replied, "If your Majesty knew what I preach, you would command others, and come yourself to hear it; I preach salvation by Jesus Christ, and sure I am your conscience tells you, your own works will never merit salvation for you; I preach there is none on earth above you, which none of those that adhere to the Pope will say." This firm and energetic reply so pleased the sovereign, that he exclaimed, "Very well,
father, you shall be my minister," at the same time promising his protection, so that when the town was taken in the
following year, guards of safety were planted at his house, and he and his family conveyed to Rochelle at the king's expense. In consequence of declining health, he was induced to return to Britain in 1622, intending thereafter to settle in the newly formed colony of Nova Scotia. At London his wife petitioned the king in person on his behalf, with urgent solicitude, when James, who had suffered under the faithful rebuke of Welsh for his unkingly habit of swearing, replied that if she would persuade her husband to submit to the bishops, he would have his permission. With a fortitude and heroism worthy of her husband and her father, Mrs Welsh, lifting up her apron, and holding it towards her sovereign, mildly yet firmly said, "Please your Majesty I'd rather kep his head there." Welsh died in London 2 April 1622, and was buried two days later in St Botolph, Bishopsgate. He married previous to 8 April 1596, Elizabeth, youngest daughter of John Knox the Reformer, and had issue John, baptised 8 June 1606; William, doctor of physic, died before 1633; Josias, min. of Temple-patrick, Ireland, died 1634; Nathaniel; Lucy; and another.
John Welsh and his wife Elizabeth Knox had four sons and two daughters. Their son Josias Welsh was minister at Templepatrick, and father of the Covenanter leader John Welsh of Irongray. The Welsh family has been of interest to genealogists tracing the descendants of John Knox.

Works