Page:History of Knox Church Dunedin.djvu/180

144 record the removal of yet another highly esteemed elder of Knox Church—Mr William Douglas—who died on August 7, 1891, at the ripe age of 77 years, after an illness extending almost uninterruptedly over the long period of five years and upwards.

William Douglas was born in the parish of Hounam, near Kelso, Roxburghshire, on August 27, 1814. After receiving a good education in the schools of his native district, he removed to Edinburgh for a time, and qualified for the profession of schoolmaster. He was afterwards appointed to the charge of a Presbyterian Church school at Cullercoats, a village situated several miles from Newcastle-on-Tyne. He occupied this position for a considerable number of years, until the school was transferred to the Church of England authorities, and, as he was unable to sever his connection with the Presbyterian communion, he was compelled to resign his charge of the school. He thereupon removed to Newcastle, where he obtained employment in a large place of business. While in England he married and had a family of four sons and three daughters, six of whom died when comparatively young. Mrs Douglas died at Newcastle in June 1870, and a few years afterwards he resolved to emigrate to New Zealand.

Mr Douglas arrived in Dunedin with his only surviving daughter, Sarah, in the latter part of 1878, and joined the fellowship of Knox Church in March 1879. Miss Douglas, who had been trained as a teacher in the Home Country, obtained an appointment in the Girls' High School, Dunedin, which she held with much credit to herself and advantage to her pupils till four days before her death, which occurred on July 6, 1891, only about one month before that of her father. Mr Douglas obtained employment in Dunedin for a time, and his amiable disposition and his consistent Christian life gained for him the respect and esteem of those who knew him intimately. So high an opinion was formed of him by his fellow members of Knox Church that he was elected an elder of the congregation in April 1884. But in the course of two years his health failed him to such an extent as to lay him aside from active duty; and, after an illness of fully five years, which he bore with exemplary patience and resignation, he at last found release in death.

The following tribute to Mr Douglas's worth is embodied in the minutes of Knox Church Session:—"Mr William Douglas, who departed this life on Aug. 7th, 1891, joined Knox Church on his arrival