Duncan Shaw (minister, born 1925)

Duncan Shaw (27 January 1925 – 20 February 2018) was a Scottish Presbyterian minister, historian, and author. He served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 1987 to 1988.^[1][2][3]

Shaw was born on 27 January 1925 in Edinburgh, Scotland: he grew up in a tenement flat in the Meadowbank area of the city.^[1] He was educated at Broughton High School, a state school in Broughton, Edinburgh.^[1] After leaving school, he was a law apprentice.^[3]

In February 1943, at the age of 18, Shaw enlisted into the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers (REME) to serve during the Second World War.^[2][3] He went on to hold every rank between lance corporal and Warrant Officer Class 1 (the most senior non-commissioned rank).^[2] He served in the United Kingdom and in India, before being demobbed in October 1947.^[3] It was while serving in the British Army that he first grew a handlebar moustache for which he was noted for wearing.^[1]

Returning to Scotland after the war, Shaw decided to join the ministry rather than continue his legal career.^[1] From 1947 to 1951, he studied at the University of Edinburgh.^[2] He continued his studies at Edinburgh: he undertook research for a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Scottish history under the supervision of Professor Gordon Donaldson.^[3] His doctoral thesis was titled "The origin and development of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, 1560–1600", and was completed in 1962.^[4] He was awarded a Doctor of Theology (ThDr) degree by the Charles University in Prague in 1969.^[3]

Shaw was ordained for the Church of Scotland and installed as minister of St Margaret's Church, Dumbiedykes, Edinburgh on 29 July 1951.^[1][3] He tended to serve in churches in working-class communities.^[1] He moved to become minister of St Christopher's Church, Craigentinny, Edinburgh in 1959, and served there until he retired on 3 January 1997.^[1][3]

Shaw was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, in succession to Robert Craig.^[2] He served as moderator from 1987 to 1988.^[1] He invited Margaret Thatcher, the then prime minister, to address the Assembly when it met in May 1988: her address was known as the Sermon on the Mound.^[1]

In 1955, Shaw married Ilse Pieter (died 1989). Together they had three children. In 1991, he married for a second time to Anna Libera Dallapiccola, a professor at the University of Heidelberg.^[1]

In 2005, Shaw helped re-establish the Clan Shaw of Argyll and the Isles: he appointed its Representer (equivalent to clan chief) by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. The clan had been annihilated by Clan Campbell in 1614.^[3] He had previously tried and failed to claim the Barony of Craigentinny.^[1]

Shaw died in Edinburgh on 20 February 2018, aged 93.^[3]

• Shaw, Duncan (1964). General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland, 1560–1600. Edinburgh: St Andrew Press. ISBN 978-0715201244.
• Shaw, Duncan (1975). John Knox: a quartercentenary reappraisal: lectures given at the University of Edinburgh on the four hundredth anniversary of the death of John Knox. Edinburgh: St Andrew Press. ISBN 978-0715202463.
• Cowan, Ian B.; Shaw, Duncan, eds. (1983). The Renaissance and Reformation in Scotland: essays in honour of Gordon Donaldson. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press. ISBN 978-0707302614.
• Shaw, Duncan (2012). Renaissance and Zwinglian influences in sixteenth century Scotland. Edinburgh: Edina Press. ISBN 978-0957120204.
• Shaw, Duncan (2015). The Clan Shaw of Argyll and the Isles: MacGillechainnich of Dalriada. Edinburgh: Scottish Record Society. ISBN 978-0902054523.