James Begg

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James Begg (31 October 1808 – 29 September 1883) was a Scottish minister who helped shape the Free Church after the Disruption of 1843. Born at the manse in New Monkland, Lanarkshire, he studied divinity at Glasgow University and earned an MA in 1824. He was licensed in 1829 and ordained in 1830. He served in Edinburgh, Paisley, and Liberton. In 1843 he left the Church of Scotland to join the Free Church and led the Newington Free Church in Edinburgh, one of the first built after the Disruption.

He was a strong voice in religious reform, known for his anti-Catholic views and his care for working people. In 1865 he became Moderator of the Free Church General Assembly. Lafayette College gave him an honorary Doctor of Divinity in 1847. Begg helped found the Scottish Reformation Society in 1850 and the Protestant Alliance, and he edited The Bulwark for 21 years from 1851. He also wrote for Hugh Miller’s The Witness.

With Thomas Chalmers, he helped promote colony houses in Edinburgh to provide homes for artisans and workers (built 1850–1910). In the late 1850s he campaigned against single men living in remote farm shelters called bothies because of concerns about illegitimacy. He was painted by Sir Daniel Macnee in 1869. He married Margaret Campbell in 1835 and then Maria Faithfull in 1846; his son William Begg became the actor Walter Bentley.