Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Johnston, David
JOHNSTON, DAVID, D.D. (1734–1824), founder of the Blind Asylum, Edinburgh, born at Arngask, Fifeshire, 26 April 1734, was second son of John Johnston, minister of Arngask (d. 1746), by his second wife, Margaret (d. 1768), daughter of the Rev. John Brown of Abercorn, whom he married on 5 April 1730. Kay and Anderson wrongly state that David's mother was daughter of David Williamson, minister of St. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh. It is believed that he was educated in Edinburgh. He was licensed by the presbytery of Selkirk, 12 July 1757, and ordained 11 May 1758 to the parish of Langton, Berwickshire. Thence he was translated, 12 June 1765, to the more important parish of North Leith, where he laboured until his death. On 6 March 1781 the university of Edinburgh conferred upon him the degree of D.D., and in October 1793 he was appointed chaplain in ordinary to George III.
To his energy the foundation of the Asylum for the Industrious Blind in Edinburgh was due. The idea originated with Dr. Thomas Blacklock the poet and David Miller of Edinburgh, both of whom were blind, but it was owing to the exertions of Johnston that the necessary funds were procured and the asylum opened 23 Sept. 1793. He was the first secretary, and throughout his life devoted much time to the institution. In 1806 the present building in Nicolson Street was purchased, and branches have since been added.
Johnston was a devoted pastor. His parishioners included the fishwives of Newhaven, who always called him the ‘Bonnie Doctor.’ He and his session having arranged to vest the management of the church property in themselves as trustees for the people, made the living one of the most valuable in Scotland by feuing the glebe for commercial purposes. In 1812, while visiting London, he was offered the honour of knighthood, but when the levée at which the distinction was to have been conferred was postponed for a fortnight, he declined to wait. In 1816 Johnston and his congregation abandoned the ancient parish church of St. Ninian for a new church in Madeira Street. He died at Leith, 4 July 1824, aged 90, ‘the father of the Church of Scotland.’
He married, 5 July 1759, Elizabeth, daughter of John Todd, shipbuilder, of South Leith. A son, John, lieutenant in the H.E.I.C.S., died at Bombay in 1786, aged 24. Only one daughter, Elizabeth, who married (15 Sept. 1800) William Penney, merchant, of Glasgow, survived him.
His portrait was painted by Sir Henry Raeburn for his son-in-law, Robert McBrair, and is now in the possession of his grandson, David Johnston McBrair. A copy (by the artist) is in the Blind Asylum. Another portrait (in his pulpit gown), also by Raeburn, was painted for Mrs. Penney. It is reproduced in Kay's ‘Portraits’ (i. No. cxlviii). A side view, drawn by Miss Monro, 1817, was engraved in steel by R. Scott. A bust, by A. Handyside Ritchie, 1837, taken from Raeburn's portrait, is on the front of the Blind Asylum; one in marble, given in 1828 by a few of his friends, is in the vestibule of North Leith Church, and another is in the possession of D. J. McBrair, esq.
He published: 1. ‘Dissertation on the Encouragement which our Blessed Lord gave to Little Children,’ 1799, 12mo (sold for the benefit of the Sunday schools). 2. Sermons, vol. i. 1805 (sold for the benefit of the Blind Asylum; it realised over 300l.) 3. Sermons, vol. ii. 1808 (sold for the benefit of the Magdalen Asylum), and several single sermons.
[Information from Mrs. A. F. Foster; Scott's Fasti Eccles. Scot. i. 96, 396, 419, ii. 627; Mrs. Foster's Model Pastor, 1878, pp. 18 sq.; New Statistical Account of Scotland, x. 887; Anderson's Scottish Nation, ii. 579; Edinburgh Graduates, p. 245; Scots Magazine, 1793 p. 519, 1816 pp. 715–16, 1824 p. 252; Irving's Book of Scotsmen, pp. 245–6; Scotsman, 7 July 1824, p. 520; Cassell's Old and New Edinburgh, ii. 336; Kay's Portraits, i. 370–3, ii. 343–4; Campbell's Hist. of Leith, pp. 354–5; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Cat. of Advocates' Library; parish registers, kindly supplied by David Winter, esq., and the Rev. J. H. McCulloch.]