Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/McKerrow, William
McKERROW, WILLIAM (1803–1878), presbyterian divine, born in Kilmarnock on 7 Sept. 1803, was educated at Kilmarnock school and academy, and then proceeded to Glasgow University, where he distinguished himself as a student. In 1821 he joined the Theological Hall of the Secession Church, under the charge of the Rev. Dr. John Dick [q. v.] of Glasgow, and was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Kilmarnock in March 1826. In the following year he was called both to Cumbernauld, Dumbartonshire, and to Lloyd Street, Manchester, to be colleague and successor to the Rev. Dr. Jack. He accepted the latter appointment, and became for over half a century a prominent figure in the social and ecclesiastical movements in Manchester.' In 1834 he wrote a series of letters on church establishments in the 'Manchester Times,' in which the grievances of dissenters regarding marriages, burials, and the universities were discussed. The letters were afterwards published in pamphlet form and extensively circulated. They led in 1839 to the formation of the Manchester Voluntary Church Association. From 1886 to 1846 he took an active part, with Cobden and others, in agitating for a repeal of the corn laws. He opposed the government Education Bill of 1843, which gave grants to the Roman catholic college at Maynooth in Ireland.
In 1846 McKerrow projected the 'Manchester Examiner,' now 'Examiner and Times,' to express the views of advanced liberals, and was one of the four original proprietors. His contributions in articles and letters, to the 'Examiner' were numerous, and helped to shape measures subsequently adopted. He advocated a national system of education under popular control, and was one of the founders of the Manchester Public School Association. He was also one of the founders of the United Kingdom Alliance, of which for twenty years he was vice-president. City missions and peace and emancipation societies found in McKerrow an able and intrepid advocate. He was elected in 1870 on the first school board of Manchester, and continued a member till his death. Nor were public engagements permitted to interfere with professional duties, as his pastoral and pulpit work in Brunswick Street congregation, his labours in presbytery, and the services he rendered to Lancashire presbyterianism abundantly proved. Through the influence of Chevalier Bunsen and others the university of Heidelberg in 1851 conferred upon him the degree of D.D. McKerrow retired from the active duties of the pastorate in 1869, but was elected moderator of synod in 1877. With money presented to him in 1877, on the occasion of his ministerial jubilee, he endowed a scholarship for presbyterian students at Owens College, as well as exhibitions, under the control of the Manchester school board. Cobden called him 'the able and unswerving advocate of every sound and beneficent principle,' and Hugh Mason, M.P., wrote regarding him: 'I know no man in Manchester or anywhere else who has lived a life of greater purity, integrity, usefulness, and true piety.' His manner of speech was eloquent and impressive, but he published nothing beyond an occasional tract or sermon. He died at Manchester 4 June 1878.
[Manchester newspapers; biographical notice by Dr. William Graham in the U. P. Magazine for August 1878; Memoir of William McKelvie, D.D., by his son, London, 1881.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.189
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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