George Washington Sprott
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George Washington Sprott (6 March 1829 – 27 October 1909) was Scottish minister and liturgical scholar, known as an advocate of reform of the services of the
Early life
Born at
Sprott graduated with a BA in 1849. He had introductions to the families of
Years of travel
His father approved of his son's decision to join the Church of Scotland, and, ordained in 1852 by the presbytery of Dunoon, Sprott returned to Nova Scotia, to act as assistant at
In 1865 Sprott left Ceylon and acted for a time as chaplain to the Scottish troops at Portsmouth.[1]
Scottish minister
Sprott was presented to the parish of
After an unsuccessful application for the chair of church history in the
Sprott joined on its formation, in 1886, the Aberdeen (later the Scottish) Ecclesiological Society, and in 1892 took a leading part in founding and conducting the
Last years
In 1902 Sprott celebrated his ministerial jubilee of 50 years, but with heart weakness he petitioned the presbytery next year for the appointment of an assistant and successor, and retired to Edinburgh. He died at Edinburgh of heart disease on 27 October 1909, and was buried at North Berwick.[1]
Works
In Ceylon Sprott wrote a pamphlet on the Dutch Church there. Opposing what he was as a drift of Scottish church people towards
As lecturer in pastoral theology, Sprott spoke at the four Scottish universities, and published Worship and Offices of the Church of Scotland (1882). His lectures had earned the degree of D.D. from the University of Glasgow, conferred in 1880.[1]
Late in life, Sprott published:[1]
- His John Macleod Memorial Lecture, The Doctrine of Schism in the Church of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1902);
- a new edition of John Knox's Liturgy (1901);
- an edition (1905) of The Liturgy of Compromise used in the English Congregation at Frankfort, 1557, bound up with H. J. Wotherspoon's Second Prayer Book of Edward VI; and
- a new edition (1905) of Euchologion, a Book of Common Order, with historical introduction.
These books were all issued by the Church Service Society. He also wrote an account of his father and of Nova Scotian life, Memorials of the Rev. John Sprott (Edinburgh, 1906), and contributed on Scottish ministers to the Dictionary of National Biography.[1]
Family
In 1856 Sprott married Mary (d. 1874), daughter of Charles Hill of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Four sons also predeceased their father; a son, Harold, a lawyer in Edinburgh, and four married daughters survived.[1]
Notes
Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1912). "Sprott, George Washington". Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). Vol. 3. London: Smith, Elder & Co.