William Dalrymple

William Dalrymple (29 August 1723 – 28 January 1814) was a Scottish religious writer, minister and Moderator of the Church of Scotland in 1781. He is remembered in a poem by Robert Burns. Biography William Dalrymple was a younger son of James Dalrymple, sheriff-clerk of Ayr. He was born at Ayr on 29 August 1723, and after a local education studied at Glasgow University graduating MA in 1740. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Ayr in May 1745. He was ordained as a minister of the Church of Scotland, as the second charge in Ayr in December 1746, from which he was translated to the first charge in 1756. As a minister he was the man who baptised Robert Burns on 26 January 1759. As the local minister Burns held him in high esteem. He received the honorary doctorate of Doctor of Divinity from the University of St Andrews in 1779.