William Logan (temperance campaigner)
Encyclopedia
WILLIAM LOGAN was born at Damhead, near Hamilton
, in 1813, of a hardy, god-fearing, family among whom the traditions of the Covenant
lingered longest. His father, a weaver, was distinguished by the thoughtfulness and intelligence that calling tends to foster.
William tried several jobs in Hamilton and Glasgow
, but, with the restlessness of one who has not yet found his true vocation.
In Glasgow he came under the influence of Dr William Anderson, whose intensity laid firm and lasting hold of the young enthusiast. Along with his pastor he watched by the death-bed of a city missionary named Nisbet, smitten with malignant typhus, and was greatly moved by some words spoken in a lucid interval by the dying man.
These two influences, of the living and the dead, helped to shape William Logan's future. He returned to his father's loom, but dreamed of mission work abroad, and spent all his leisure in mission work at home.
About this time David Nasmith
, the founder of city missions, lectured in Hamilton. The lecture, and subsequent conversation with the lecturer, led William Logan into the field in which he was to spend his life.
He was sent to London for three months' probationary service in the notorious district of St Giles. One of the streets allotted to him was the "Gibbet Street" of Charles Dickens
. Here the young recruit learned to endure hardship. Sometimes, so that he might reach a door, creeping on hands and knees across a plank that bridged a chasm, sometimes followed downstairs by a shower of burning cinders and sometimes interrupted in his meetings by fighting dogs introduced deliberately to disturb him.
But he did his work with courage and tact. He would enter a den of thieves, and resisting an impulse to read the parable of the Prodigal Son, because he thought "it would be too personal," he would expound the Ten Commandments
, not without manifest impression on his audience of law-breakers.
Having approved himself to Nasmith he was sent to assist in organising a mission in Leeds
, where, in addition to his district work, he spent some hours daily in the infirmary and fever hospital, not shrinking from contact with a deadly type of typhus then epidemic.
From Leeds he was sent in 1840 to Rochdale
, Lancashire, where he remained two years, coming into close relation with John Bright
, who, in earnest labours to promote education and temperance and to relieve a prevalent distress, was even then beginning to reveal his power. In the 1841 English census he is listed living with the family of John Lorimer, tea merchant, of Toad Lane, Rochdale, and his occupation is home missionary.
From Rochdale he came to Glasgow with the purpose of qualifying himself for foreign missionary work. He attended classes in the university and at Anderson's College (sometimes called the Andersonian), working meanwhile as a missionary in the High Street.
On November 5, 1844, William Logan was one of the founders of the Scottish Temperance League, the first non-denominational total abstinence society in Scotland, although Presbyterian clergy were prominent in its membership. Its foundation was partly due to a schism between total abstainers and moderationists.
Not content with prescribed duty, he set himself to study the social phenomena around him, giving special heed to the necessity for sanitary reform, for education, and for temperance, and gathering the results of his experience into a volume on the Moral Statistics of Glasgow, which was long a handbook for those interested in ameliorating the condition of the poor in great cities.
The early impressions made at Nisbet's death-bed led him, here as elsewhere, to give special attention to those suffering from fever. For three months he was so entirely occupied in infected houses that he deemed it better not to visit any healthy family. He was accustomed to say that when he escaped from the tainted air in which he spent his days to the open spaces of the town he felt as if he had passed into the suburbs of Paradise.
At the urgent request of Mr Bright he was induced to return as a missionary to Rochdale, having, before entering on this engagement, enlarged his experience by spending, with consent of the Secretary of State, a considerable time at Millbank
and Pentonville
examining the causes and accompaniments of crime.
After another period of service in Scotland, he was again led to undertake mission work in Yorkshire
, Bradford
being the central town in which he not only did the work of an evangelist, but organised courses of lectures intended to meet the doubts and perplexities of working-men.
The intense and unresting labours of years spent in contact with the most degraded classes, with malignant types of disease and loathsome forms of vice, told upon the constitution of the eager worker. At the early age of 40 he found himself with ardour unabated and with his boyish dream of foreign service as bright as ever, but face to face with the urgent need of rest.
His earnest sympathy with the cause of temperance led him to establish a small temperance coffee house and dining-room, which grew under his careful eye till it became a source of modest wealth, which he used for philanthropic work.
His sympathies were not, as in the case of some philanthropists, circumscribed. They were far-reaching and intensely human. He had a native refinement which his contact with social degradation had only served to make more refined.
He had the keenest appreciation of the beautiful in literature and art, and nothing delighted him more than when he had the opportunity of lending a helping hand to any struggling wielder of the pen or the pencil, on their way to fame. He is specially identified with the brief and tragic history of David Gray
, the poet of The Luggie.
He had discovered his worth and genius before the young poet left for London, and through his interest in him was brought into friendly relations with Lord Houghton
, who found in William Logan a trusted agent through whom he could continue to provide assistance to young Gray after his return to Scotland.
Logan's ministries of love to the poet were unwearied. He regularly visited him, and helped to soothe his dying hours. When the end had come he set himself to the double task of raising a monument to his memory in the Auld Aisle Burying Ground, Kirkintilloch
, where he lies buried; and of collecting a fund for promoting the comfort of his mother. He entrusted the fund to other hands, but charged himself with the duty of personally conveying to Mrs Gray the sums paid to her at regular intervals.
He was also the constant friend of Janet Hamilton
, the poet of Coatbridge
. He not only showed her all manner of friendly attentions, but did more perhaps than any one else to bring her into fame, buying her books largely and sending copies to influential critics who might otherwise have failed to notice them.
If any young minister was in trouble through charges of heresy, William Logan was sure to find his way to his side and cheer him with his sympathy. His "Words of Comfort for Parents Bereaved of Little Children", the idea of which was suggested by the help he obtained from friendly letters when his girl Sophia was taken from him at the age of five years, have gone far and wide into houses of mourning.
There were thousands he had never seen who felt that they had lost a friend when it was announced that on the 16th September, 1879, William Logan had passed away.
During his first stay in Rochdale from 1840-42 he appears to have met his future wife, Janet Lorimer (b 1826), who was residing at the time with the family of John Lorimer, her uncle. She was a daughter of the latter's brother, James Lorimer (b 1786), a farmer of Keir, Dumfries, Scotland.
In 1850, William Logan married Janet Lorimer at Providence Chapel, Rochdale, and in 1851 was living at Manningham
, near Bradford, Yorkshire, where a daughter, Sophie, was born on June 12, 1851.
The family later moved to Glasgow, where they resided at 18 Abbotsford Place, and it was there on May 1, 1856, that Sophie died at the age of four years and 10 months after suffering for several weeks from a gastric illness.
Sophie's death led William Logan to write Brief Notice of a Short Life as a preface to Words of Comfort for Parents Bereaved of Little Children, a widely circulated collection of essays edited by Logan.
A second child, a son, also William Logan, was born in Glasgow about 1855, and by 1871 he was a student of arts at the age of 16.
The deplorable condition of woman: exemplified in an exposure of the brothels of London, Manchester, Birmingham, Rochdale, Leeds, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other manufacturing towns in Great Britain: showing the horrors of female prostitution existing therein, 1840
An Exposure, from Personal Observation, of Female Prostitution in London, Leeds and Rochdale, and Especially in the City of Glasgow with remarks on the cause, extent, results and remedy of the evil, 1843
An affecting story, 1845
An astounding fact or two for Sabbath School teachers who support the drinking system, 1848
Moral Statistics of Glasgow, 1849
Words of Comfort for Parents Bereaved of Little Children, 1869
Early Heroes of the Temperance Reformation, 1873
Hamilton, South Lanarkshire
Hamilton is a town in South Lanarkshire, in the west-central Lowlands of Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area. It is the fifth-biggest town in Scotland after Paisley, East Kilbride, Livingston and Cumbernauld...
, in 1813, of a hardy, god-fearing, family among whom the traditions of the Covenant
Covenanter
The Covenanters were a Scottish Presbyterian movement that played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England and Ireland, during the 17th century...
lingered longest. His father, a weaver, was distinguished by the thoughtfulness and intelligence that calling tends to foster.
William tried several jobs in Hamilton and Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, but, with the restlessness of one who has not yet found his true vocation.
In Glasgow he came under the influence of Dr William Anderson, whose intensity laid firm and lasting hold of the young enthusiast. Along with his pastor he watched by the death-bed of a city missionary named Nisbet, smitten with malignant typhus, and was greatly moved by some words spoken in a lucid interval by the dying man.
These two influences, of the living and the dead, helped to shape William Logan's future. He returned to his father's loom, but dreamed of mission work abroad, and spent all his leisure in mission work at home.
About this time David Nasmith
David Nasmith
David Nasmith founded The City Mission Movement in the UK, the US and in Europe.-Biography:Born in Glasgow Scotland in March 1799, Nasmith commenced working in manufacturing as an apprentice...
, the founder of city missions, lectured in Hamilton. The lecture, and subsequent conversation with the lecturer, led William Logan into the field in which he was to spend his life.
He was sent to London for three months' probationary service in the notorious district of St Giles. One of the streets allotted to him was the "Gibbet Street" of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
. Here the young recruit learned to endure hardship. Sometimes, so that he might reach a door, creeping on hands and knees across a plank that bridged a chasm, sometimes followed downstairs by a shower of burning cinders and sometimes interrupted in his meetings by fighting dogs introduced deliberately to disturb him.
But he did his work with courage and tact. He would enter a den of thieves, and resisting an impulse to read the parable of the Prodigal Son, because he thought "it would be too personal," he would expound the Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
, not without manifest impression on his audience of law-breakers.
Having approved himself to Nasmith he was sent to assist in organising a mission in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, where, in addition to his district work, he spent some hours daily in the infirmary and fever hospital, not shrinking from contact with a deadly type of typhus then epidemic.
From Leeds he was sent in 1840 to Rochdale
Rochdale
Rochdale is a large market town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, north-northwest of Oldham, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan...
, Lancashire, where he remained two years, coming into close relation with John Bright
John Bright
John Bright , Quaker, was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with Richard Cobden in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League. He was one of the greatest orators of his generation, and a strong critic of British foreign policy...
, who, in earnest labours to promote education and temperance and to relieve a prevalent distress, was even then beginning to reveal his power. In the 1841 English census he is listed living with the family of John Lorimer, tea merchant, of Toad Lane, Rochdale, and his occupation is home missionary.
From Rochdale he came to Glasgow with the purpose of qualifying himself for foreign missionary work. He attended classes in the university and at Anderson's College (sometimes called the Andersonian), working meanwhile as a missionary in the High Street.
On November 5, 1844, William Logan was one of the founders of the Scottish Temperance League, the first non-denominational total abstinence society in Scotland, although Presbyterian clergy were prominent in its membership. Its foundation was partly due to a schism between total abstainers and moderationists.
Not content with prescribed duty, he set himself to study the social phenomena around him, giving special heed to the necessity for sanitary reform, for education, and for temperance, and gathering the results of his experience into a volume on the Moral Statistics of Glasgow, which was long a handbook for those interested in ameliorating the condition of the poor in great cities.
The early impressions made at Nisbet's death-bed led him, here as elsewhere, to give special attention to those suffering from fever. For three months he was so entirely occupied in infected houses that he deemed it better not to visit any healthy family. He was accustomed to say that when he escaped from the tainted air in which he spent his days to the open spaces of the town he felt as if he had passed into the suburbs of Paradise.
At the urgent request of Mr Bright he was induced to return as a missionary to Rochdale, having, before entering on this engagement, enlarged his experience by spending, with consent of the Secretary of State, a considerable time at Millbank
Millbank
Millbank is an area of central London in the City of Westminster. Millbank is located by the River Thames, east of Pimlico and south of Westminster...
and Pentonville
Pentonville
Pentonville is an area of north-central London in the London Borough of Islington, centred on the Pentonville Road. The area is named after Henry Penton, who developed a number of streets in the 1770s in what was open countryside adjacent to the New Road...
examining the causes and accompaniments of crime.
After another period of service in Scotland, he was again led to undertake mission work in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
being the central town in which he not only did the work of an evangelist, but organised courses of lectures intended to meet the doubts and perplexities of working-men.
The intense and unresting labours of years spent in contact with the most degraded classes, with malignant types of disease and loathsome forms of vice, told upon the constitution of the eager worker. At the early age of 40 he found himself with ardour unabated and with his boyish dream of foreign service as bright as ever, but face to face with the urgent need of rest.
His earnest sympathy with the cause of temperance led him to establish a small temperance coffee house and dining-room, which grew under his careful eye till it became a source of modest wealth, which he used for philanthropic work.
His sympathies were not, as in the case of some philanthropists, circumscribed. They were far-reaching and intensely human. He had a native refinement which his contact with social degradation had only served to make more refined.
He had the keenest appreciation of the beautiful in literature and art, and nothing delighted him more than when he had the opportunity of lending a helping hand to any struggling wielder of the pen or the pencil, on their way to fame. He is specially identified with the brief and tragic history of David Gray
David Gray (poet)
David Gray was a Scottish poet.The son of a handloom weaver, Gray was born at Merkland, by Kirkintilloch, Dunbartonshire. His parents resolved to educate him for the kirk, and through their self-denial and his own exertions as a pupil teacher and private tutor he was able to complete a course of...
, the poet of The Luggie.
He had discovered his worth and genius before the young poet left for London, and through his interest in him was brought into friendly relations with Lord Houghton
Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton
Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton FRS was an English poet, patron of literature and politician.-Background and education:...
, who found in William Logan a trusted agent through whom he could continue to provide assistance to young Gray after his return to Scotland.
Logan's ministries of love to the poet were unwearied. He regularly visited him, and helped to soothe his dying hours. When the end had come he set himself to the double task of raising a monument to his memory in the Auld Aisle Burying Ground, Kirkintilloch
Kirkintilloch
Kirkintilloch is a town and former burgh in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the Forth and Clyde Canal, about eight miles northeast of central Glasgow...
, where he lies buried; and of collecting a fund for promoting the comfort of his mother. He entrusted the fund to other hands, but charged himself with the duty of personally conveying to Mrs Gray the sums paid to her at regular intervals.
He was also the constant friend of Janet Hamilton
Janet Hamilton
Janet Hamilton was a nineteenth century Scottish poet.She was born as Janet Thomson at Carshill, Shotts parish, Lanarkshire in 1795, the daughter of a shoemaker. During her childhood the family moved to Hamilton, and then to Langloan, in the parish of Old Monkland, Lanarkshire...
, the poet of Coatbridge
Coatbridge
Coatbridge is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. The town, with neighbouring Airdrie, is part of the Greater Glasgow urban area. The first settlement of the area stretches back to the Stone Age era...
. He not only showed her all manner of friendly attentions, but did more perhaps than any one else to bring her into fame, buying her books largely and sending copies to influential critics who might otherwise have failed to notice them.
If any young minister was in trouble through charges of heresy, William Logan was sure to find his way to his side and cheer him with his sympathy. His "Words of Comfort for Parents Bereaved of Little Children", the idea of which was suggested by the help he obtained from friendly letters when his girl Sophia was taken from him at the age of five years, have gone far and wide into houses of mourning.
There were thousands he had never seen who felt that they had lost a friend when it was announced that on the 16th September, 1879, William Logan had passed away.
Family life
William Logan was the son of Andrew, weaver, and Euphemia Logan of Damhead, near Hamilton, Lanarkshire.During his first stay in Rochdale from 1840-42 he appears to have met his future wife, Janet Lorimer (b 1826), who was residing at the time with the family of John Lorimer, her uncle. She was a daughter of the latter's brother, James Lorimer (b 1786), a farmer of Keir, Dumfries, Scotland.
In 1850, William Logan married Janet Lorimer at Providence Chapel, Rochdale, and in 1851 was living at Manningham
Manningham, Bradford
Manningham is an area of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, approximately a mile north of the city centre and is seen as the centre of the city's south Asian population.- Geography :...
, near Bradford, Yorkshire, where a daughter, Sophie, was born on June 12, 1851.
The family later moved to Glasgow, where they resided at 18 Abbotsford Place, and it was there on May 1, 1856, that Sophie died at the age of four years and 10 months after suffering for several weeks from a gastric illness.
Sophie's death led William Logan to write Brief Notice of a Short Life as a preface to Words of Comfort for Parents Bereaved of Little Children, a widely circulated collection of essays edited by Logan.
A second child, a son, also William Logan, was born in Glasgow about 1855, and by 1871 he was a student of arts at the age of 16.
Writing
The principles of teetotalism maintained and illustrated, or, The nature, causes, evils, and remedy of intemperance a lecture, the substance of which has been delivered in Mossley, Lees, Delph, Rochdale, and Royton, 1839The deplorable condition of woman: exemplified in an exposure of the brothels of London, Manchester, Birmingham, Rochdale, Leeds, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other manufacturing towns in Great Britain: showing the horrors of female prostitution existing therein, 1840
An Exposure, from Personal Observation, of Female Prostitution in London, Leeds and Rochdale, and Especially in the City of Glasgow with remarks on the cause, extent, results and remedy of the evil, 1843
An affecting story, 1845
An astounding fact or two for Sabbath School teachers who support the drinking system, 1848
Moral Statistics of Glasgow, 1849
Words of Comfort for Parents Bereaved of Little Children, 1869
Early Heroes of the Temperance Reformation, 1873