Alexander Waugh

Alexander Waugh (16 August 1754 – 14 December 1827) was a minister in the Secession Church of Scotland, co-founder of the London Missionary Society, and one of the leading Nonconformist preachers of his day. He was the great-great-grandfather of the writers Alec Waugh and Evelyn Waugh.

Family background Alexander Waugh was born in East Gordon, Berwickshire, Scotland, on 16 August 1754, to Thomas Waugh (1706–1783), a farmer at East Gordon and third generation Covenanter, and Margaret Johnstone (1714–1789),

Education In 1766, Waugh attended the grammar school at Earlston where he excelled at Latin. They had six sons and four daughters. One of their sons was George Waugh (1801–1873), druggist to Queen Victoria and father of Fanny Waugh (1833–1866) and Edith Waugh (1846–1931) successive wives of the Pre-Raphaelite painter William Holman Hunt, and also father of Alice Waugh (1845–1912) wife of the Pre-Raphaelite sculptor Thomas Woolner. Another son, the Rev. James Hay Waugh (1797–1885), was the grandfather of Arthur Waugh, and great-grandfather of the writers Alec Waugh and Evelyn Waugh.

Death and funeral Waugh died at 6.40 a.m. on 14 December 1827 at his London house, No. 2 Salisbury Place, Marylebone, London, surrounded by his children.

James Tassie made two relief portraits of Waugh in 1791 and 1794, wax and white glass. His nephew, William Tassie, made another portrait of Waugh at a later date.

The Scottish writer, poet, and abolitionist Thomas Pringle wrote the following poem in memory of Waugh in 1827: