James Peddie

James Peddie (1758–1845) was a Scottish presbyterian minister of the Secession Church.

Life The son of James Peddie, a brewer, by his second wife, Ann Rattray, he was born at Perth, Scotland on 10 February 1758. After education at Perth Grammar School and Perth Academy he entered the University of Edinburgh in 1775, and two years later became a member of the Secession Divinity Hall, under John Brown of Haddington. Licensed to preach in 1782, he travelled about the country for some time, speaking in pulpits where there was no regular minister. For seven months he averaged a hundred miles per month on horseback.

Towards the end of 1782, against opposition, Peddie was appointed to the Bristo Street Secession chapel in Edinburgh, and took this position in April 1783. Peddie remained at Bristo Street for the rest of his life. It continued from 1799 to 1815, and decided the legal position of the party New Light: Peddie gave it his zeal and energy.

Family Peddie was twice married: first, in 1787, to Margaret Coventry (died 1792), eldest daughter of the Rev. George Coventry of Stitchell, Roxburghshire, and sister of Prof Andrew Coventry. The marriage was childless.

Secondly, in 1795, he married Barbara Smith, second daughter of Donald Smith, an Edinburgh banker and later Lord Provost of Edinburgh (1808), with whom he had nine children.

His daughter Barbara Peddie (d. 1885) married Rev Principal James Harper (1795–1879) of United Secession Church in North Leith.