Robert Haldane

Robert Haldane FRSE (27 January 1772 – 9 March 1854) was a British mathematician and minister of the Church of Scotland.

Biography Haldane was born on 27 January 1772, in Perthshire, the son of a farmer at Overtown, Lecropt, on the borders of Perthshire and Stirlingshire; and was named after Robert Haldane, then proprietor of Airthrey Castle. He was educated at the school in Dunblane, and then at Glasgow University.

Haldane became a private tutor, first in the family at Leddriegreen, Strathblane, and later with Charles Moray of Abercairnie. On 5 December 1797, he was licensed as a preacher by the presbytery of Auchterarder, but he did not obtain a charge quickly. In August 1806, he was presented to the church of Drummelzier, in the presbytery of Peebles, and was ordained on 19 March 1807. In 1828, his role as Moderator was succeeded by Rev Stevenson McGill.

He died at St Mary's College, St Andrews, on 9 March 1854, in his eighty-third year, and was buried in the cathedral cemetery there. The grave lies on the north wall just left of the distinctive white military memorial to Lt Col Sir Hugh Lyon Playfair. Haldane's marble inscription is badly eroded.

His portrait was in the hall of the university library at St. Andrews. He was succeeded by John Tulloch.

Haldane's only publication was a small work relating to the condition of the poor in St. Andrews (Cupar, 1841).