Vera Kenmure

Vera Mary Muir Kenmure born Vera Mary Muir Findlay (13 February 1904 – 27 December 1973) was a British Congregational minister. She was the first woman minister ordained in Scotland to be in charge of a church. She founded her own church in Partick after objections were raised, by some of her congregation, to her becoming a mother while still a minister.

Life Kenmure was born in Glasgow where she attended Hillhead before going on to attend Scottish Congregational College. She went on to Glasgow University. After university she hoped to be minister and have her own church. At the time this was impossible for a woman but Kenmure was considered an exceptional candidate. On 29 April 1929 the Scottish Congregational Union amended their own constitution to note that a minister could be a man or a woman. This made her path clear as she had already been invited to be the parson at Partick Congregational Church She was the first woman to be minister in charge of a church. She was not the first minister in Scotland as Olive Winchester had been ordained in 1912 by the Sixth Annual Assembly of the Pentecostal Church of Scotland.

Kenmure proved an eloquent minister and she attracted crowds and a growing congregation.

The situation was resolved in 1936 when the mother church of Hillhead invited her to become their minister and for every member of her church to join their congregation. This enjoyed popular support and she served at that church until 1945.