Thomas Chalmers Statue

One of the outstanding men of his generation he was a minister, mathematician, and political economist.As minister of St John’s parish, one of Glasgow’s poorer parishes, he overhauled the way the parish was run and drastically reduced the cost of poor relief. From there he became Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of St Andrews and then Professor of Theology at the University of Edinburgh and the first Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland. When he died in 1847, it was said that half the population of Edinburgh turned out for his funeral.