Henry Scougal 1650-1678
Henry SCOUGAL 1650-1678
Biographical Note
Second son of Patrick Scougal later Bishop of Aberdeen. He was born, probably at Leuchars, in June 1650. He studied at King’s College, Aberdeen from 1664 until 1668, when he gained his MA. He then became a regent at the College, and taught there until being appointed as parish minister at Auchterless, Aberdeenshire, in 1673, but demitted that office the following year, becoming Professor of Divinity at King’s College, which post he retained until his early death on 13 June 1678. His spiritual classic, The Life of God in the Soul of Man was issued in 1677.
Books
After Patrick Scougal’s death in 1682, just over 1,000 titles owned by him were given to King’s College, and a list of these, a collection kept together, was compiled by the College library around 1700, and again in 1717, this time giving imprints. It is highly likely that this collection also included material collected by his son Henry. Strongest in theology, it also contained books in other subjects, such as science (e.g. Robert Boyle), language and literature (classical and post-1500), philosophy (e.g. Grotius, Spinoza), and history and geography.
Sources
- Aberdeen University Library, MS K111: ‘Catalogus librorum in bibliotheca Collegii Regii Aberdonensis contentorum secundum ordinem alphabeticum,’ c.1700, sections headed ‘Libri Episcopi’.
- Aberdeen University Library, MS K113: ‘Catalogus librorum in Bibliotheca Collegii Regii …’, 1717, sections headed ‘Libri Episcopi’. This catalogue gives imprint details, which the 1700 catalogue does not.
- Jackson, Clare ‘Scougal, Henry (1650-1678), Church of Scotland minister’ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- Scott, Hew Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae: the Succession of Ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation. New ed., 7 vols (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1915-1928), VI, 250, and VII, 371
- Information from Murray Simpson.