George III. In 1825 he lost the sight of an eye through illness, and on 9 Aug. 1827 he died in Edinburgh. He was buried in the West Church burying-ground there; and a monument in the vestibule of St. Cuthbert's hard by tells of the high place which he occupied in the regard of his parishioners and of the citizens of Edinburgh generally. For over half a century Moncreiff was one of the leading figures in the church of Scotland, and perhaps its most influential clergyman (cf. Lord Brougham in Edinb. Review, xlvii. 242).
In 1773 Moncreiff married his cousin, Susan Robertson, eldest daughter of James Robertson Barclay, writer to the signet, of Keavil, Fifeshire, by whom he had five sons and two daughters. The eldest son, William Wellwood, became judge-advocate of Malta, and died in 1813; his second son, Sir James Wellwood, afterwards Lord Moncreiff, is separately noticed. The eldest daughter married Sir John Stoddart, afterwards chief justice of Malta. He added Wellwood to his name at the desire of his grand-uncle, Henry Wellwood of Garvock, on having the estate of Tulliebole in Kinrossshire, which had previously belonged to the Wellwood family, settled on him. Moncreiff published, in addition to many pamphlets and tracts : 1. Four volumes of 'Sermons' in 1805, 1806, 1822, 1831. 2. 'Discourses on the Evidence of the Jewish and Christian Revelations,' 1815. 3. 'Account of the Life and Writings of John Erskine, D.D.,' 1818. 4. 'Life of Dr. Henry,' prefixed to vol. vi. of his ' History of England,' which Moncreiff edited, 1793.
[Preface by Sir James W. Moncreiff to posthumous volume of sermons, 1831, pp. ix-xxv; Peter s Letters to his Kinsfolk, iii. 45, 74; Edinburgh Review, xlvii. 242; Chambers's Biog. Dict. of Eminent Scotsmen, iv. 434; Scott's Fasti, i. 122; Cockburn's Memorials; information supplied by Lord Moncreiff.]
MONCREIFF, Sir HENRY WELLWOOD (1809–1883), Scottish divine, born at Edinburgh 21 May 1809, was eldest son of Sir James Wellwood Moncreiff, afterwards Lord Moncreiff [q. v.] He was educated at the Edinburgh High School and University, but (5 April 1827) matriculated at New College, Oxford, whence he graduated B.A. in 1831. While at Oxford he was on intimate terms with Mr. Gladstone. Returning to Scotland he studied divinity under Dr. Chalmers, and after completing his course was ordained minister of the parish of Baldernock in Stirlingshire in 1836. In the following year he obtained the more important charge of East Kilbride in Lanarkshire. Moncreiff took part in the controversy which ended in the disruption of the church of Scotland. He joined the free church in June 1843, and from that date till 1852 he was the minister of Free East Kilbride. He succeeded to the baronetcy and assumed the name Wellwood on the death of his father in 1851. In 1852 he became minister of Free St. Cuthbert's in Edinburgh, where his grandfather, Sir Henry Moncreiff (1750-1827) [q. v.], had passed fifty years of his ministry. He was appointed joint principal clerk to the free general assembly in 1855, was created D.D. by Glasgow University in 1860, and appointed moderator of the free church assembly in 1869. In 1862 he was appointed secretary of the Bible Board, and held that office at his death, which took place 4 Nov. 1883. Moncreiff was twice married, first, on 8 Feb. 1838, to Alexandrina Mary, daughter of George Bell, a surgeon in Edinburgh; and secondly in 1875 to Lucretia, daughter of Andrew Murray of Murrayshall in Perthshire. There was no issue by either marriage. His social position, knowledge of church law, and readiness to place his knowledge and experience at the disposal of his fellow ministers, rendered Moncreiff one of the most influential supporters of the free church. His published writings included 'A Vindication of the Free Church Claim of Right' (1877) and 'The Free Church Principle, its Character and History,' being the first series of the Chalmers Lectures (1883).
[Irving's Book of Eminent Scotsmen; Hew Scott's Fasti, ii. 291; some autobiographical information is contained in The Free Church Principle, its Character and History, publ. 1883, pp. 330-3 Memorials of E. S. Candlish, by Dr. W. Wilson, pp. 225-59.]
MONCREIFF, Sir JAMES WELLWOOD, Lord Moncreiff (1776–1851), Scottish judge, was the second son of the Rev. Sir Henry Moncreiff Wellwood [q. v.] of Tulliebole in Kinross-shire, baronet, a wellknown minister of the established church of Scotland, in which five of his ancestors had served. Born 13 Sept. 1776, James was educated at school in Edinburgh and at Glasgow University, and held an exhibition at Balliol College, Oxford, whence he graduated B.C.L. in 1800. He was called to the Scottish bar on 26 Jan. 1799. His family was strongly presbyterian, whiggish, and patriotic, and he adopted their principles from conviction as well as hereditary association. In 1795, when a youth of sixteen, he attracted attention by carrying alighted tallow candle to allow the face of Henry Erskine to be seen at the meeting to protest against the continuation of the war; for his share in the meeting Erskine
