Robert Leighton
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Robert Leighton was born in 1611 and related to a family of some distinction from near Montrose. Three generations neatly epitomise the changing face of religion in Scotland in the seventeenth century. Leighton' s father was a pre-reformation Catholic, while his father, Dr. Alexander Leighton, was a strong Presbyterian who was tortured on account of his beliefs and his vehement expression of them. |
| Robert himself became Minister at Newbattle, then Principal of Edinburgh University before being appointed by King Charles II to become Bishop of Dunblane as part of that monarch' s restoration of episcopacy. |  |
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Leighton reputedly agreed to become Bishop on condition that he was given the poorest diocese in Scotland, Dunblane, and he fulfilled his duties with humility evidently hoping to be a focus for reconciliation between the conflicting ideologies. His time in Glasgow, in particular, saw opposition from Covenanters in the south-west but he remained a figure of tolerance and moderation. Robert Leighton retired to live with his half-sister, Sophia Lightmaker, in Sussex, where he died on 25th June, 1684, being buried in the churchyard at Horsted Keynes. |
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Having never possessed great wealth, he bequeathed his books and a sum of money to build a library to house them back in Dunblane for use primarily by the local clergy. |
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