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Walter Walsh (minister)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rev. Dr.
Walter Walsh
Born(1857-04-13)13 April 1857
Dundee, Scotland
Died20 May 1931(1931-05-20) (aged 74)
London, England
NationalityBritish
EducationGlasgow University
D.D., Pittsburgh University, 1910
Occupation(s)Minister, peace advocate
Spouse(s)Alice Mary Lambert (1882–1931; his death), 9 children

Walter Walsh, D.D., (13 April 1857 – 20 May 1931) was a Scottish religious leader and peace activist.[1]

Early life and education

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Walsh was born in Dundee on 13 April 1857. He was educated at the High School of Dundee and the University of Glasgow. In 1910, he received his D.D. from Pittsburgh University.[2]

Career

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Walsh served as a Congregational minister in Pitlochry (1882–86), Newcastle (1887–97), and Dundee (1897–1912). He was a member of the Newcastle-on-Tyne School Board (1891–97) and also served on the Dundee City Council (1906–12).[3] In 1912, he was condemned for holding Universalist views by the Edinburgh Court of Session, and was deprived of church properties.[4]

In 1913, he moved to London and replaced the late Charles Voysey as minister of the Theistic Church, which sought a middle path between Liberal Christianity and Unitarianism.[2] In 1916, he became leader of the Free Religious Movement. He also took an interest in social issues such as pacifism, education, and housing. He was a municipal delegate to various housing conferences in Europe. He was also a vice-president of the Universal Peace Union and attended numerous international peace conferences in Europe and America, where he made several tours lecturing and preaching in connection with the international peace movement.[3]

Walsh became a vegetarian in 1899 and was a speaker at the International Vegetarian Union in 1929.[5][6][7] He was a vice-president of the London Vegetarian Society.[8] He was also on the Advisory Committee of the League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports.[9] He commented that "the habit of killing and eating animals for human food is responsible for the coarse and brutal ethics that so largely prevail in Christendom".[10]

Personal life

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In 1882, Walsh married Alice Mary Lambert (1855–1937).[a] They had four sons and five daughters. He died in Whetstone, London on 20 May 1931, aged 74.[3]

The Rev. Dr. Walsh is sometimes confused with his English contemporary Walter Walsh (1847–1912), a lay Protestant who also wrote works on religion;[11] the two men do not appear to have been related.

Selected bibliography

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  • The Moral Damage of War (1902)
  • Jesus in Juteopolis (1906)
  • The Greater Parables of Tolstoy (1906)
  • Hymns of Divine Unity and Love (1915)
  • The World Rebuilt (1917)
  • The Golden Rule (1920)

Notes

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  1. ^ Some sources give her maiden name as Choat.

References

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  1. ^ "Rev. Dr. Walter Walsh Dead in London at 74". The New York Times. 21 May 1931. (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b "Obituary: The Rev. Walter Walsh". The Times. 31 May 1931. p. 16.
  3. ^ a b c "Walsh, Rev. Walter". Who Was Who. 1 December 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U218737. ISBN 978-0-19-954089-1.
  4. ^ "Rev. Walter Walsh Dead". Dundee Evening Telegraph. 20 May 1931. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required)
  5. ^ Gregory, James. (2002). The Vegetarian Movement in Britain c. 1840-1901, A Study of its Development, Personnel and Wider Connections. Volume 1. University of Southampton. pp. 200-201
  6. ^ Gregory, James. (2007). Of Victorians and Vegetarians: The Vegetarian Movement in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Tauris Academic Studies. pp. 59-60. ISBN 978-1-84511-379-7
  7. ^ "The Vegetarian Society (UK) and IVU, 1920s". International Vegetarian Union. 2024. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022.
  8. ^ "The Vegetarian Movement in England, 1847-1981: A Study in the Structure of its Ideology". International Vegetarian Union. 2024. Archived from the original on 8 January 2024.
  9. ^ "League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports". Henry S. Salt Foundation. 2024. Archived from the original on 21 July 2024.
  10. ^ "To Kill or Not to Kill". Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate and Cheriton Herald. 22 July 1922. p. 8. (subscription required)
  11. ^ Foster, I.T. (2004). "Walsh, Walter (1847–1912), religious controversialist and author". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47129. Retrieved 12 February 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
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