John Anderson

John Anderson was born in 1804 near Yoker, Renfrewshire, the son of a miner. He received his education at the University of Glasgow and the Divinity Hall of the Associate Burghers in Perth. In 1827, he became the first minister of the Associate Burgher Church at Helensburgh, Dumbartonshire. He led his congregation into the communion of the Established Church of Scotland in 1839, and subsequently into the Free Church of Scotland during the Disruption of 1843. He remained at Helensburgh until his death on January 10, 1867. Anderson took an active role in the ecclesiastical controversies of his era, including the Voluntary controversy and the Revival of 1858. A prolific author of prose works including a life of Christ, he is prominent in hymnology as the first translator to publish a complete English edition of Martin Luther's hymns, titled Hymns from the German of Dr. Martin Luther (1846).