Michael T Tracy

The Reverend James Ballingall (1846-1926) Michael T Tracy

James Ballingall was the fifth and last child of William Ballingall (1800-1888), the Factor of Balbirnie and Balgonie and grew up at Sweetbank, Markinch Parish, Fife. He was educated at Madras College in St. Andrews and the University of Edinburgh where he earned his Baccalaureate in Divinity in 1869. Ballingall was then licensed by the Presbytery of Kirkcaldy on Thursday, 4 November 1869 and assisted at West Kirk in Perth and St. Giles, Edinburgh. He was ordained on Thursday, 16 May 1872 as a parish minister at Balfron Church in Stirlingshire and served there until 1878 when he was transferred to Rhynd Parish Church near Perth. Ballingall would serve as Minister of Rhynd for the next 43 years. He never married, and while Minister of Rhynd he wrote The Rhynd and Elcho: A Parish History in 1905 and The Ballingalls of Sweetbank, Markinch in the 1920s. Reverend Ballingall was also fluent in the Dutch language and helped translate the Papers Illustrating The History Of The Scots Brigade In The Service Of The United Netherlands 1572-1782, Volume I, 1572-1697 authored by James Ferguson in 1899. In 1907 he was conferred his Doctorate of Divinity by the University of St. Andrews. He retired from the ministry at Rhynd in 1921 and two years later relocated to St. Andrews, Fife. This then is the narrative of the life and times of James Ballingall.