Edward Irving

Edward Irving (4 August 1792 – 7 December 1834) was a Scottish clergyman, generally regarded as the main figure behind the foundation of the Catholic Apostolic Church.

Youth

Edward Irving was born at Annan, Annandale. On his father's side, who followed the occupation of a tanner, he was descended from a family long known in the district which had ties to French Huguenot refugees. His mother's side, the Lowthers, were farmers or small proprietors in Annandale. The first stage of his education was passed at a school kept by Peggy Paine, a relation of Thomas Paine of the Age of Reason, after which he entered the Annan Academy taught by Adam Hope, of whom there is a graphic sketch in the Reminiscences of Thomas Carlyle.

Scotland

At the age of thirteen he entered the University of Edinburgh. In 1809 he graduated M.A.; and in 1810, on the recommendation of Sir John Leslie, he was chosen master of an academy newly established at Haddington, East Lothian, where he became the tutor of Jane Welsh, afterwards famous as Mrs Carlyle, one of the great letter-writers of the nineteenth century.

Edward Irving (plant collector)

Dr Edward George Irving RN (1816–1855) was a Scottish surgeon who served in the Royal Navy. He was also a collector of plants, and the plant family Irvingiaceae, and genus Irvingia are named after him.

Marriage and Family

He married Lucy Elizabeth Haynes Morrell, second daughter of Arthur, a British naval officer and Elizabeth, on 25 July 1848, at Kingston, Portsmouth, Hampshire.

Their children were Edward Arthur Irving, who became an archdeacon in Canada, Minnie Irving, and John Henry Irving.

References