My grandfather’s funeral was lead by the Reverend Thomas Bentley Stewart Thomson 1889 – 1973, Chaplain to her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second
My grandfather 2nd Lt. Robert Douglas Robin (R D Robin), Highland Light Infantry, first met the Reverend Thomas (Tom) Bentley Stewart Thomson in the trenches during the First World War when he was a Captain in the 9th Battalion, H.L.I. (also known as the Glasgow Highlanders).
T.B. Stewart Thomson was already an ordained minister having obtained his Bachelor of Divinity in 1914 from the University of Aberdeen before the war, becoming Doctor of Divinity later in 1946, and he was Parish Minister for Dalziel near Motherwell, St. Stephen’s in Edinburgh, Old Govan in Glasgow and Dunbarney in Bridge of Earn retiring in 1959.
He was also the first Church of Scotland minister ever to broadcast the Holy Communion on BBC Radio Scotland from Dunbarney Kirk in Bridge of Earn, Perthshire at Christmas 1947, a highly controversial undertaking at the time. In 1951 he was appointed as one of the Chaplains to George VI and in 1952 also to Queen Elizabeth II.
Though my grandfather was not a church-goer, when he discovered he was dying from lung cancer in 1959, he contacted his friend Tom and asked him to officiate at his funeral. The reverend duly arrived attired in the scarlet robes of the Chaplain to the Queen in Scotland and conducted the service.
The Rev. Thomas Bentley Stewart Thomson, M.C. T.D. D.D. Chaplain to the Queen died in 1973 aged 83 and is buried in the Kirkyard at Dunbarney.
Did your surname bearer meet a King or President? Come and share your story with us on Saturday 18 April at 4pm (UK time) at our Panel Discussion entitled “A Brush with Fame”. Book your place through Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-brush-with-fame-a-panel-discussion-tickets-1987153139533
