He was the church’s minister in Langholm since 1893 and was a founder of both the Eskdale & Liddesdale Archaeological Society and the Townhead Literary Society. He excelled in philosophy and English literature at university in Glasgow, his home city, and married Helen McEwan, the daughter of the minister of Hope Park Church in Edinburgh, where he did his first placement. His second placement was as assistant to Rev William Ballantyne in Langholm in August 1892 who died three months later and was succeeded by George.