Arrochar Parish Church History
		The Author of the foregoing Paper, the REVEREND WILLIAM BARR MACFARLANE, M.A., only son of the late James Macfarlane, Esq., of West Africa, and of Mrs. Macfarlane, née Agnes Barr, of Uddingston, died on July 20th of wounds received on July 12th, .1915, when serving most gallantly as second Lieutenant with the 5th K.O.S.B. in the Dardanelles. At the time of his death Mr. Macfarlane had not yet completed his twenty-seventh year, but already he had a career behind him, and he had won for himself a very special place in the regard of all who knew him. His early life at home was of an ideal nature, and after a preliminary training in Uddingston-the home of his mother's family for many generations-he proceeded to the Leys School, Cambridge, and later to the University of Glasgow. His aim was to enter the Ministry of the Church of Scotland-a Church which had his wholehearted devotion and is left the poorer by his death. Yet always he took a pleasure in acquainting himself with military duties, and he served in the various branches of the army that are open to those who do not make the service their profession-Cadet Corps, Volunteers, and the Glasgow University Officers Training Corps. From the date of his entry into the University he took the keenest possible interest in all University matters, especially in their bearing upon the people and the Church. He served for long upon the various Liberal political organisations of the University and identified himself with all branches of student activity. In academic matters his interests were most varied-Political Science, Social questions, even Engineering Science. Above all, however, his interest lay in the study of the language, the literature, the history, and the customs of the Scottish Highlands, to which he was proud to belong. After graduating in Arts, Mr. Macfarlane became a student under the Faculty of Divinity and while so working his historical and antiquarian interests became more marked and reached a riper development. The preceding paper was written first as an essay on "The Ecclesiology and Ecclesiastical History of any Parish in Scotland in which the writer has a special interest," prescribed in the Senior Class of Church History, Glasgow University, and was afterwards read by the Author both to the Ecclesiological Society, and to the Clan Macfarlane Association. While yet a Student of Divinity, Mr. Macfarlane undertook with characteristic adventurousness, in company with a fellow student, a long tour on horseback through Syria and Palestine; and he taught for a short time in the Orthodox Greek School at Horns in Syria. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Hamilton, in March 1913, and was appointed assistant to the minister of South Dalziel, Motherwell, in which capacity he was still serving, with great fervour and much acceptance, when War broke out. He received a commission with the 1/5 K.O.S.B. where he served with the Sanquhar Company; and after training he proceeded to the Dardanelles with his corps. But only six weeks of active service were granted to him; he fell in a victorious charge, with a fragment of shrapnel through the chest, and eight days later he died on board the hospital ship Asturias. His commanding officer writes of his "absolute fearlessness" as a soldier, and his men wrote in a manner that showed how they loved him. Nor were they alone in that, for to know him was to love him and to have one's faith in the higher things of humanity confirmed. Had he been spared he would have made a minister-probably in some remote Highland parish-whose name would have been revered for generations; and his loss deprives the Church of one whose work would have been invaluable and whose whole personality and influence would have been mighty for the yet greater Glory of God. May he rest in peace ! F.A.S.