GILLESPIE, THOMAS

born 1708, Clearburn, near Edinburgh, Scot. died Jan. 19, 1774, Dunfermline, Fife Scottish Presbyterian minister who assisted in founding the Relief Church (Oct. 22, 1761), a Presbyterian group advocating the right of a congregation to approve its minister. Gillespie was ordained in 1741 and inducted to the parish of Carnock, Fife. In 1752 he was a victim of the controversy, following the Patronage Act of 1712, over the right of congregations to approve the choice of ministers. Gillespie was deposed by the assembly for maintaining that the local presbytery was justified in refusing to act against the wish of the parish. He continued to preach at Carnock and later at Dunfermline, where a large congregation gathered around him. In 1761, with Thomas Boston of Jedburgh and Thomas Colier of Colinburgh, he formed a separate communion under the name Presbytery of Relief.