Kenneth Macaulay (minister)

Kenneth Macaulay (1723 – 2 March 1779) was a Scottish church minister, and writer of a history of St Kilda, Scotland.

Macauly was the third son of Aulay Macaulay (1673–1758), minister of Harris, Outer Hebrides, and his wife Margaret Morison.

In 1749 he was appointed missionary to Lochaber, but declined it, and in November 1751 he was ordained as assistant and successor to his father, whom he succeeded as sole pastor in 1758.

[1][2] Macaulay visited St Kilda in 1759, on behalf of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge (SSPCK), and published in 1764 The History of St Kilda, containing a Description of this Remarkable Island, the Manners and Customs of its Inhabitants, the Religious and Pagan Antiquities there found, with many other curious and interesting particulars.

Johnson may have been partly influenced in his opinion by a discussion he had on the English clergy with Macaulay, who was by no means respectful towards episcopal claims.