(both at the University and Madras which had a number of English pupils at

that time) and who cannot be supposed to take the same interest in the Poor

as natives and residents here all their lives’, and ‘besides a large proportion of

these strangers happen at present to be Episcopalian, and of course their

collections are lost to the poor’.

That may have been true in general, but it was not true of all Episcopalians.

General Robert Melville and his heir the first John Whyte Melville had been

members of the Town Kirk, but his son, the second John Whyte Melville and

his wife Lady Catherine, were both Episcopalians who gave generously to the

poor funds of the Town Kirk and to the poor in Strathkinness and district.

Even after the new Parochial Board was set up, with Mr. John Whyte

Melville as its first chairman, the Kirk Session continued to make contributions

to the poor, mainly to those who did not receive Parochial aid. Individual

heritors also contributed, although they were already rated for poor relief

by the Parochial Board. Funds at the disposal of the Board were limited and

a poor rate imposed upon householders and tenants who had previously contri-

buted solely through church collections was not popular.

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