James Blinshall (-ca. 1803) | ||
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BiographyJames Blinshall. (-ca. 1803) Sometime minister of the English Church in Amsterdam. A Dr. James Blinshall, son of Rev. David Blinshall (1668-1765), was minister at Dundee, Scotland in 1768, and, in 1791, organized a "Petition to the town council of Dundee concerning the necessity for establishing an infirmary in the town". I am not sure if this is the same Dr. Blinshall as the one Boswell met in Amsterdam in 1764, but it seems probable. (Note 1) This Dr. Blinshall of Dundee apparently bequethed £25 to the Dundee Infirmary upon his death - at the time he was described as a D.D. (Doctor of Divinity). Life with James Boswell:
Boswell met Dr. Blinshall in Amsterdam on May 25, 1764, describing him as "a hearty, honest fellow, knowing and active, but Scotch to the very backbone". They dined together that same evening, Blinshall "talk[ing] of religious melancholy like a good sound fellow". Boswell went to Blinshall's sermon on the next day, which only served to rekindle his old gloomy presbyterian thoughts.
Note 1: The limited number of Blinshalls taken into consideration, I consider it established with 95% certainty that the Rev. Blinshall of Amsterdam and Dr. Blinshall of Dundee is one and the same. See also the Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae (Link) and Dundee City Council (Link)
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