Ministers Of St James’

1874 - 1876	Rev William Adam Stark
1876 - 1878	Rev John Millar Darling
1878 - 1880	Rev William Dunbar Dey
1880 - 1915	Rev James Oliver
1916 - 1924	Rev James Ray
1924 - 1929	Rev William S Buchan
1930 - 1847	Rev Robert L Sneddon
1948 - 1972	Rev H Bruce Thomson
1974 - 1980	Rev Kenneth M Bethune
1981 - 2001	Rev Malcolm M Macdougall
2002 -	Rev Peter Webster

Early Beginnings

Until 1809, Duddingston Kirk alone served the spiritual needs of the entire Portobello area. In that year, the Church now known as Portobello Old and Windsor Place was erected in Melville Street. With a rapidly increasing population, however, the need for an additional place of worship was recognised and, in 1874, St James’ was formed as a Mission Station under the Supervision of the Minister at Duddingston.

Places Of Worship

The Church Services were initially conducted in the Old Town Hall of Portobello – now the home of the Baptist Church. In 1893 an ‘Iron Church’, generally referred to at the time as ‘The Tin Kirk’, was removed from the site now occupied by New Restalrig Church, re-erected on the ground in front of Argyle House, and served the Congregation as their place of worship for many years.

In July 1897, the then Minister of St James’ obtained the consent of Duddingston Kirk Session for a fund to be started with the objective of building a stone Church. The land on which the Church and Halls now stand was obtained, building started in 1911 and on 9th June 1912 the Church with seating for 615, was opened for Public Worship.

Substantial modifications have been made to the original structure. The Congregation had some generous benefactors in the early 1930’s and, largely due to their contributions the Chancel and a new Vestry and Choir room were added, and the pipe organ and the stained glass windows were installed. In recent years, the seating in the Transept has been modified to provide a place of Worship suitable for small gathering and the Chancel has been extended to bring the Communion table closer to the Congregation.

The Status of St James’

The erecting of the new building did not immediately lead to a change in status of the congregation which continued to operate as a Mission Station under the supervision of Duddingston Kirk until January 1920 when the Presbytery of Edinburgh agreed to grant full status as a Quoad Sacra Parish Church.

The Congregation continued undisturbed as a full status church until 1972 when, following the death of the Rev H Bruce Thomson, the Presbytery voted in favour of a motion that a plan be prepared to join St James’ with another (unspecified) Church in the Portobello area. The congregation declined to accept the decision of the Presbytery and took the matter to the General Assembly in May 1973. The General Assembly overturned the Presbytery’s decision and authorised the Congregation to call a Minister ‘not younger than 55’.

When the Rev Kenneth Bethune retired on health grounds in 1980, the Congregation was again faced with the task of persuading the Presbytery that in should remain as a charge in full status. On this occasion, the Congregation accepted the Presbytery proposal that what is known as a Terminable appointment be made. That allowed the Congregation the freedom to appoint whoever they wished, on the understanding that the appointment could be terminated at the will of the Presbytery. The Rev Malcolm M. Macdougall was appointed in 1981, and in April 1986, the Church was restored to full status. In July 2001, Rev Macdougall left St James’ after almost 20 years to take up another charge in the parish of Eddleston with Peebles:Old.

In May 2002, Rev Peter Webster accepted the charge of Portobello, St James' and took up the charge in June, 2002.

St James' Colour

St James' coat of arms was created in Castille in Spain in 1175, devote to the anti-moorish movement. The prominent Portuguese branch used a purple sword-like cross. Many flags were used but the most frequent and distinct were the ones with the cross sometimes with a sun and a moon. Over time, this became associated with St James, so purple became his colour.

Various saints also have a traditional association with certain colours. These derived from the spread of heraldry in the early middle ages. People thought it would be a good idea to "award" coats of arms to saints and it from this that a separate association of colours with particular saints arose. For example:
St Matthew - Green; St Luke - Blue; St John - Red; St Patrick - Green & Gold; St Andrew - Blue & White (originally Red)