George Hay

George Hay (c.1530–1588) was a Church of Scotland minister immediately after the Reformation, who served as Moderator of the General Assembly from March 1571. Life He was born around 1539 a younger son of William Hay 5th Laird of Talla near Tweedsmuir, and his wife Janet Spottiswood, a sister or close cousin of John Spottiswood. In the earliest years of the Reformation (July 1558) he is mentioned as "Rector of Rathven". He was certainly a Roman Catholic priest pre-Reformation, having been granted a dispensation from Pope Paul IV allowing him a joint benefice from both Rathven and "Eddleston", showing that he was serving both these communities. If this "Eddleston" is the same the Eddleston of the Scottish Borders this is a very considerable journey in the 16th century. In January 1560 he granted "kirk lands" at Rathven and Eddleston to his brother William Hay of Barro.