William Hanna

William Hanna (26 November 1808 – 24 May 1882) was a Scottish minister, known as a theological writer and as the biographer of his father-in-law, Thomas Chalmers. Life Born in Belfast on 26 November 1808, he was the son of Rev Prof Samuel Hanna, a minister of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland. He studied at the University of Glasgow, going on to the University of Edinburgh where he studied under Thomas Chalmers. In 1834 Hanna was licensed to preach the Church of Scotland. He was ordained at East Kilbride, a parish near Glasgow, on 17 September 1835. In 1837 he was translated to the parish of Skirling in Peebles-shire, near Biggar. During the ten-year controversy that preceded the Disruption of 1843, he took an active part on the side of Chalmers and his allies. He left the established Church of Scotland in 1843, joining the Free Church of Scotland, taking most of his congregation with him. Having resigned his charge at Skirling in 1848, Hanna removed permanently to Edinburgh, where in 1850 he was called to be assistant to Thomas Guthrie, as minister of St. John's Free Church on Johnstone Terrace near Edinburgh Castle. In 1852 he received an honorary doctorate of LL.D. from the University of Glasgow and in 1864 an honorary doctorate D.D. from the University of Edinburgh. In 1855 he was living at 4 Castle Terrace facing Edinburgh Castle.