Thomas Chalmers

Anstruther on the Fife coast was the birthplace of Thomas Chalmers on 17th March 1780. His father was a prosperous businessman in the town and Thomas grew up as a member of a large family of 14 children, nine brothers and five sisters. He was the sixth. At the age of three, he went to the local parish school. Of him, at about 10 years of age, it is reported that he was "one of the idlest, strongest, merriest, and most generous-hearted boys in Anstruther school". Amongst his fellows one would distinguish "one boy above the rest ... who is the leader in their sports--strong, active, merry and boisterous, with big head, matted dark hair, large plain features, broad shoulders, well-proportioned but brawny limbs, his laugh always loudest, and his figure always foremost at football and the other games in which they are contending". Read more about Thomas Chalmers at the Free Church of Scotland.

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