SON of a man of business in Newcastle-on-Tyne, Dr. Corbett
was born in that city in 1837. He was educated, first at a school in Newcastle
kept by an uncle, and afterwards for five years at Croft House Boarding School.
It was the headmaster at Croft House, Mr. Joseph Coulthard, who first suggested
to him the ministry as a calling. He attended Glasgow University, studying in
the old classrooms in High Street under Professors Ramsay, Lushington, Buchanan,
Fleming, Blackburn, Thomson ( Lord Kelvin), and Weir. And he afterwards took his
theological course at the U.P. Divinity Hall in Edinburgh under Drs. Eadie,
Lindsay, McMichael, and Harper.
Subsequently he went to Berlin and Heidelberg and attended
the classes of Professors Hengstenberg, Steinmeyer, and others. He received
license from the Presbytery of Newcastle, and shortly afterwards obtained no
fewer than four calls, to Burton-on-Trent, Alexandria, Kilcreggan, and Cape
Colony. He accepted Kilcreggan, and was ordained there, June 17, 1862. Seven
years later he was transferred to Coupland Street, Manchester, as successor to
Dr. Scott, who had been appointed Home Mission Secretary to the United
Presbyterian Church. In 1874 he was chosen the first minister of Camphill
Church, Glasgow, in which charge he has since remained, and in 1884 he received
the degree of D.D. from Glasgow University.
While in Kilcreggan Dr. Corbett did a considerable amount of
editorial work in connection with the serial publications of Messrs. Blackie &
Son. Afterwards, in Manchester, he acted as secretary to the Nonconformist
Association called into existence especially for the furtherance of educational
policy in view of Mr. Forster's Bill. And after returning to Scotland he was for
several years editor of the United Presbyterian Magazine, now no longer
published.
Camphill Church, of which Dr. Corbett has been minister for
some thirty-five years, has over 1,000 members, and an annual income of more
than £2,500, and it carries on a large mission work, especially in the district
of Tradeston. On the occasion of his semi-jubilee as minister of the
congregation, Dr. Corbett was presented with a number of valuable gifts.
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Index of Glasgow Men (1909)