Tributes have been paid to the Very Rev Gilleasbuig Macmillan, minister of St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh for 40 years, who died on December 13, aged 80.

Gilleasbuig was born in Stirling, but grew up in the West Highlands after his father, the Rev Kenneth Malcolm Macmillan, was called to Appin in 1948. He took his MA and BD at Edinburgh University, serving during his training at Linlithgow St Michael’s and Edinburgh: Blackhall St Columba’s before being ordained back in his father’s presbytery of Lorn and Mull, and taking up his first charge at Portree in Skye in 1969. 

He was called to St Giles’ in 1973, a post that involved not just all the usual pressures of ministry but overseeing a team of assistants leading an average (in 2003) of 17 acts of worship a week, responsibility for an iconic building attracting over a million tourists every year, and taking part in state and royal occasions including the reopening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.

He was also a Chaplain to the Queen in Scotland, Dean of the Order of the Thistle from 1989-2014, and chaplain of the Royal Scottish Academy, Royal College of Surgeons and the High Constables of Edinburgh.

A committed ecumenist, when Gilleasbuig was interviewed by Life and Work in 2003 he emphasised the importance of worship of ‘high standard and quality’, but said he was pleased when a visitor would ask him after the service what denomination it was.

The Rev Dr Karen Katrina Campbell, who worked with him as both a probationer and ordained assistant at St Giles, wrote on the Church of Scotland website that he had been ‘one of the giants of the Church’, ‘a man of profound intellect… who could not be rivalled in his conduct of worship’ and ‘a good, kind and compassionate man’.

He is survived by his wife, Maureen, and daughter Mary Jane. The Rev Bill Shannon was the son of a miner who died of an industry-related disease when Bill was only five. He was expected to follow his father into the pits, but Bellshill Academy recognised his potential and persuaded his mother to keep him in education. Bill justified this faith, gaining a place at Glasgow University.

At first studying maths and physics, he found his true calling in divinity through the evangelism of the Rev Dr D P Thomson and through the social work and ministry of the Rev Tom Allan in North Kelvinside.

Ordained at Netherton St Matthew’s Church, Knightswood in 1955, seven years later he joined Tom Allan as colleague minister at St George’s Tron, helping to build a large and diverse congregation reflecting the realities of life in Glasgow city centre.

In contrast, his next two appointments would see him spend the rest of his life relishing the fresh air of rural Perthshire. He was appointed Warden of the St Ninian’s Lay Training Centre, Crieff, in 1966, where he oversaw the reconstruction of the building and over 4,000 visitors annually. In 1973 he was inducted to Moulin and Pitlochry West Church where he remained until retiring as minister, after unions, of Pitlochry Parish Church in 1998.

Bill’s ministry took him from Addis Ababa (for the World Assembly of the United Bible Societies in 1972) to Mount Zion. He preached in living rooms, hospitals, prisons, cathedrals, but seemed happiest spreading the gospel outdoors: in weekly summer ‘Songs of Praise’ services in Pitlochry, and Summer Missions at Aberdeen, St Andrews, Ayr and Girvan.

Bill enjoyed a long and happy retirement with Betsy, whom he married in 1954 and with whom he had three boys. He died on February 9 aged 94.