Archibald Alison

Archibald Alison FRS FRSE (13 November 1757 – 17 May 1839) was a Scottish Anglican priest and essayist. He was born in Edinburgh to Patrick Alison, an Edinburgh magistrate. After studying at the University of Glasgow, he studied civil law at Balliol College, Oxford. He was ordained in the Church of England as deacon in 1779 and as priest in 1782. He was appointed in 1778 to the curacy of Brancepeth. In 1784 he married Dorothea Gregory, daughter of Professor John Gregory of Edinburgh. The next 20 years of his life were spent in England, where he held several livings. From 1791 until his death, he held the title of Prebendary to Salisbury Cathedral. In 1800 he moved back to Edinburgh, having been appointed senior incumbent of episcopalian St Paul's Chapel. His sermons attracted many hearers, leading to the construction of a new, larger church. In 1832 he was living at 44 Heriot Row in Edinburgh. His last years were spent at Colinton near Edinburgh, where he died on 17 May 1839. He was interred at St John's Episcopal Churchyard in Edinburgh. He married Dorothea Gregory in 1784; she died in 1830. Their sons included Sir Archibald Alison, 1st Baronet, and William Pulteney Alison. Alison published, besides a *Life of Lord Woodhouselee*, a volume of sermons, and *Essays on the Nature and Principles of Taste* (1790), based on the principle of association of ideas.