Leechman, John, Lld

Leechman, John, LL.D.

a Scotch Baptist minister and missionary, was born at Glasgow, September 2, 1803, and became a Baptist in 1820. He was educated at the Haldane Institution, Grantown, in the north of Scotland, in the Baptist College, Bristol, and the University of Glasgow. He was ordained a missionary to India at Edinburgh, July 3, 1832, and sailed from Liverpool on the 25th for the mission station at Serampore. He began work as tutor in the college, and preacher of the gospel. In 1835 he was ordained co-pastor of the Church at Serampore. In 1837 he sailed for England for the benefit of his wife's health, and to awaken greater interest at home in the mission in India. In 1838 he was induced to settle as pastor of the Church at Irvine, Ayrshire. He removed to London in 1848 as pastor of the Baptist Church in Hammersmith. In 1850 he was sent, with the Reverend Joshua Russell, as a deputation to India and Ceylon, in which they spent some four months. He resigned his pastorate in 1863, and removed to Bath for rest and recuperation. He afterwards engaged in various public labors, and at the close of 1867 accepted the pastorate at Kensington Chapel. He ceased to preach in 1870, and died March 16, 1874. See (Lond.) Bapt. Hand-Book, 1875, page 284.