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In the centuries following the Reformation, the Parish Kirk of Perth, St John's was divided into three, with three separate congregations, who took their names from their relative situations - East, Middle and West. On 18th May 1843, there took place a Disruption, when the ministers and their followers left the Established Church to form the Free Church of Scotland. They included five of the seven ministers in Perth, among them the Rev Andrew Gray of the West Kirk and Dr William Aird Thomson of the Middle Kirk. The congregations retained their names as the Free West and the Free Middle.
The Free Middle worshipped for over forty years in a church in Carpenter Street before moving to their new building at the north end of Tay Street on 17th November 1887.
[Above details taken from 'St Matthew's Church Perth, A Brief History', CH3/1284/93]
At the union of the Free Church and United Presbyterian Church in 1900, forming the United Free Church, Middle Free became Perth Middle United Free Church. And in 1929 the charge passed back to the Established Church in 1929 as Perth Middle Church of Scotland. The charge united with three other congregations in 1965; with Perth Bridgend; and with Perth West; and with Perth Wilson; to form Perth St Matthew's Church of Scotland. |