Ralph Drummond
Ralph Drummond (1792 – 26 April 1872) was the first minister of a Presbyterian Church in South Australia History. Drummond was born in Stirling, Scotland and studied literature at Glasgow University and theology under Dr. George Lawson D.D. (1749–1820) at the Divinity Hall training college for ministers in Selkirk. He was ordained as a minister in August 1821 at the Baptist Secession Church in Crail, Fifeshire, where he was held in high esteem. In 1838 he was called to serve the United Presbyterian Church in South Australia, and with his wife Elizabeth and their eight children arrived in the  colony aboard "Sir Charles Forbes" in June 1839. He founded the "Classical and English School" on Angas Street near Victoria Square, and preached to a small congregation in the schoolroom. On 30 November 1840 he laid the foundation stone of the new United Presbyterian church building on Gouger Street, near Victoria Square, and on 27 February 1842 he preached his first sermon there, the first Presbyterian Church in the colony. He travelled extensively to the Finniss, Strathalbyn, and Mount Barker districts, visiting church members. In 1851 some differences arose which badly affected attendance in the church. Around 1854 he met  with a very serious accident by which his leg was broken, his arm injured, and was forced to suspend his ministerial duties for six or seven months. Drummond never fully recovered and tendered his resignation in 1855, whereon Rev. Peter Mercer of Drymen, Stirlingshire, was inducted as his colleague on 15 July 1855 with a view to taking over the church, but only remained some six months, having grounds for dissatisfaction that were never clearly stated. On 23 July 1857 Drummond was presented by his congregation with a purse of 300 sovereigns recognising his 17 years of service, and significantly  as a mark of their sympathy with him in the trials and privations he has been called on to endure. His replacement Rev. James Lyall took his first service on 27 September 1857. Drummomd remained active in the church, and was instrumental in the union of the three Presbyterian churches in Adelaide. He was accorded the honor of laying the foundation-stone for the Flinders Street Presbyterian Church in 1864. He occasionally took services, particularly at Golden Grove until around 1870 he was forced by feebleness and rheumatism to remain at home in Mitcham. In August 1871 he was accorded  a reception to celebrate the 50th jubilee of his arrival in the colony. He died at home, clear-minded and coherent to the last, in 1872. His remains were buried in the West Terrace Cemetery. Family. Ralph Drummond (c. 1792 – 26 April 1872) married Elizabeth Murray (c. 1797 – 12 August 1875). Their children were: Presbyterian denominations of early Adelaide. A deed of union of the three branches of the Presbyterian Churches was signed in Adelaide on 10 May 1865 by John Gardner (Chalmers Church), Robert Haining (St. Andrew's, Wakefield Street), John Anderson (Strathalbyn), James Gordon (Gawler), James Lyall (Flinders  Street), W. Davidson (Clare), Alexander Law (Mount Barker), and James Moddich (Mount Pleasant)