An able theologian and accomplished writer of verses, John Bathurst
Dickson was born on the 25th December 1823, in the town of Kelso,
Roxburghshire. His father was a respectable writer or attorney in that
place. Having studied at the University of Edinburgh, and passed through
a theological curriculum at the New College of that city, he became, in
1851, a licentiate of the Free Church. In June 1852, he was ordained to
the ministerial charge of the Free High Church, Paisley.
During the period of his attendance at college, Mr Dickson was an
extensive contributor to _Tait's Magazine_, and different religious
periodicals. In 1855, he published "Theodoxia; or, Glory to God an
Evidence for the Truth of Christianity;" and in 1857 appeared from his
pen "The Temple Lamp," a periodical publication. He has written verses
on a variety of topics. His song, "The American Flag," has been widely
published in the United States.