H. D. C. Maclachlan

Social reformer, community leader and advocate for juvenile courts

Alice W. Campbell

January 3, 2022

Hugh David Cathcart Maclachlan, D. D. (1869-1929) was born March 16, 1869 in Barrhead, Renfrewshire, Scotland. As a young man, he earned A. M. and B. L. degrees from the University of Glasgow. Then, in 1894, Maclachlan came to the United States and worked for several years as a Texas cowpuncher and newspaper editor. He next attended Transylvania College in Lexington, Ky., and the University of Chicago, studying philosphy and religion (Shepherd, 1984). In 1904, Maclachlan became a U. S. citizen, married Margaret Graves Wolverton, and was ordained as a minister in the Disciples of Christ Church (Shepherd, 2001).

After a brief pastorate in Shelbyville, Ky., Maclachlan became the pastor of Seventh Street Christian Church in Richmond, Va. He served there for twenty-one years, from 1908 until his death May 24, 1929. He was buried in Lexington, Ky.

Maclachlan was a strong advocate for social reform and interdenominational and interfaith cooperation. An eloquent and learned orator, he backed causes such as labor legislation, woman suffrage, and world peace. He oppposed state censorship of movies and preached against intellectual narrowness and religious intolerance. He played a major role in the creation of the Richmond Juvenile Court and, as president of the Juvenile Protective Association of Virginia, to the state’s juvenile court system as well (Shepherd, 2001; Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 25, 1929). Maclachlan contributed to the founding of the Virginia Home and Industrial School for Girls and was one of the organizers of the Richmond School of Social Economy (later renamed, Richmond School of Social Work and Public Health), serving as a faculty member and as a member of the institution’s first board of directors. The Richmond School of Social Economy was a precursor to Virginia Commonwealth University.

At his death, The Richmond Times-Dispatch declared

Few men achieve such a grip on the affections of a city as did Dr. Maclachlan. He was far more than the pastor of a single church: he was also the finest type of citizen, vitally interested in the community, indefatigable in his efforts to make it a better place to live in for poor and rich alike. Not only the city will miss him, but the State also: he had a passion for social welfare and the influence of his work is widespread. He was one of the founders of the Richmond School of Social Work and Public Health from which many persons have emerged to help improve living conditions throughout Virginia. . . . By the members of his congregation, and by many others as well, he was loved–there is no other word for it. He had to an exceptional degree that magic quality known as personality which drew men to him, and because of his simple goodness he retained their affections. Whether one always agreed with him or not there was in everything he said an earnestness, sincerity and selflessness that left no sting.

Sources:

Richmond School of Social Economy, First Annual Announcement, 1917-1918. Bulletin No. 1. Social Welfare History Image Portal.

Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 25, 1929, 6.

Shepherd, S. C., Jr. (1984). Hugh David Cathcart Maclachlan in Encyclopedia of Religion in the South, 438-439. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press.

Shepherd, S. C., Jr. (2001). Avenues of faith. Shaping the Urban Religious Culture of Richmond, Virginia, 1900-1929. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.

Further reading:

Dedicated to the memory of Hugh David Cathcart Maclachlan, D. D. Born Barrhead, Renfrewshire, Scotland, March 16, 1869; died Richmond, Virginia, May 24, 1929; buried Lexington, Kentucky, May 26, 1929. Seventh Street Christian Church: Richmond, Va.

Maclachlan, H. D. C. (1920). A Bourgeois Church in a Proletarian World. Christian Century. April 22, 1920, 9-12.

MacLachlan, H. D. C. (1925). Address. Given at the Corner-stone Laying of the New Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court and Detention Home Building
Saturday, December 5, 1925. Richmond, Va. Published in the Tenth Annual Report, Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, Year Ending December 31, 1925. 

Campbell, A. W. Richmond School of Social Economy – Beginnings. October 1916 – July 1917. Social Welfare History Project.

Paul, C. A. and Campbell, A. W. (2018). Theological Foundations of Charity: Catholic Social Teaching, The Social Gospel, and Tikkun Olam, Social Welfare History Project. 

© Alice W. Campbell, 2022.

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