Background
William Purdie Dickson was born 22 October 1823 in Pettinain, Lanarkshire, Scotland, the son of George Dickson, a minister in Kilrenny, Fife, Scotland.
William Purdie Dickson was born 22 October 1823 in Pettinain, Lanarkshire, Scotland, the son of George Dickson, a minister in Kilrenny, Fife, Scotland.
The younger Dickson attended Lanark School and Saint Andrews University.
The is named in his honor. He was ordained in Cameron, Fife, Scotland, on 9 September 1851 and received his Doctor of Divinity from Saint Andrews in 1865. In 1863 Dickson came to Glasgow, Scotland as the Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at the University of Glasgow, a position he held until 1873.
From 1873 to 1895 he served as the professor of divinity after which he was succeeded by William Hastie.
Additionally, in 1866 he was also appointed the curator of the University of Glasgow Library. In that capacity he rearranged the entire library inventory into a single alphabetical sequence and produced a complete catalogue and other finding aids.
Dickson also translated several publications during his career, including Theodor Mommsen"s History of Rome and Provinces of the Roman Empire. Dickson was awarded the Doctor of Divinity degree from The University of Glasgow in 1896.