Reverend David Shanks
(1830-1887)
15 May 1862

Volume 6, page 311, sitting number 8113. 

According to Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, a record of the ordained ministry of the Church of Scotland, David Shanks was born in Airdrie on 8 April 1828, the son of Robert Shanks and his wife Agnes née Hay. However, his gravestone records his date of birth as 8 April 1830.

He was educated at the University of Glasgow and ordained on 31 August 1854, In the same year he became the minister of Craigrownie near Cove in Dunbartonshire. The was a quoad sacra parish of the Church of Scotland; it had ecclesiastical functions but no local government functions. 

On 3 March 1869 in Glasgow he married Agnes Bowie Fyfe, daughter of Henry Fyfe, manufacturer, and Jeanie née Slater. Their marriage produced two sons and two daughters, ‘and another, deceased.’

In 1885 he became a D.D. (University of Glasgow). 

Reverend David Shanks died on 1 March 1887 at Fruitfield, Airdrie, the residence of his sister (Dundee Courier, 3 March 1887). He left an estate valued at £1713. 

He was buried in Barbour Cemetery, Kilcreggan, Argyll and Bute. His monument bears the legend ‘The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.’