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{{Short description|Scottish Episcopal clergyman in Ceylon and India}}
{{One source|date=April 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis) with many spreading aerial Wellcome V0043216.jpg|thumb|236x236px|[[Banyan tree]] (''Ficus benghalensis'') with many spreading aerial roots. Aquatint by T. Medland, {{Circa|1807}}, after J. Cordiner]]
'''James Cordiner''' (1775–1836) was a [[Scottish Episcopal Church|Scottish Episcopal]] minister and writer, author of ''A Description of Ceylon''.

== Life ==

=== Origins ===
James Cordiner, third son of [[Charles Cordiner (antiquary)|Charles Cordiner]], Episcopal minister of [[Banff, Aberdeenshire|Banff]], was born in 1775. He received the first rudiments of education at Banff, and afterwards studied at the [[University of Aberdeen|University]] and [[King's College, Aberdeen]], where in an "album" or register of students now in the university library his name appears among those entering the first class in Greek (taught by Professor John Leslie) in the session 1789–1790, and in a roll of "Artium Magistri" of 29 April 1793.<ref name=":0">Chichester 1887, p. 215.</ref>

=== Ceylon ===
In 1797 he was appointed to a charge at the Military Orphan Asylum, Madras, and to do duty as chaplain with the [[80th Regiment of Foot (disambiguation)|80th Foot]], then at [[Trincomalee]], where he remained about 12 months. Thence, at the desire of the governor, [[Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford|Frederick North]], afterwards Earl of Guilford, he proceeded to [[Colombo]] to do chaplain's duty with the [[51st Regiment of Foot (disambiguation)|51st Foot]], under orders for that place. He remained in [[British Ceylon|Ceylon]] as garrison chaplain at Colombo and principal of all the schools in the island, where he was the only Church of England clergyman, up to 1804, when he returned home. On his departure he was presented by the civil and military officials at Colombo with a piece of plate of the value of 210 [[Guinea (coin)|guineas]], as a mark of their attachment and esteem.<ref name=":0" />

=== Ministry ===
On 26 May 1807 Cordiner was appointed by the constituent members of the congregation one of the ministers of St. Paul's Episcopal Church (or chapel as it then was called) at Aberdeen, at a stipend of £70 a year. He appears to have come to them from London on the recommendation of Roderick Macleod of [[St Anne's Church, Soho|St. Anne's, Soho]]. The important community of Episcopalians worshipping at St. Paul's Chapel was at that time, as it continued down to 1870 or later, not part of the [[Scottish Episcopalian Church]], but one of those Episcopalian communities claiming connection with the Church of England as distinct from the native nonjuring Episcopalian body.<ref>Chichester 1887, pp. 215–216.</ref>

=== Death ===
After faithfully discharging the duties of the ministry for many years, Cordiner resigned, on account of ill-health, on 13 November 1834, and was granted a retiring annuity of £100, with the chapel-house as a residence. He died of congestion of the lungs on 13 January 1836, in the 61st year of his age and the 37th of his ministry, and was buried in the churchyard of [[Kirk of St Nicholas|St. Nicholas, Aberdeen]], where is a tombstone to his memory.<ref name=":1">Chichester 1887, p. 216.</ref>

=== Family ===
He left a widow, who for many years received a small annuity (12 guineas) from the chapel funds, and a son Charles, a clergyman of the Church of Scotland, who down to 1864 or later was Presbyterian minister of Kinnenmouth, a chapel-of-ease in Lonmay parish, Aberdeenshire.<ref name=":1" />

== Works ==
After his return from Ceylon, Cordiner published ''A Description of Ceylon, with narratives of a Tour round the Island in 1800, the Expedition to Candy in 1803, and a Visit to Ramasseram in 1804'' (London, 1807). From the preface it appears that the author did not accompany the expedition to [[Kandy]], but was furnished with the particulars from official sources. He is therefore not responsible for statements which, as [[James Emerson Tennent|Sir Emerson Tennent]] has pointed out, when read by the light of Governor North's confidential correspondence, place the authorities in a very regrettable light.<ref>Tennent 1859, vol. 2., pp. 69, 77.</ref> The work, which is in two quarto volumes, contains fine plates from original drawings by the author of objects of interest in the island.<ref name=":1" />

Cordiner also wrote ''A Voyage to India'', which was published in 1820.<ref name=":1" />

== References ==

=== Citations ===
<references />

=== Bibliography ===
{{Commons category|James Cordiner}}
* {{cite DNB|wstitle=Cordiner, James|last=Chichester|first=Henry Manners|volume=12|pages=215-216}} {{PD-notice}}
* Chichester, H. M.; Ritchie, Lionel Alexander (2004). [https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/6311 "Cordiner, James (1775–1836)"]. In ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Oxford University Press.
* Cordiner, James (1807). ''A Description of Ceylon''. [[iarchive:descriptionofcey01cord 1/mode/2up|Vol. 1]]. [[iarchive:descriptionofcey02cord 1/mode/2up|Vol. 2]]. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, Paternoster Row; and A. Brown, Aberdeen.
* Tennent, James Emerson (1859). ''Ceylon: An Account of the Island''. 4th ed. [[iarchive:ceylonaccountofi01tenn/mode/2up|Vol. 1]]. [[iarchive:ceylonaccountofi02tenn|Vol. 2]]. London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cordiner, James}}
[[Category:1775 births]]
[[Category:1836 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish Episcopalian priests]]
[[Category:Historians of Sri Lanka]]
[[Category:People from Banff, Aberdeenshire]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Aberdeen]]
[[Category:British Indian Army chaplains]]

James Cordiner - Revision history

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