Burnett Prizes

Burnett Prizes, two theological premiums founded by bequest of John Burnett (1729-84), an Aberdeen merchant. Part of his fortune was to be accumulated for forty years at a time as a prize-fund to the authors of the two best treatises on 'The evidence that there is a Being all-powerful, wise, and good, by whom everything exists; and particularly to obviate difficulties regarding the wisdom and goodness of the Deity; and this independent of written revelation, and of the revelation of the Lord Jesus; and from the whole to point out the inferences most necessary and useful to mankind.' On the first competition in 1815, 50 essays were given in; and the judges awarded the first prize, £1200, to Dr W. L. Brown, Principal of Aberdeen University; the second, £400, to the Rev. J. B. Sumner, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1835, 208 essays were given in; and the first prize, £1800, fell to the Rev. R. A. Thompson, for an essay entitled Christian Theism; the second prize, £600, to Dr Tulloch, afterwards Principal of St Mary's College, St Andrews, for an essay on Theism. The four essays were published. The fund has since been applied to found a lectureship on some branch of science, history, or archaeology, illustrative of natural theology. The first lectures under the new scheme, On the Nature of Light, were delivered at Aberdeen, in November 1883, by Professor Stokes of Cambridge, and published in 1884.