A fact from Arnold Spencer-Smith appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 23 November 2007. The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that the wallet of Scottish curate Arnold Spencer-Smith was found in Captain Scott's Antarctic hut in 1999, about 83 years after Spencer-Smith died in 1916?
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Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
The paragraph under the heading "Biography" on this page states that Arnold Spencer-Smith was ordained a "deacon into the Church of Scotland in 1910, subsequently being appointed Curate of All Saints, Edinburgh". This would seem to be inaccurate, as while the Church of Scotland, a part of the Protestant Reformed tradition does ordain deacons, it does not ordain "Priests". The office called in some traditions "Priest", is in the Reformed tradition termed "Minister", or sometimes "Teaching Elder". Most likely Spencer-Smith was a ordained into the Scottish Episcopal Church, a part of the Anglican communion, where he would have been known as a Priest. Noel Stoutenburg 0100 GMT 24 November, 2007. —Preceding unsigned comment added by ÞorsHammer (talk • contribs) 00:58, 24 November 2007 (UTC) .... have a look at the sources and then change it if you have evidence,,, be BOLD! Victuallers (talk) 13:49, 24 November 2007 (UTC)Reply
RESPONSE
It seems most likely that S-S was indeed ordained into the Scottish Episcopal Church, not the Church of Scotland. Tyler-Lewis refers to the "Anglican Church of Scotland" and the www.heritage-antarctica.org website refers to ordination "in Edinburgh Cathedral" (presumably St Giles). Short of absolute confirmation I have amended the biographic details on balance of probability.
