George Skene Keith

George Skene Keith (1752–1823) was a Scottish minister and versatile writer.

The Keiths of Aquhorsk descended from Alexander Keith, third son of William Keith, 2nd Earl Marischal. The eldest son of James Keith, he was born in the Old House of Aquhorsk in Marr, near Aberdeen, on 6 November 1752. He took his degree from Marischal College and the University of Aberdeen in 1770, was licensed by the presbytery of Aberdeen on 14 July 1774.

Keith was presented by the commissioners for George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal, 9 May 1776, to the living of Keith-Hall and Kinkell, Caskieben, Aberdeen. A legal difficulty arose when, the following day, the Earl Marischal himself, then resident in Potsdam, gave a presentation to Thomas Tait, minister of Old Machar. After legal proceedings in the church courts and the court of session, the case was finally decided in Keith's favour by the House of Lords in April 1778 and he was ordained to the living on 14 May 1778. He received the degree of D.D. from Marischal College in May 1803. He was translated from Keith-Hall to Tulliallan, Perthshire, by George Keith Elphinstone, Viscount Keith, and admitted on 18 July 1822.

Keith was an active minister who cultivated his glebe to support his family. He died at Tulliallan House on 7 March 1823, aged 70, and was buried in the churchyard of Keith-Hall, his old parish. A tablet of white marble was erected to his memory by Aberdeenshire gentry.

Keith's major work was General View of the Agriculture of Aberdeenshire, London, 1811, for the Board of Agriculture surveys. In an appendix are Observations on British Grasses, and a Short Account of Two Journeys undertaken with a View to ascertain the Elevation of the principal Mountains in the Division of Marr. Other publications were:

Keith wrote the account of Keith-Hall and Kinkell for Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland (1791). He edited the Lectures on Ecclesiastical History by his friend George Campbell, with a memoir (1800). He published also sermons and addresses.

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