Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cairns, William
CAIRNS, WILLIAM (d. 1848), philosophical writer, was a native of Glasgow. After completing his course at the university, he, in 1800, enlarged the Antiburgher Secession Hall for the study of divinity. In March 1808 he was ordained minister of the secession church at Johnshaven, Kincardineshire, This position he resigned in October 1815 on being chosen professor of logic and belles-lettres by the directors of the Belfast Institution. He remained there till his death, 21 April 1848. He was the author of 'Outlines of Lectures on Logic and Belles-Lettres,' 1829, and 'Treatise on Moral Freedom,' 1844. He also edited, with a memoir, 'Lectures on Intellectual Philosophy,' by Dr. John Young, 1836.
[Mackelvie's Annals of the United Presbyterian Church. pp. 80, 660; Irving's Dict. of Eminent Scotsmen; Brit, Mus. Cat.]