Both Old and New Greyfriars were burgh churches: this meant the town council held the right to nominate the churches' ministers until the abolition of patronage within the Church of Scotland in 1874. The first ministers of the South-West Parish, which became Old Greyfriars, were Robert Rollock and Peter Hewat. The charge of Greyfriars continued with two ministers until 1840, when St John's Church, Victoria Street, was erected and the last minister of the second charge, Thomas Guthrie became the first minister of the new church. New Greyfriars was, from its establishment in 1722, served by one minister. The town council often appointed promising ministers to New Greyfriars on the understanding that they would be promoted to one of the city's two-charge churches soon afterwards. For this reason, many ministers of New Greyfriars served relatively short incumbencies. In 1929, William Wallace Dunlop Gardiner, the last minister of New Greyfriars, became the first minister of the united charge of Greyfriars.