Joseph Hughes (1769–1833) was an English Baptist minister, best known for his role as a founder of the

British and Foreign Bible Society The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world. The Soc ...

Early life

He was born in

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its roots ...

, London to Thomas Hughes and his wife Sarah Brier, a Baptist. In a large family, many died young, and Joseph as an infant was put out to nurse at

Enfield Chase Enfield Chase is an area of Enfield that is named for a former royal hunting ground. Much of the former area of the Chase has been developed, but a large part survives between Cockfosters in the west and Enfield in the east as Trent Country ...

. When young, Hughes was sent from his family in London as boarder at the school run in

Darwen, Lancashire Darwen is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road, A666 road passes through Darwen towards Black ...

by the Presbyterian minister Robert Smalley, in 1778. From there he moved in 1780 to

Rivington Rivington is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, occupying . It is about southeast of Chorley and about northwest of Bolton. Rivington is a rural area consisting primarily of agricultural grazing land, ...

, and the

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

run by John Norcross. His father died when he was ten. He was baptised in London in 1784, by

Samuel Stennett Samuel Stennett (1 June 1727 – 24 August 1795) was a Seventh Day Baptist minister and hymnwriter. Pastor and hymnwriter He was born in Exeter but at the age of 10 his family moved to London, where his father served as the minister of the Bapti ...

. From this point his education was supported by the Trust of John Ward, set up for young Dissenters, Baptists preferred, aged from 14 to 18. Through Stennett, Hughes went first to the Bristol Baptist Academy in 1794, and then in 1787 to

King's College, Aberdeen King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland, the full title of which is The University and King's College of Aberdeen (''Collegium Regium Abredonense''), is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and now an integral part of the Universi ...

, where he graduated M.A, in 1790. He then spent a short period at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

. In 1791 Hughes became a classics tutor, and assistant to Caleb Evans, at the Bristol Baptist Academy. Evans died shortly afterwards. Hughes then ran the academy, for a year and a half. Among his pupils there was John Foster. Hughes at this period joined the social circle of

Joseph Cottle Joseph Cottle (1770–1853) was an English publisher and author. Cottle started business in Bristol. He published the works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey on generous terms. He then wrote in his ''Early Recollections'' an exposur ...

, beginning a long friendship.

Minister at Battersea

John Ryland John Ryland (1753–1825) was an English Baptist minister and religious writer. He was a founder and for ten years the secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society. Life The son of John Collett Ryland, he was born at Warwick on 29 January 175 ...

became minister at

Broadmead Baptist Church Broadmead Baptist Church is a Baptist church in the Broadmead area of Bristol, England. The church was the first English Dissenters, dissenting church in Bristol, founded by Dorothy Hazard and four other dissenters in 1640. In its early years th ...

at the end of 1793, and the contrast of styles with the careful Hughes in the end undermined Hughes's position in Bristol. Through Stennett and the Little Wild Street Baptist congregation he led, Hughes found that he could run a church in the old Battersea Chapel, founded 1736. (

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...

was then a village south of London, in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. Hughes had work done to expand the chapel, and moved there in 1796–7.

Robert Aspland Robert Aspland (13 January 1782 – 30 December 1845) was an English Unitarian minister, editor and activist. To be distinguished from his son Robert Brook Aspland (1805-1869). Life Aspland was the son of Robert Aspland and his second wife, Ha ...

, another Ward Trust scholar, came to study with Hughes in 1797–8. In 1799 Foster joined Hughes in Battersea, to help educate a group of 20 Sierra Leoneans brought from Africa by John Campbell, and originally destined for Scotland. Hughes drew from the story of

Mary Jones and her Bible The story of Mary Jones and her Bible inspired the founding of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Mary Jones (16 December 1784 – 28 December 1864) was a Welsh girl who, at the age of fifteen, walked twenty-six miles barefoot across the coun ...

, circulated by

Thomas Charles Thomas Charles (14 October 17555 October 1814) was a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist clergyman of considerable importance in the history of modern Wales. Early life Charles was born of humble parentage at Longmoor, in the parish of Llanfihangel Abe ...

, the need for a Bible society with global reach and multilingual ambitions. He is quoted as saying "If Wales, why not the world?" When the British and Foreign Bible Society was formed in 1804, the three secretaries were Hughes, the Anglican priest

John Owen (1766–1822) John Owen (1766–1822) was an English Anglican priest, a secretary on its foundation of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Life The son of Richard Owen, a jeweller of Old Street, London, he entered St Paul's School on 18 October 1777. He w ...

and Charles Francis Steinkopff, the foreign secretary. A memoir by

John Leifchild John Leifchild (1780–1862) was an English Congregational minister and writer. Life The son of John Leifchild by his wife Sarah Bockman, he was born at Barnet, Hertfordshire, 15 February 1780. He was educated at Barnet grammar school, and from ...

appeared in 1835.

Works

* ''The Excellence of the Holy Scriptures: An Argument for Their More General Dispersion at Home and Abroad'' (1803). Published form of a position paper by Hughes, arguing the case for a Bible society. * ''The Believer's Prospect and Preparation'' (1831), sermon on the death of Robert Hall.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Joseph 1769 births 1833 deaths English Baptist ministers