Thomas Spurgeon (20 September 1856 – 20 October 1917) was a British

Reformed Baptist Reformed Baptists, also called Particular Baptists, or Calvinist Baptists, are Baptists that hold to a Calvinism, Calvinist soteriology (salvation belief teached by John Calvin). The name "Reformed Baptist" dates from the latter part of the 20 ...

preacher of the

Metropolitan Tabernacle The Metropolitan Tabernacle is a Reformed Baptist, Reformed Independent Baptist, Independent Baptist Church in the Elephant and Castle area in London. It was the largest Nonconformist (Protestantism), non-conformist church of its day in 1861. ...

, one of the fraternal twin sons of the famous

Charles Spurgeon Charles Haddon Spurgeon (19 June 1834 – 31st January 1892) was an English Particular Baptist preacher. Spurgeon remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations, to some of whom he is known as the "Prince of Preachers." ...

(1834–92).

Life

Thomas and his twin brother were born a month before the tragedy at the

Royal Surrey Gardens Royal Surrey Gardens were pleasure gardens in Newington, Surrey, London in the Victorian period, slightly east of The Oval. The gardens occupied about to the east side of Kennington Park Road, including a lake of about . It was the site of Su ...

Music Hall of 19 October 1856 while their father was preaching. Their mother,

Susannah ''Susannah'' is an opera in two acts by the American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the ...

became an invalid at the age of 33 while the boys were still in their teens. After serving some time as an engraver, Thomas Spurgeon, like his brother Charles, decided to give his life to preaching the gospel. However, his health prevented him from remaining in England. While he was still young, he sailed to Australia, and spent one year in evangelistic labors there. After his return to England, it was decided that he must return to a better climate for his health. During the early 1880s he preached in many places in Australia, as well as in New Zealand, and finally he decided to accept the pastorate of a Baptist church in Auckland, the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle, where his influence was already becoming widely felt. Thomas married Eliza McLeod Rutherford in 1888 in Auckland. A son, Thomas Harold Spurgeon, was born in 1891. Thomas returned to England after the death of his father and succeeded him in his pulpit ministry after a brief period under Arthur Tappan Pierson. During Thomas' fifteen-year pastorate, the Tabernacle burned in 1898 and was rebuilt along similar lines. His brother Charles was pastor of the Greenwich Baptist Church. He died in

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

on 20 October 1917.

Notes

References

* * * 1856 births 1917 deaths 19th-century English Baptist ministers 20th-century English Baptist ministers English Calvinist and Reformed Christians Clergy from London {{UK-Christian-clergy-stub