Joseph Hughes

Joseph Hughes (1769-1833) was born in Yorkshire and trained as a youth at John Fawcett’s academy at Hebden Bridge. Hughes received his formal training at Bristol Baptist Academy, at King’s College, Aberdeen, and at Edinburgh University. From 1791 to 1796 he was classical tutor at Bristol, replacing Robert Hall; Hughes also served also as assistant pastor at Broadmead with Caleb Evans and John Ryland, Jr. He left Bristol for the Baptist church in Battersea, where he ministered from 1796 until his death. His greatest achievements lay outside his pastorate, however, providing the primary impetus and leadership in the founding of the Religious Tract Society in 1799 and the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1804. He served as a secretary for both societies for the remainder of his life. He also played a role in the founding of London University. See John Leifchild, Memoir of the Late Rev. Joseph Hughes, A.M (London: T. Ward, 1835); Timothy Whelan, "Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Joseph Hughes: An Ecumenial Friendship, 1795-1831," Coleridge Bulletin, New Series 50 (2017), 95-102.