Joseph Angus (1816-1902)
Artist unknown
Joseph Angus was born on 16th January 1816 at Bolam, Northumberland. At just 22 years of age, Joseph Angus preached his first sermon in the small Baptist chapel on Tuthill Stairs, Newcastle, and it has been said that “this sermon – on ‘the love of Christ constraineth us’ –may […] have determined [his] future career”. In 1835, he was admitted as a student at Stepney College, which marked the beginning of a lifelong relationship: he eventually went on to become Principal of Stepney College, in 1849; he oversaw its move to Regent’s Park, London. Angus was also a Baptist minister and a biblical scholar, a passion forming the core of the Angus Library at Regent’s Park College today. He also contributed in many other ways to the college, including his introduction of the Professorial Fund and several scholarships to aid missionary work. So loved was Joseph Angus by his students that they set aside a subscription of £2,000 to institute a lecturership in his name on subjects such as pastoral work, Church history, and biblical science. He has been heralded as among the most distinguished and trusted leaders of the Baptist denomination. He died at his home, Ellerdale, in Hampstead, on 28th August 1902, and was buried in Norwood cemetery.