Spurgeon, Charles Haddon (1834–1892)

English Baptist preacher and founder of Spurgeon's Bible college, now based in South Norwood, near Croydon, England. He also built and supported an almshouse and an orphanage and founded a number of churches.

Spurgeon was born in the village of Kelvedon, Essex, and brought up in Colchester, where his father was a coal merchant and the pastor of a nearby independent church. He became pastor of a church when he was only 17, and in 1861 built the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, at a cost of £31,000. This was the largest nonconformist church in the world, with a capacity of 5,600, and he preached there for over 30 years.

In 1856 he founded the Pastors' College (known today as Spurgeon's College). The college began in central London and moved to its current location in 1923. In the same year, he began to publish a monthly magazine, The Sword and the Trowel.