Thomas Spurgeon was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Reformed Baptist

Reformed Baptist

Reformed Baptists are Baptists that hold to a Calvinist soteriology. They can trace their history through the early modern Particular Baptists of England. The first Reformed Baptist church was formed in the 1630s...

 preacher of the Metropolitan Tabernacle

Metropolitan Tabernacle

The Metropolitan Tabernacle is a large Reformed Baptist church in the Elephant and Castle in London. It was the largest non-conformist church edifice of its day in 1861. The Tabernacle Fellowship have been worshipping together since 1650, soon after the sailing of the Pilgrim Fathers...

, one of two non-identical twin sons of the famous Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892).

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

Royal Surrey Gardens

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

 Music Hall of 19 October 1856 while their father was preaching. Their mother, Susannah became an invalid at the age of 33 while the boys were still in their teens.

After serving some time to an engraver, Thomas Spurgeon, like his brother Charles, decided to give his life to preaching the gospel. But his health prevented him from remaining in England. While he was still young he sailed to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, and spent one year in evangelistic

Evangelism

Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....

 labors there. After his return to England it was decided that he must return to a better climate for his health. During the early 1880's he preached in many places in Australia, as well as in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 ; and finally he decided to accept the pastorate of a Baptist church in Auckland, the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle

Auckland Baptist Tabernacle

The Auckland Baptist Tabernacle is a heritage-listed church located near the corner of Queen Street and Karangahape Road, at the edge of Auckland central business district in New Zealand.-History:...

, where his influence was already becoming widely felt.

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

Arthur Tappan Pierson

Arthur Tappan Pierson was an American Presbyterian pastor, early fundamentalist leader, and writer who preached over 13,000 sermons, wrote over fifty books, and gave Bible lectures as part of a transatlantic preaching ministry that made him famous in Scotland and England...

. During Thomas' fifteen year pastorate, the Tabernacle burned in 1898 and was rebuilt along similar lines.