Octavius Winslow (1808-78) was born in Pentonville, a village near London. He was the eighth of thirteen children. Though he grew up in New York, he spent most of his life in England. Winslow was one of the best-known Nonconformist ministers of the 19th century in England, and held pastorates at Leamington Spa, Bath and Brighton. He was one of the preachers at the opening of Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle.
Winslow pastored a Baptist church on Warwick Road in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire (1839-1858) and in 1858, become the founder and first minister of Kensington Chapel, Bath. In 1865, the church became a Union Church (a mixture of credobaptist and paedobaptist). This may mark a change in attitude in Winslow who in 1867 left the Baptist Pastorate and was ordained an Anglican deacon and priest in 1870. For his remaining years, he served as a minister of Emmanuel Church, Brighton. In 1868 he had produced hymn book for this very congregation. He died in 1878 after a short illness.
Winslow’s many writings include The Work of the Holy Spirit; Help Heavenward; Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul; No Condemnation in Christ; and Soul-Depths and Soul-Heights, all reprinted by the Trust.