F. Townley Lord was born October 27, 1893 in Burnley, Lancashire, England, son of Jonathan and Ann (Townley) Lord. Trained for the Baptist ministry at Rawdon Baptist College in Leeds in 1910 and received his B.A. degree from the University of Manchester in 1913; an honorary bachelor of divinity degree from the University of London in 1922; a B.D. degree in 1916 and the doctor of divinity in 1925. Lord held honorary degrees from several American Colleges, including William Jewell College in Missouri, East Texas Baptist College, Carson-Newman College in Tennessee, Mercer University in Georgia, University of Richmond in Virginia, Eastern Baptist Seminary in Pennsylvania, and Furman University.

Dr. Lord was ordained to the ministry in 1916 and served in pastorates at Ipswich (1916-1920), Acton (1920-1926), and Coventry (1926-1930), before moving to Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church in London in 1930, serving until July 1958. He was editor of the Baptist Times from 1941-1956. In 1947-1948 he was President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland. Appointed a Vice President of the Baptist World Alliance at the Baptist World Congress in Copenhagen in 1947, he was elected President three years later, serving until the Jubilee Congress in London in 1955.

Lord was Furman’s commencement speaker in 1957. He was a Visiting Lecturer and Professor of Religion at Furman for the first semester of 1958-1959 school year and one semester of each school year until his death. He assisted President Plyler in purchasing books for the James B. Duke Library and Trustees Room. Lord died at the Montague Village apartments on the Furman campus on February 9, 1962.

A prolific author of books about religious history and beliefs, Lord’s books include The Unity of Body and Soul, Conquest of Death, Great Women in Christian History and Baptist world fellowship a short history of the Baptist World Alliance.