Joseph Mullens

Joseph Mullens (2 September 1820 – 10 July 1879) worked with the London Missionary Society (LMS) in India.

Life Joseph Mullens, son of Richard Mullens, was born on 2 September 1820 in London. He studied at Coward College, a dissenting academy that trained people for nonconformist ministry, in 1837 and graduated from the University of London, to which the college was affiliated, in 1841. In the following year, Mullens became pastor at the church in Bhawanipur.

Probably a more gifted publicist than he was a missionary, Mullens did not restrict himself to promoting the interests and achievements of the LMS but rather did so for Protestant missionaries in general. This ecumenism was later evidenced in 1860 when he attended a conference of Protestant missionaries in Liverpool and pleaded with those present to set aside their doctrinal differences for the greater good of serving the cause of Christianity in India. His efforts in producing statistics relating to work done in India were significant to the fundraising abilities of missionary societies in Britain. He also wrote The Religious Aspects of Hindu Philosophy (1860), which enabled other missionaries to benefit from his learning.

Together with his wife, he prepared Brief Memorials of the Revd A. F. Lacroix, which was published in 1862 after her death. He also wrote Twelve Months in Madagascar, published in 1875 and based on his 1873 tour to that country.