Born: November 4, 1740, Farnham, Surrey, England.
Died: August 11, 1778, Kensington, Middlesex, England, of tuberculosis.
Buried: Whitefield’s Tabernacle, Tottenham Court Road, London, England.
Pseudonym: Minimus.
Augustus was the son of Major Richard Toplady and Catherine Bate. His father died in the siege of Cartagena (now in Colombia) shortly after Augustus’ birth.
Toplady attended Westminster School, London, and Trinity College, Dublin.
He was ordained an Anglican priest in 1762, and served as curate at Blagdon and Farleigh. In 1766, he became vicar of Broadhembury, Devonshire.
He left the Anglican church in 1775, moved to London, and began preaching at the French Calvinist church in Leicester Fields.