Who Was George Müller? His Life, Faith and Bristol Orphan Houses
George Müller was a German-born preacher who lived most of his life in Bristol, England, and became known around the world as a man of prayer. He was born in Prussia in 1805 and died in Bristol in 1898. Over about sixty years he cared for more than ten thousand orphans in homes he built on Ashley Down, and he never asked anyone for a penny. He told God his needs, and he waited for God to send what was needed.
He wrote the story himself, in a long journal of what he called the Lord's dealings with him. You can read it free in the Autobiography of George Müller, the condensed edition of his own narrative. A. T. Pierson's biography, George Müller of Bristol, tells the same life from the outside, written soon after his death.
A wild young man in Prussia
Müller begins his story plainly:
I WAS born at Kroppenstaedt, near Halberstadt, in the kingdom of Prussia, on September 27th, 1805.
Autobiography of George Müller, chapter I
His father, a tax collector, wanted him to become a Lutheran clergyman for the sake of a comfortable living. The boy had no interest in God. He lied to his father about money, gambled, drank, and ran up hotel bills he could not pay. At sixteen he was caught skipping out on a bill and spent more than three weeks in jail. Pierson does not soften it:
This boy of sixteen was already a liar and thief, swindler and drunkard, accomplished only in crime, a companion of convicted felons and himself in a felon's cell.
George Müller of Bristol, chapter I
He went on to study divinity at the University of Halle, still careless and still in debt.
The Saturday night that changed everything
In November 1825 a friend named Beta mentioned a small meeting at a Christian's house where people read the Bible, sang, prayed and read a printed sermon. Müller went along. He had never seen anyone kneel to pray. Afterward he wrote:
But that evening was the turning-point in my life.
The Life of Trust, chapter II
His life changed. He gave up his old companions, began to read the Scriptures, and soon wanted to be a missionary. His father was furious, and Müller decided to stop taking his money. God supplied him in other ways, which was an early lesson in the trust that marked the rest of his life.
England, Teignmouth and a new way to live
In 1829 Müller went to London to train with a society that sent missionaries to the Jews. Illness took him to Devon to recover, and there he met Henry Craik, who became his closest friend and fellow worker. He soon left the London society and took a small congregation at Teignmouth.
Two decisions there shaped everything that came after. In October 1830 he married Mary Groves, sister of the missionary Anthony Norris Groves. And he and Mary gave up his regular salary and the pew rents. They would tell their needs to God alone and live on what came in freely. Pierson sums it up: they would "look to the Lord to supply all temporal wants through the voluntary offerings of those to whom they ministered."
Bristol and the Scriptural Knowledge Institution
In 1832 Müller and Craik moved to Bristol to preach at Gideon and Bethesda chapels. The work grew fast. In 1834 Müller began what he called the Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad. It supported day schools and Sunday schools, gave away Bibles and Christian books, and helped missionaries overseas. Like his own support, it would take no help from the world, run up no debts, and ask no one for money.
The orphan houses
In 1835 Müller read the life of A. H. Francke, the German pastor who built a great orphan house at Halle, and he began to pray about doing something similar in Bristol. He said plainly why:
But still, the first and primary object of the work was, and still is, that God might be magnified by the fact that the orphans under my care are provided with all they need, only by prayer and faith, without any one being asked by me or my fellow-laborers, whereby it may be seen that God is FAITHFUL STILL, and HEARS PRAYER STILL.
The Life of Trust, chapter VII
The first home opened in a rented house on Wilson Street in April 1836. Within a few years there were four rented houses on that street. In 1845 the neighbors complained about the noise, and Müller began praying for land to build on. The first New Orphan House on Ashley Down opened in 1849 for 300 children. Four more followed, the last in 1870. Together the five stone buildings could house more than two thousand children and their teachers. The full story is in our article on the George Müller orphanage, and Müller's own account of the building is in chapter XI of the Autobiography.
There were hard seasons. In the autumn of 1838 the funds ran so low that the staff often had nothing in hand for the next meal. Müller recorded each need and each answer, day by day, and published the accounts so others could see that God still hears prayer. Read how he prayed in George Müller on prayer and faith.
Sorrow, a second marriage and the preaching tours
Mary Müller died in February 1870 after forty years of marriage. Their only surviving child, Lydia, married James Wright, who would later lead the work. In 1871 Müller married Susannah Grace Sangar, a longtime member of the church.
Then, at seventy, he began to travel. From 1875 to 1892 he and Susannah made a series of long preaching tours across Europe, North America, the Middle East, India, Australia, China and Japan. Pierson reports the total:
This man — from his seventieth to his eighty-seventh year — when most men are withdrawing from all activities, had travelled in forty-two countries and over two hundred thousand miles, a distance equivalent to nearly eight journeys round the globe!
George Müller of Bristol, chapter XVII
Susannah kept her own record of these years, published as The Preaching Tours and Missionary Labours of George Müller. She died in 1894.
His last days
Müller kept preaching and leading the work into his nineties. On the evening of March 9, 1898, he joined the usual prayer meeting at the orphan houses. The next morning he was found dead beside his bed. He was ninety-two. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets of Bristol for his funeral.
For all the money that had passed through his hands, his own estate was very small. In his will he left this testimony:
I cannot help admiring God's wondrous grace in bringing me to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus when I was an entirely careless and thoughtless young man, and that He has kept me in His fear and truth, allowing me the great honour, for so long a time, of serving Him.
George Müller of Bristol, chapter 15
What his life added up to
The Fifty-ninth Report of the Institution, issued after his death, gave the totals Pierson prints in chapter XX. Over sixty years, 10,024 orphans had lived on Ashley Down. Schools aided by the Institution had taught well over a hundred thousand children. Close to two million Bibles and portions of Scripture had been given out, along with millions of books and tracts. Missionaries in many lands had been helped. In all, close to a million and a half pounds had come in, without one appeal for money.
Müller always said his work was not meant to show what a special man could do. It was meant to show what God will do for anyone who trusts Him. He wrote:
I have joyfully dedicated my whole life to the object of exemplifying how much may be accomplished by prayer and faith.
George Müller of Bristol, chapter 15
Where to read more
Start with his own words in the Autobiography of George Müller. If you want the whole life in one readable volume, read Pierson's George Müller of Bristol. Our guide to George Müller's books explains every Müller title in the library and which to read first, and George Müller quotes collects his best-known sayings with their sources. More of his writing is on the George Müller author page.