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Our Staff

Dr Roshan Allpress
  • National Principal/CEO
  • BA (Hons) (Canterbury), DPhil (Oxford), FRHistS, MInstD
  • Arts & Professional Studies, Bible & Theology
  • Senior Leadership Team

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Introduction

Dr Roshan Allpress is National Principal/Chief Executive of Laidlaw College. He holds degrees in History from Canterbury and Oxford, with research interests spanning the history of social and cultural reform, evangelicalism and religious reform, the origins of philanthropy and humanitarianism, and the intersections of theology and political economic thought.

Roshan helped found and lead the Compass Foundation (now Venn Foundation), working to help young adults “know the Gospel; know the culture; and translate.” He brings a strong background in non-profit leadership, having worked and consulted for a number of non-profits, and continues to serve on several boards.

Roshan grew up in Ōtautahi Christchurch, where he met and married Lottie. Together they have worshipped across Anglican, Vineyard, Wesleyan and Open Brethren traditions, and now live in Auckland with their three young children, attending Lincoln Road Bible Chapel.

Qualifications
Bachelor of Arts (Honours)(Cantebury), Doctor of Philosophy (Oxford), Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (UK).Member of the Institute of Directors.
Books
British Philanthropy in the Globalizing World: Entrepreneurs and Evangelicals, 1756 – 1840 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023).
Book Chapters
‘”Some men make gain a fountain”: The Economics of Eighteenth Century Philanthropy’, in Hugh Cunningham and Rupert Graf Strachwitz (eds.), Philanthropy in the Age of Enlightenment 1650-1820 [Vol. 4, Cultural History of Philanthropy], (London: Bloomsbury, forthcoming).

“’Nu Tireni’ in global philanthropic contexts”, in Samuel Carpenter, Bradford Haami and Tony Ballantyne (eds.), Whatua te Kākahu: Christianity, the Māori World and Colonialism in Aotearoa New Zealand, (Wellington: Te Herenga Waka Press, forthcoming 2026).

‘“Separating from our best earthly friends”: The British and global contexts of Samuel Leigh and the Wesleyan mission to New Zealand’, in Peter Lineham ed. Weteriana Methodism, (Wellington: Philip Garside, 2024).

‘Philanthropic Formation at the Intersection of Mercantile and Religious Networks: The Thornton Family in Their Eighteenth-Century Contexts’, in Piet Naudé, Michael Welker & John Witte Jr. (eds.), The Impact of Political Economy: on Character Formation, Ethical Education, and the Communication of Values in Late Modern Pluralistic Societies (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2023).
Teaching & Expertise
History & Theology

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