 Although Lang considered himself forward-thinking, he joined and became secretary of the Canning Club, the university's principal Conservative society. His contemporary Robert Cecil recorded that Lang's "progressive" opinions were somewhat frowned upon by traditional Tories, who nevertheless respected his ability. Lang later assisted in the founding of the University settlement of Toynbee Hall, a mission to help the poor in the East End of London. He had been first drawn to this work in 1883, after listening to a sermon in St Mary's Church, Oxford, by Samuel Augustus Barnett, Vicar of St Jude's, Whitechapel. Barnett became the settlement's first leader, while Lang became one of its first undergraduate secretaries. He spent so much time on these duties that he was chided by the Master of Balliol, Benjamin Jowett, for neglecting his studies. In 1886 Lang graduated with first-class honours in History; in October of that year he failed to secure a Fellowship of All Souls College, blaming his poor early scholastic training in Glasgow.
