1 of 5

One summer evening in 1865 a tall, extremely energetic Methodist minister walked through London's East End. He stopped to listen to a group of men who were preaching outside the Blind Beggar public house. Their teaching, their methods, their fervour gripped his interest and it showed on his face. He was invited to have a word. The preachers listened spellbound.

'This is the man we want at the tent,' they agreed.

After the nightly street meetings they would adjourn to an old tent in a disused burial ground. They needed a leader more able than themselves for these indoor gatherings, and so they invited the minister, William Booth, to take charge. A few days later, on Sunday 2 July, he conducted a service out of which grew the Salvation Army.

William Booth was born in Nottingham in 1829, the son of an unsuccessful builder. He had been a pawnbroker's assistant in his native town and in Kennington, London. Since then he had been a full-time preacher for thirteen years, but that summer evening he was out of an appointment. Among the poor of Whitechapel he found his destiny.

Slowly he made converts and unintentionally built up a new Christian body. This at first he called The Christian Mission. By 1878, when the name of the organization was changed to The Salvation Army, he had eighty-eight paid helpers and operated fifty centres, from North Shields to Portsmouth as well as in Wales.

Following the alteration to the 'Army' title, William Booth became known as the General and his full-time helpers as Captains. Further military terms were introduced. A group of members became a corps, and their terms of commissioning became Articles of War. Even today a soldier, instead of paying a weekly contribution, fires a cartridge.

During the 1878 annual conference Captain Elijah Cadman jumped to his feet. He was a colourful character, a diminutive one-time chimney sweep and boxer.

'I would like to wear a suit of clothes that would let everybody know I meant war to the teeth and salvation for the world' he said.

Within days, Salvationists, as they were beginning to call themselves, were wearing some distinguishing mark or emblem. This soon developed into a standardized uniform.

That same year in Salisbury the Fry family of four brass instrumentalists offered to assist the local Captain in his street meetings. Some of the local toughs, who objected to the Army's way of proclaiming the gospel, did their best to hinder their efforts. The Frys thought that their playing would help with the singing and have a sobering effect on the persecutors at the same time. When William Booth heard of this, he invited the musical family to accompany him as he toured the country. The Fry family became the first Army band, soon to be followed by a resident group in Consett, County Durham. Today over 41,000 men and women follow their example.

There has never been sex discrimination in the Salvation Army. One of its earliest decisions was that 'godly women possessing the necessary gifts and qualification shall be employed as preachers .. . they shall be eligible for any office' (1870). William Booth's wife, Catherine, became one of the world's most powerful preachers, at a lime when it was generally considered that a woman's place was in the home and not in public life. Their own daughter Evangeline was the Army's General from 1934 to 1939.

Neither did William Booth believe in class distinction. A farm labourer will play in a band by the side of a university lecturer, or a bank manager and a man with a title will march either side of a factory worker. There are members of parliament on Army rolls, who wear the same type of uniform as the pensioner with no other income. At the turn of the century, one Army officer was also a princess.

next page... |  1 of 5

share this page

RSS Feed   RSS Help