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William Booth
William Booth
William Booth was born near Nottingham on April 10, 1829. As a youth, he was apprenticed to a pawnbroker, but after a conversion experience he began street preaching for a Methodist chapel. In 1849 he went to London, where he worked as a pawnbroker. Three years later, however, he became a full-time Methodist lay preacher. In 1855 he married Catherine Mumford, an intelligent and determined woman. Encouraged by her in his theological studies, Booth was ordained a minister in 1858. Booth's theology was simple and unchanging. He drew both his beliefs and his basic practice from the model set by John Wesley a century earlier. His creed required no systematic theological learning. He held that without personal acceptance of Christ as his Savior, the sinful man would die into eternal damnation. Although the opportunity for acceptance was freely offered to all, it was certain to be ignored by the masses in the sordid and pagan slums of the new industrial towns. Thus it was necessary to reach the ignorant, the drunkard, and the criminal and offer them the chance of repentance. Driven by this purpose, in 1861 the Booths left Methodism and in 1865 established the Christian Mission in East London. During the next 12 years Booth developed the evangelical techniques later employed in the Salvation Army. Among these were the use of secular quarters and the enlistment of converted sinners as workers. Booth was not a political or social radical; he only gradually came to accept that social uplift might have to precede conversion. Thus he slowly built a social program of food kitchens, housing, and communal organization. He wrote, however, "The Social is the bait, but it is Salvation that is the hook that lands the fish." The conversion of the Christian Mission into the Salvation Army occurred somewhat accidentally in 1878. Booth had earlier expressed his evangelical zeal in military terms, titles, and concepts. This organizational style, not unique to his army, was in tune with the current popularity of militarism and imperialism. The army's paper, the War Cry, appeared at the end of 1879. Although the army met considerable hostility through the 1880s, by 1890 Booth had become a figure of international renown. The day-today administrative labor of the Salvation Army fell increasingly to Bramwell Booth, General Booth's oldest child and his chief of staff and successor. Mrs. Booth died in 1890, the year in which Booth wrote, with much assistance from the reforming journalist W. T. Stead, his famous book, In Darkest England and the Way Out. In it Booth colorfully and compassionately detailed the misery of the "Submerged Tenth" and insisted that the "way out" must transform men as well as their surroundings. Further ReadingOf the biographies of Booth, two stand out: The best is St. John Ervine, God's Soldier: General William Booth (2 vols., 1934). An earlier biography is by a friend, Harold Begbie, The Life of General William Booth: The Founder of the Salvation Army (2 vols., 1920), which is well organized chronologically but lacks clarity of detail. Additional SourcesBarnes, Cyril J., William Booth and his army of peace, Amersham, Eng.: Hulton Educational, 1975. Barnes, Cyril J., Words of William Booth, London: Salvationist Publishing, 1975. Bennett, David, William Booth, Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House, 1986. Coutts, Frederick Lee, Bread for my neighbour: an appreciation of the social action and influence of William Booth, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1978. Robinson, Virgil E., William Booth and his Army, Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Association, 1976. □ |
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"William Booth." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 25 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "William Booth." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 25, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404700782.html "William Booth." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. Retrieved May 25, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404700782.html |
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Booth, William
Booth, William (1829–1912) English religious leader, founder and first general of the Salvation Army. A Methodist revivalist, he preached regularly at the Methodist New Connection from 1852 to 1861. He started his own revivalist movement, which undertook evangelistic and social work among the poor. Named the Salvation Army in 1878, the movement gradually spread to many countries. On his death, Booth was succeeded by his son William Bramwell Booth.
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Cite this article
"Booth, William." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 25 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Booth, William." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 25, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-BoothWilliam.html "Booth, William." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved May 25, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-BoothWilliam.html |
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Booth, William
Booth, William (1829–1912), founder and first General of the Salvation Army. In 1861 he left the Methodists and established a revivalist movement of his own, then called the Christian Mission, which undertook evangelistic, social, and rescue work. From 1880, when the Salvation Army spread to the USA, Australia, and Europe, he spent much of his time travelling and addressing meetings.
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E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Booth, William." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 25 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Booth, William." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 25, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-BoothWilliam.html E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Booth, William." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Retrieved May 25, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-BoothWilliam.html |
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Booth, William
Booth, William (1829–1912) British religious leader and founder of the Salvation Army (1878). Originally a Methodist preacher, Booth, assisted by his wife, Catherine, preached in the streets, and made singing, uniforms, and bands a part of his evangelical mission. He used his organizational gifts to inspire similar missions in other parts of the world.
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"Booth, William." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 25 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Booth, William." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 25, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-BoothWilliam.html "Booth, William." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Retrieved May 25, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-BoothWilliam.html |
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Booth, William
Booth, William (1829–1912), popularly known, as ‘General Booth’, was the leader of the revivalist movement known from 1878 as the Salvation Army, which sprang from the Christian Mission which he founded in Whitechapel in 1865. G. B. Shaw's Major Barbara (perf. 1905) was based on first-hand knowledge of the Salvation Army.
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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Booth, William." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 25 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Booth, William." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 25, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-BoothWilliam.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Booth, William." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 25, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-BoothWilliam.html |
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Booth, William
Booth, William, the hero of Fielding's Amelia.
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Cite this article
MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Booth, William." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 25 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Booth, William." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 25, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-BoothWilliam1.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Booth, William." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 25, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-BoothWilliam1.html |
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