Booth, William, 1829–1912, English religious leader, founder and first general of the Salvation Army Salvation Army, Protestant denomination and international nonsectarian Christian organization for evangelical and philanthropic work.

Organization and Beliefs

The Salvation Army has established branches in 100 countries throughout the world.
..... Click the link for more information. , b. Nottingham. Originally a local preacher for the Wesleyan Methodists, he went (1849) to London and entered (1852) the ministry of the Methodist New Connexion Church, but in 1861 he began independent evangelistic work. In 1865, with the help of his wife, Catherine Booth, he started the East London Revival Society (soon known as the Christian Mission) in Whitechapel, London. The Christian Mission developed in 1878 into the Salvation Army. General Booth, a remarkable organizer, traveled widely, winning recognition wherever he went. In 1890 he published In Darkest England and the Way Out in collaboration with W. T. Stead. See Booth Catherine Mumford Booth, 1829–90, whom he married in 1855, played a leading part in the foundation and development of the Salvation Army, devoting herself particularly to its work among women and children.
..... Click the link for more information. , family; Booth, Evangeline Cory.

Bibliography

See biographies by G. S. Railton (2d ed. 1912), H. Begbie (1920), St. J. Ervine (2 vol., 1934), H. C. Steele (1954), E. Bishop (1964), and R. Collier (1965); R. Hattersley, Blood and Fire (2000).

Booth, William

(born April 10, 1829, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Eng.—died Aug. 20, 1912, London) British religious leader, founder and general (1878–1912) of the Salvation Army. At age 15 he underwent a religious conversion and became a revivalist preacher. In 1849 he went to London, where he became a regular preacher of the Methodist New Connection (1852–61) and then an independent revivalist. Aided by his wife, Catherine Mumford Booth (1829–90), a fellow preacher and social worker, he founded the Christian Mission in 1865, which in 1878 became the Salvation Army. He traveled worldwide to lecture and organize branches of the Army. His proposals for remedying social ills received widespread acceptance and the encouragement of Edward VII.