![catherinebooth](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Catherinebooth.jpg)
Catherine Booth (''née'' Mumford, 17 January 1829 – 4 October 1890) was co-founder of
The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestant church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. The organisation reports a worldwide membership of over 1.7million, comprising soldiers, officers and adherents col ...
, along with her husband
William Booth
William Booth (10 April 182920 August 1912) was an English Methodist preacher who, along with his wife, Catherine, founded the Salvation Army and became its first "General" (1878–1912). His 1890 book In Darkest England and The Way Out outli ...
. Because of her influence in the formation of The Salvation Army she was known as the 'Mother of The Salvation Army'.
Life
She was born as Catherine Mumford in
Ashbourne, Derbyshire
Ashbourne is a market town in the Derbyshire Dales district in Derbyshire, England. Its population was measured at 8,377 in the 2011 census and was estimated to have grown to 9,163 by 2019. It has many historical buildings and independent sho ...
, England, in 1829 to Methodist parents, John Mumford and Sarah Milward. Her father was an occasional lay preacher and carriage maker. Her family later moved to
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a market town and inland port in the borough of the same name in the county of Lincolnshire, England. Boston is north of London, north-east of Peterborough, east of Nottingham, south-east of Lincoln, south-southeast of Hull ...
, and later lived in
Brixton
Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. From an early age, Catherine was a serious and sensitive girl. She had a strong
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
upbringing and was said to have read the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
through eight times before the age of 12.
During Catherine's adolescence a spinal curvature led to years of enforced idleness.
[ She kept herself busy, however, and was especially concerned about the problems of ]alcoholism
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...
. Even as a young girl she had served as secretary of a Juvenile Temperance Society writing articles for a temperance magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
. Catherine was a member of the local Band of Hope and a supporter of the national Temperance Society.
When Catherine refused to condemn Methodist Reformers in 1850, the Wesleyan Methodists The Wesleyan Church is a Methodist Christian denomination aligned with the holiness movement.
Wesleyan Church may also refer to:
* Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia, the Australian branch of the Wesleyan Church
Denominations
* Allegheny We ...
expelled her. For the Reformers she led a girls' Sunday school class in Clapham. At the home of Edward Rabbits, in 1851, she met William Booth, who also had been expelled by the Wesleyans for reform sympathies. William was reciting a temperance poem, "The Grog-seller’s Dream", which appealed to Catherine, who had embraced the new Methodist passion for abstinence.[Murdoch, Norman H., "The Army Mother", ''Christian History Magazine'', Issue 26: William and Catherine Booth: Salvation Army Founders (1990) Christianity Today ]
/ref>
They soon fell in love and became engaged. During their three-year engagement, Catherine constantly wrote letters of encouragement to William as he performed the tiring work of a preacher. They were married on 16 June 1855 at Stockwell Green Congregational
Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
Church in London. Their wedding was very simple, as they wanted to use their time and money for his ministry. Even on their honeymoon, William was asked to speak at meetings.
The Booths had eight children: Bramwell Booth
William Bramwell Booth, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (8 March 1856 – 16 June 1929) was a Salvation Army officer, Christian and British charity worker who was the first Chief of the Staff of The Salvation Army, Chief of Staff (1881 ...
, Ballington Booth, Kate Booth
Catherine Booth-Clibborn (Katie Booth, 18 September 18589 May 1955) was an English Salvationist and evangelist who extended the Salvation Army into France and Switzerland against local opposition. She was the oldest daughter of William Booth, W ...
, Emma Booth, Herbert Booth
Herbert Henry Howard Booth (26 August 1862 – 25 September 1926) was a Salvation Army officer, the third son of five children to William and Catherine Booth (Mumford), who later went on to serve as an independent evangelist. He oversaw t ...
, Marie Booth
Marian Billups Booth (4 May 1864 – 5 January 1937), better known as Marie Booth, was the third daughter of Catherine and William Booth, the founders of the Salvation Army.
Unusually for the Victorian era, all of William and Catherine Booth's ch ...
, Evangeline Booth
Evangeline Cory Booth, OF (December 25, 1865July 17, 1950) was a British evangelist and the 4th General of The Salvation Army from 1934 to 1939. She was the first woman to hold the post.
Early life
She was born in South Hackney, London, Engl ...
and Lucy Booth
Commissioner Lucy Milward Booth-Hellberg (28 April 1868 – 18 July 1953) was the eighth and youngest child of Catherine and William Booth, the Founder of The Salvation Army.
Salvation Army officer
At the age of 16, Lucy and her sister Emma w ...
, and were dedicated to giving them a firm Christian knowledge. Two of their offspring, Bramwell and Evangeline, later became Generals of The Salvation Army
General is the title of the international leader and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Salvation Army, a Christian denomination with extensive charitable social services that gives quasi-military rank to its ministers (who are therefore known ...
.
Ministry
Catherine began to be more active in the work of the church at Brighouse
Brighouse is a town within the metropolitan borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated on the River Calder,
east of Halifax. It is served by Junction 25 of the M62 m ...
. Though she was extremely nervous, she enjoyed working with young people and found the courage to speak in children's meetings. During this period she discovered a model, American Wesleyan revivalist Phoebe Palmer
Phoebe Palmer (December 18, 1807 – November 2, 1874) was a Methodist evangelist and writer who promoted the doctrine of Christian perfection. She is considered one of the founders of the Holiness movement within Methodist Christianity.
Ea ...
. With William's encouragement, Catherine wrote a pamphlet, ''Female Ministry: Woman’s Right to Preach the Gospel'' (1859), in defense of American preacher Mrs. Phoebe Palmer's preaching, whose preaching had caused a great stir in the area where the Booths lived. ''Female Ministry'' was a short, powerful apology for women's rights to preach the gospel. The pamphlet identifies three major principles on which her convictions rested. First, Catherine saw that women are neither naturally nor morally inferior to men. Second, she believed there was no scriptural reason to deny them a public ministry. Third, she maintained that what the Bible urged, the Holy Spirit had ordained and blessed and so must be justified.[ She complained that the "unjustifiable application" of Paul's advice, “ 'Let your women keep silence in the Churches' (1 Corinthians 14:34), has resulted in more loss to the Church, evil to the world, and dishonor to God, than any of tserrors".][
At that time, it was unheard of for women to speak in adult meetings. She was convinced that women had an equal right to speak. In January 1860, following the birth of their fourth child, at ]Gateshead
Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...
, during William's sermon, she asked to "say a word". She witnessed to her timidity about claiming her calling, yet William announced that she would speak that night.[ It was the beginning of a tremendous ministry, as people were greatly challenged by her preaching.
She became a partner in her husband's work and soon found her own sphere as a powerful preacher. She also spoke to people in their homes, especially to ]alcoholic
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...
s, whom she helped to make a new start in life. Often she held cottage meetings for converts
Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliatin ...
. She eventually began to hold her own campaigns. Many agree that no man of her era, including her husband, exceeded her in popularity or spiritual results. Her first written article, the pamphlet ''Female Teaching'' was published in December 1859.
Catherine Booth was eloquent and compelling in speech, articulate and devastatingly logical in writing, she had for over twenty years defended the right of women to preach the gospel on the same terms as men. At first, Catherine and her husband had shared a ministry as traveling evangelists, but then she came into great demand as a preacher in her own right, especially among the well-to-do. A woman preacher was a rare phenomenon in a world where women had few civil rights, and no place in the professions. Catherine Booth was both a woman and a fine preacher, a magnetic combination that attracted large numbers to hear her and made its own statement about the validity of women's ministry.[Parkin, Major Christine, "Pioneer in Female Ministry", ''Christian History Magazine'', Issue 26: William and Catherine Booth: Salvation Army Founders (1990) Christianity Today]
/ref>
Amongst other activities, Catherine lobbied Queen Victoria to seek legislation for safeguarding females, in the form of the "Parliamentary Bill for the protection of girls"
The Christian Mission
They began the work of The Christian Mission in 1865 in London's East End. William preached to the poor and ragged and Catherine spoke to the wealthy, gaining support for their financially demanding ministry. The textile industry employed as many women as men and contributed a substantial number of female officers. In addition, domestic indoor servants flocked to the Army, and many became officers.
/ref> William and Catherine and their son Bramwell and daughter-in-law Florence were all vegetarian. Bramwell wrote a list of reasons he had maintained the diet.
The "Appointments of Officers, 1883" lists 127 married men. This number is important, because wives were expected to help run the corps. Since wives were not compelled to attend the officers' course at the Training Home, they were not given a commission and, therefore, did not appear in the list. General Booth had an active policy of encouraging officers to intermarry. The "Appointments of Officers, 1883" lists thirty-six couples who had done so, the women resigning their own rights of officership to become joint officers with their husbands. The loss of the women officers' rights when marrying contradicts the constant statement regarding equality. The Army leaders were clearly not so radical as to lose the concept of man's conjugal superiority. This social policy carried into pay; the husband, as head of the household, received the pay for the couple. The idea that single female officers could manage on less money than their male counterparts was abolished before the Second World War. Until that time, male officers received a third more pay than their female counterparts.[
Catherine Booth organized Food for the Million shops where the poor could buy a cheap meal and at Christmas, hundreds of meals were distributed to the needy.
When the name was changed in 1878 to ]The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestant church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. The organisation reports a worldwide membership of over 1.7million, comprising soldiers, officers and adherents col ...
and William Booth
William Booth (10 April 182920 August 1912) was an English Methodist preacher who, along with his wife, Catherine, founded the Salvation Army and became its first "General" (1878–1912). His 1890 book In Darkest England and The Way Out outli ...
became known as the General
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
, Catherine became known as the 'Mother of The Salvation Army.' She was behind many of the changes in the new organization, designing the flag and bonnets for the ladies, and contributed to the Army's ideas on many important issues and matters of belief.
The Booths rented a small villa, Crossley House, in Clacton-on-Sea
Clacton-on-Sea is a seaside town in the Tendring District in the county of Essex, England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District with a population of 56,874 (2016). The town is situated a ...
, which had a sea view that she loved.
Catherine Booth died of breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...
at age 61 at Crossley House. She is interred with her husband in Abney Park Cemetery
Abney Park cemetery is one of the "Magnificent Seven" cemeteries in London, England.
Abney Park in Stoke Newington in the London Borough of Hackney is a historic parkland originally laid out in the early 18th century by Lady Mary Abney, D ...
, London.
Subsequently, Crossley House was donated to people with learning disabilities and provided many summer holidays until it was sold to property developers in 2005.
Works
Practical Religion (1878)
Aggressive Christianity (1883)
Highway of our God (1886)
Life of Catherine Booth: The Mother of the Salvation Army (1892)
Female Teaching
Legacy
*Catherine Booth Hospital (CBH) is a hospital and nursing school run by the Salvation Army in Nagercoil, Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India.
*Catherine Booth House is a confidentially located domestic violence shelter in the Seattle/King County area. Operated by The Salvation Army, CBH has been serving battered women and their children since 1976.
*Catherine Booth Child Development Center is a preschool located in Cincinnati, Ohio.
* Statues of each of the Booths by George Edward Wade
George Edward Wade (1853, London – 5 February 1933) was a British sculptor. He was largely self-taught as an artist and is best remembered for his statues of royalty and politicians.
He was baptised on 17 April 1853 at Westminster, London, E ...
were erected on Champion Hill
Champion Hill is a football stadium in East Dulwich in the London Borough of Southwark. It is the home ground of Dulwich Hamlet.
History
Dulwich Hamlet began playing at the ground in 1912. 'The Hill' was formerly one of the largest amateur grou ...
, next to the Salvation Army's training college in London in 1929.
* Replicas of the statues by Wade stand in the Mile End Road
The A11 is a major trunk road in England. It runs roughly north east from London to Norwich, Norfolk, although after the M11 opened in the 1970s and then the A12 extension in 1999, a lengthy section has been downgraded between the suburbs o ...
, London, close to the site of the first Salvation Army meeting. That of William was unveiled in 1979; and that of Catherine in 2015.
* Catherine Booth House is a residential and support unit for vulnerable families and mothers in Portsmouth, England.
* Catherine Booth Hospital in the Notre Dame de Grace sector of Montreal has been a rehabilitation center since 1973; it had been a maternity hospital since 1925, upon its move to its present location, and before that a rescue home for women (founded in 1890).
*Catherine is remembered
Recall in memory refers to the mental process of retrieval of information from the past. Along with encoding (memory), encoding and storage (memory), storage, it is one of the three core processes of memory. There are three main types of recall: ...
(with William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
) in the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
with a commemoration
Commemoration may refer to:
*Commemoration (Anglicanism), a religious observance in Churches of the Anglican Communion
*Commemoration (liturgy), insertion in one liturgy of portions of another
*Memorialization
*"Commemoration", a song by the 3rd a ...
on 20 August.
See also
*Catherine Bramwell-Booth
Commissioner Catherine Bramwell-Booth , born Catherine Booth Booth (20 July 1883 – 3 October 1987), Salvation Army officer, was one of seven children born to General Bramwell Booth and Florence Eleanor Soper, and was the granddaughter of the Sa ...
, her granddaughter
*Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885
The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 ( 48 & 49 Vict. c.69), or "An Act to make further provision for the Protection of Women and Girls, the suppression of brothels, and other purposes," was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the lat ...
References
Further reading
* Booth-Tucker, Frederick ''The Short Life of Catherine Booth, the Mother of The Salvation Army'' (1892, 1910) Also published as ''The life of Catherine Booth : the Mother of The Salvation Army''.
* Booth-Tucker, Frederick ''Gems from the life of Catherine Booth, the Mother of The Salvation Army : being extracts from the original'' (1893)
* Carpenter, Minnie Lindsay Rowell ''Women of the flag'' (1945)
Settled Views: The Shorter Writings of Catherine Booth
ed. Andrew M. Eason and Roger J. Green (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2017).
External links
*
Works at The Victorian Women Writers Project
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Catherine
1829 births
1890 deaths
English Salvationists
English theologians
19th-century Christian saints
19th-century British women writers
19th-century British writers
Anglican saints
English evangelicals
English suffragists
Methodist theologians
People from Ashbourne, Derbyshire
Protestant writers
Women of the Victorian era
Burials at Abney Park Cemetery
Women religious writers
Christian female saints of the Late Modern era
Catherine
Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria.
In the early Christ ...