Catherine Booth-Clibborn (Katie Booth, 18 September 18589 May 1955) was an English Salvationist and evangelist who extended the

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

into France and Switzerland against local opposition. She was the oldest daughter of

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 ...

and

Catherine Booth Catherine Booth (''née'' Mumford, 17 January 1829 – 4 October 1890) was co-founder of The Salvation Army, along with her husband William Booth. Because of her influence in the formation of The Salvation Army she was known as the 'Mothe ...

. She was also known as "la Maréchale".

Early life

Born in

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 ...

, where her father was serving as a minister, during her childhood Katie Booth was particularly close to William Booth's secretary,

George Scott Railton George Scott Railton (6 July 1849 – 19 July 1913) was a Scottish-born Christian missioner who was the first Commissioner in The Salvation Army, Commissioner of The Salvation Army.Railton on the Salvation Army International Heritage Centre ...

, who lived with the Booth family for ten years and acted as her spiritual mentor. Saved by the age of thirteen, she began preaching at the age of fifteen and shared the platform with her father at the East London Christian Mission's annual conference in 1876.

Salvation Army officer

As an adult Katie Booth brought

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 ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in March 1881. A captain, she led two lieutenants (one of whom was Florence Soper, who later married Katie's brother

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� ...

) in preaching the Gospel in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, wearing sandwichboards when the police forbade them to hand out leaflets. They were not well received. Their street-corner sermons were often interrupted by people pelting them with mud and stones. After repeated attempts by men on the roads to strangle them by their bonnet strings, they began pinning the strings on rather than sewing them. They lived in rented apartments where prostitutes lived in poor conditions. Progress was slow. Opposition was fierce, and those who were converted were given a rough time, sometimes being fired from their jobs. The newspaper reports in France were nearly unanimously critical.Catherine Booth-Clibborn on ''The Salvation Army International Heritage Centre'' website
Eventually, Captain Booth moved on to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, where the opposition was even fiercer. The authorities refused to allow her to rent halls in which to preach, and she was arrested, tried, acquitted, and subsequently deported from Switzerland for conducting an open-air meeting in a forest outside

Neuchâtel , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (France), ...

Marriage

Katie Booth married Arthur Clibborn at the age of 28 on 18 February 1887. It was a well-attended event and subject of interest to the press, which reported that at least 6,000 people were in attendance. On marriage, Arthur and Kate changed their surname by deed poll to Booth-Clibborn at the insistence of

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 ...

Booth Booth may refer to: People * Booth (surname) * Booth (given name) Fictional characters * August Wayne Booth, from the television series ''Once Upon A Time'' *Cliff Booth, a supporting character of the 2019 film ''Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'' ...

. They had ten children, including the

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

preacher William Booth-Clibborn. Following the birth of their tenth child the Booth-Clibborns resigned from The Salvation Army in January 1902, unhappy at the restrictive nature of the Army's military style of government. For the rest of her life she had almost no contact with her father or with those siblings who remained in The Salvation Army. At her husband's wish, Katie and the children travelled with him to the cult leader

John Alexander Dowie John Alexander Dowie (25 May 18479 March 1907) was a Scottish-Australian minister known as an evangelist and faith healer. He began his career as a conventional minister in South Australia. After becoming an evangelist and faith healer, he im ...

's Zion City, a township about 40 miles north of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Katie Booth-Clibborn did not believe Dowie's grandiose claims — in 1901 he declared himself the prophet Elijah the Restorer, and in 1904 the first apostle of Jesus Christ — and was offended by his criticism of her father. Family grave of Catherine Booth-Clibborn in Highgate Cemetery

Family grave of Catherine Booth-Clibborn in Highgate Cemetery

Later years

After becoming

Pentecostals Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

in 1906 the Booth-Clibborns together continued preaching and spreading the Gospel as travelling

evangelist Evangelist may refer to: Religion * Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels * Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ * Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...

s in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

for the rest of their lives. The Kate Booth House, a Salvation Army residential environment for women and children fleeing family violence in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, was named in her honour. On her death from double

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

in 1955 Katie Booth-Clibborn was buried on the eastern side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

(plot no.47536).Waymarking.com
/ref> Her earlier falling out with her father

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 ...

and the other Salvationist members of the family prevented her from being buried near her parents and deceased siblings 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 ...

. Her grandson Stanley Eric Francis Booth-Clibborn became the

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

Bishop of Manchester The Bishop of Manchester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Manchester in the Province of York.'' Crockford's Clerical Directory 2008/2009 (100th edition)'', Church House Publishing (). The current bishop is David Walker who ...

References

*Scott, C. ''The Heavenly Witch. The Story of the Maréchale'' (1981) Hamish Hamilton, London. 260 pp. {{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Kate 1858 births 1955 deaths English Salvationists Salvation Army officers English Pentecostals English evangelists Burials at Highgate Cemetery

Kate Kate name may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer * Lauren Kate (born 1981), American autho ...