By Joanne Sloan
Catherine Booth (1829–1890) was known as “The Army Mother.”
This year is the 125th anniversary of her death. It also marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of The Salvation Army.
She was born Jan. 17, 1829, to Methodist parents, John and Sarah Mumford, in Ashbourne, England. Her father was a lay preacher and carriage maker. When Booth was young, her father moved the family to London.
Her mother homeschooled her, giving her a strong sense of religious and moral conviction. During her childhood Booth read through the Bible several times. As a teen she spent much time in bed because of a spinal curvature and tuberculosis, often writing magazine articles against the dangers of alcoholism. She became a supporter of the national Temperance Society.
From an early age, she attended Wesleyan Methodist classes. In 1850, she became a Methodist Reformer and led a girls’ Sunday School class.
In 1851 she met William Booth, also a Methodist Reformer, and they married June 16, 1855, at Stockwell Green Congregational Church (now Stockwell Green United Reformed Church) in London.
Catherine Booth believed women could be preachers. Women then didn’t speak in meetings. With her husband’s encouragement, she wrote a pamphlet, “Female Ministry: Or Woman’s Right to Preach the Gospel,” which argued that men and women were equal before God.
In January 1860 while William Booth was preaching, she asked to “say a word.” She was such an eloquent speaker that she became a partner in her husband’s work. In great demand as a preacher, she won many converts to Christ.
They began The Christian Mission in 1865 in London’s East End. William Booth preached to the poor and Catherine Booth to the wealthy, which produced financial support for their ministry. In 1878 the mission’s name was changed to The Salvation Army.
The Salvation Army’s goal was to meet both spiritual and physical needs of people. In 1881 a London survey discovered that on one weeknight 17,000 people worshipped with The Salvation Army compared to 11,000 in all of London’s other churches combined.
While Catherine Booth worked tirelessly spreading the gospel, helping the poor and advocating social causes, she had eight children. The Booths’ children carried on the work of The Salvation Army after their parents’ deaths.
Catherine Booth died of breast cancer Oct. 4, 1890, in London. Around 36,000 friends and converts attended her funeral. William Booth died in 1912 and was buried next to her.
From its humble beginnings in London, The Salvation Army is now active in 127 countries and has 1.15 million members.
Share with others: