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William Booth 

(1829–1912)

1829: Born April 10 in Nottingham [Born April 10 in Nottingham ]

1843: Father dies; works as pawnbroker

1844: Converted at Broad Street Wesleyan Chapel

1846: Adopts revivalist methods of James Caughey

1849: Arrives in London to work as asst. pawnbroker

1851: Meets Catherine Mumford

1854: Ordained by Methodist New Connexion

1855: Marries Catherine Mumford June 16

1857: Appointed to New Connexion “settled ministry”

1861: Resigns from the New Connexion; with Catherine becomes itinerant evangelist

1865: Opens Christian Mission in East London

1878: Renames Christian Mission a “Salvation Army”; first Salvation Army band

1882: Negotiates with Church of England to make Salvation Army a branch of the church

1885: Crusades against teenage prostitution; Army has 1,780 officers in U.K., 1,296 abroad

1888: First Salvation Army food and shelter outreach.

1890: Publishes In Darkest England and the Way Out

1891: Opens safety-match factory in East London

1898: Prays before the U.S. Senate

1905: Awarded Freedom of the City of London

1907: Receives honorary doctorate from Oxford

1912: Dies on August 20; succeeded as Salvation Army General by son Bramwell; 9,415 corps and 15,988 officers worldwide

(1989: 14,397 corps and 25,056 officers; two-thirds active)

Catherine Booth 

(1829–1890)

1829: Born Catherine Mumford on January 17 in Ashbourne, Derbyshire

1844: Family moves to south London

1846: Converted at home

1850: Expelled by Wesleyans

1851: Meets William Booth

1855: Marries on June 16

1859: Publishes Female Ministry

1860: Preaches first sermon

1861: Becomes, with William, itinerant evangelist

1865: Preaches in London’s West End and at summer resorts

1879: First edition of Army’s The War Cry

1880: Salvation Army begins official work in U.S. and Australia

1883: Salvation Army begins to help discharged prisoners, “fallen women”, and drunkards

1890: Dies of cancer on October 4

Significant Social 

and Political Events

1828: Duke of Wellington prime minister

1829: Catholic Emancipation in England

1833: Oxford Movement begins

1837: Victoria becomes Queen; Martin Van Buren inaugurated

1840: Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert; penny postage begins in Britain

1841: U.K. pop. 18.5 million (U.S. 17 million)

1844: YMCA founded

1846: Irish potato famine

1848: Marx’s Communist Manifesto; revolutions across Europe

1854: Spurgeon becomes pastor of New Park Street Church; Immaculate Conception dogma

1854–56: Crimean War

1857: Indian Mutiny; Livingstone’s Missionary Travels

1859: Darwin’s Origin of Species

1861: Dickens’s Great Expectations

1861–65: U.S. Civil War

1866: Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment

1868: Gladstone prime minister

1869: First Vatican Council; British debtor’s prisons abolished

1874: Disraeli prime minister

1876: Bell invents telephone

1877: First Wimbledon championship

1878: Electric street lights introduced in London

1879: Henry George’s Poverty and Progress

1880: Gladstone prime minister

1881: London hits 3.3 million (New York 1.2)

1886: London church attendance begins to decline; Irish Home Rule defeated

1888: London Girls’ Match Strike; Jack the Ripper

1889: London Dock Strike

1890: Global flu epidemics

1892: Diesel engine

1893: Labour Party formed

1894: Kipling’s Jungle Book

1896: First modern Olympics

1898: Curies discover radium

1899–1902: Boer War in South Africa

1900: Planck’s quantum theory

1901: Queen Victoria dies; Edward VII begins reign

1903: 20-mph speed limit for cars in Britain

1910: Missionary Conference, Edinburgh

1912: Titanic sinks

1914: World War I begins

By the Editors

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