William Booth
William Booth
William Booth (1829–1912) was an English Methodist preacher who, with his wife Catherine, founded The Salvation Army. Born in Nottingham, he was apprenticed to a pawnbroker as a boy, saw the hardships of the poor firsthand, and came to Christian faith as a teenager. After years as a traveling evangelist, he began preaching in London's East End in 1865, founding the East London Christian Mission among people whom few churches reached. In 1878 the mission was renamed The Salvation Army, with Booth as its General, combining preaching with practical help such as food, shelter and work for those in need. His 1890 book In Darkest England and the Way Out set out a plan for social reform. Today The Salvation Army serves in more than 130 countries, carrying on his conviction that faith must be shown through service.
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Britain's Reformers and Philanthropists
John Howard exposed the harsh conditions in prisons and inspired lasting reform, and William Wilberforce led the parliamentary campaign that abolished the British slave trade in 1807. George Müller cared for more than ten thousand orphans in Bristol, Florence Nightingale transformed nursing and hospital sanitation, and William Booth founded The Salvation Army to serve the poor.
