ABSTRACT
The Salvation Army was founded in 1865 as a Christian Mission in Whitechapel by William Booth (1829–1912) and his wife Catherine, née Mumford (1829– 90). The Mission was launched as the Salvation Army in 1878 after family discussions about the Mission’s need to build a volunteer army. The organization subsequently adopted a military theme with uniforms, hierarchies, bands and flags, and militaristic language. At the Salvation Army’s Grove House, the residents appeared to come from largely working-class and poor backgrounds. The records are remarkably rich in their descriptions of character and the after-lives of residents. The Salvation Army, aside from its militaristic organization, also strongly resembled an extended family with William Booth as the undisputed patriarch. The fund offered residents a ‘beautiful’ chance, said Florence Booth, to repay some of ‘the toil, the care, the love, and the expense which has been so freely and gladly expended upon them’.
