ABSTRACT
This chapter details the series of events which unfurled when William Booth and his Salvation Army, opened a series of night shelters in London during the course of 1889 and 1890. The Metropolitan Police were asked to inspect the Salvation Army Shelters and they eventually decided that Booth should be required to register them as Common Lodging Houses. It is apparent that initially cordial relations between Booth and the police were gradually undermined by this friction until, on 16 April 1891. The police receive a curt solicitor’s letter on behalf of the Salvation Army informing the police that they will not be complying with yet another request to register a new night shelter. As well as showing the pressures on the police in relation to the regulation of vagrancy, the chapter shows the interactions of the police with a range of charitable organizations (additional to the Salvation Army).
