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Marriage, Family and Ministry (1852-1865)
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In 1855 he was permitted to become a full-time travelling evangelist and on 16th June that year he and Catherine were married at Stockwell New Chapel, London. William and Catherine complemented each other well. While William was primarily an activist, Catherine was a thinker. She influenced William on a number of important issues including female ministry, temperance and social action. William was appointed to a circuit in Brighouse, Yorkshire, in 1857, and in May 1858 he was ordained as a Methodist minister. In June that year they moved to the Bethesda Chapel in Gateshead, County Durham where William’s preaching was so successful that the it became known as ‘the Converting Shop’. |
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As a preacher William was dynamic; he could hold a crowd spellbound. Peter Monk, who became converted under his ministry said,
'It seemed as if he'd tear the soul out of your body. And then in the midst of it all there'd be a bit that would make you want to cry, or a tale that would set you laughing fit to bust!'Roy Hattersley ('Blood & Fire' - see booklist) describes William's preaching:
'His appeal was based more on style than substance...He rarely shouted. But his rasping voice penetrated the furthest recesses of the chapels in which he preached and the words were accompanied by illustrative gestures which turned his homely parables into dramatic monologues. When the ship of life was sunk by the weight of sin it carried, he sank down in the pulpit. Then he rose, waving a handkerchief, to represent the one member of the crew who realised how the vessel could be saved. It was all cheap stuff and would not have appealed to the parishioners of Great St Mary's, Cambridge...But it was irresistable to the sort of men and women William Booth hoped to win for Jesus.'
To hear a primitive recording of William speaking at the beginning of the 20th century click here.
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In 1859 Catherine had published an 11,000 word pamphlet entitled Female Ministry. In those days women preachers were rare and were met with much opposition. The pamphlet set out the reasons why she believed women could be preachers.
However, up until then Catherine had never put her beliefs into practice. This changed at a service on Whit Sunday 1860 when, following William's sermon, she stepped forward and said to him "I want to say a word". She spoke to the congregation and William then announced that she would preach that evening. Later, when William was ill she took charge! |
Because the church authorities would not permit him to be a travelling evangelist, William resigned from the Connexion at the conference of 1861. In his letter of resignation he wrote,
'Trusting in God alone, I offer myself for evangelistic work, in the first instance to our own Connexional churches and, when they decline to engage me, to other portions of the religious community. I offer myself to co-operate in conducting special services or preaching to outlying crowds of our populations in theatre, halls or in the open-air.'
For four years, as independent evangelists, William and Catherine led campaigns across the country, notably in Cornwall, Cardiff, Walsall, Sheffield and Leeds. During this time he used two new approaches. Instead of always expecting people to attend the chapels he occasionally hired a neutral building, eg. a disused circus in Cardiff. He also gathered a group of converted undesirables (eg. a thief and a prize-fighter) to assist him by testifying to the work of God in their lives. The 'Hallelujah Band', as it was called, spoke to working people in down-to-earth language that they could understand.
Catherine led a successful campaign by herself in Rotherhithe, London, in the spring of 1865. After four years as 'God's gipsies', Hackney in London became their permanent home.
By now they had a growing family. Bramwell, the eldest son (nicknamed ‘Sunshine’ by William) was born in 1856. Then came Ballington (1857), Catherine (or Kate, 1858), Emma (1860), Herbert (1862), Marian (1864) , Evangeline (1865) and finally Lucy (1867).
Next page: The Christian Mission (1865-1878)
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