In 1890 William published his best-seller In Darkest England and The Way Out. In it he described the misery of what he called ‘the submerged tenth’, ie. 3 million of the population who lived in dire poverty. He asked the question:

‘This Submerged Tenth - is it, then, beyond the reach of the nine-tenths in the midst of whom they live, and around whose homes they rot and die?’

William's answer was an emphatic ‘NO!’ Even a London cab-horse had the basic necessities of food, shelter and work. If that was possible then, at the very least, the same could be done for the poorest people.

The ‘Way Out’ involved three stages. First ‘the City Colony’ would provide a nucleus of centres offering food, shelter and temporary employment. Some of these were already in place, but more were to be set up. Eventually, as well as the men’s hostels, there were homes for children, young women and alcoholics. Jobs were provided such as rag and paper sorting, carpentry, joinery, sign writing and basket weaving. Added to this were labour bureaux where employers could list vacancies and men could apply for work.

The second stage was ‘the Farm Colony’. Some from the city could go to the country to train in agricultural skills. For this purpose Hadleigh Farm in Essex was bought. At its peak it bred shire horses, grew grain and root crops and maintained herds of cows, pigs and sheep.

Finally, those who wanted to begin a new life abroad would find work in ‘the Colony Across the Sea’. This stage did not come about in the way proposed in the book, but the Army did sponsor emigration for the next 50 years.

The picture representing the Darkest England Scheme which appeared in Booth's book. Colour version (may take some time to download!)

William dedicated In Darkest England to Catherine, his ‘companion, counsellor, and comrade’, and acknowledged the inspiration she had given him for the book. It sold out on the day of publication (10,000 copies) and had to be reprinted four times in the following year (altogether 200,000 copies). To start the scheme William asked for £100,000. Many people were critical of the plan, but it gained the support of many other influential people who saw it as pioneering welfare work and who gave generously towards it.

More about the Darkest England Scheme

A ballad which became popular at the time included these lines:

Oh, the General’s dream, that noble scheme,
Gives John Jones work to do;
He’ll have a bed and be well fed,
When the General’s dream comes true.

For the hungry, starving, homeless wrecks
Abounding everywhere,
This scheme allows that either sex
Shall have a cab-horse fare:
The cab-horse has its work, you’ll find,
With food and shelter too;
Man shall no longer be behind,
When the General’s dream comes true.

When a cab-horse falls upon the street,
No matter who’s to blame,
If carelessly he missed his feet,
They’ll lift him just the same.
The sunken of the fallen race-
A tenth is not a few-
We’ll lift them up in every case,
When the General’s dream comes true.

As well as tackling poverty, the ‘Darkest England’ scheme attempted to challenge working conditions.

The match industry used yellow phosphorus for the tips of matches. When the workers came into contact with the phosphorus they often developed necrosis (‘phossy jaw’), a disease which rotted the jawbone and caused terrible suffering.

In 1891 William opened his own match factory where yellow phosphorous was not used. One hundred workers were employed and wages were ‘15 shillings’ a week instead of the ‘9 shillings and 4.5 pence’ paid by the commercial factories.

These ‘Lights in Darkest England’ soon became so popular that public opinion forced other factories to do away with yellow phosphorus. Having transformed the industry the Army’s factory closed in 1901.

Many aspects of the Darkest England scheme were mirrored in other countries in which the Army was at work. By 1904 these totalled forty nine countries. That year a 15-day International Congress was held in London. Salvationists from all over the world attended meetings at the Royal Albert Hall, the Crystal Palace and a specially erected ‘International Congress Hall’ on the Strand. The internationalism of the Army was evident.

William himself, now in his 70's, campaigned in many of the Army’s overseas territories including Canada, the United States, Japan, New Zealand and numerous European countries. En route to New Zealand in 1905 he stopped off at the Holy Land. He visited Jerusalem and climbed Calvary where he read a manifesto urging his soldiers to a greater ‘united, desperate, persistent effort to save the lost.’ More details of this and historical film footage

During this period William was to experience the distress of losing some of his children to the Army. Most of them had become officers and were in leading positions by the turn of the century. However, in 1896 Ballington, then in command in the USA, resigned to form ‘The Volunteers of America’. Herbert, the commander in Australia, left in 1902, as did Kate.

More about this

The main issue was their father’s autocratic leadership, which was implemented by Bramwell. They felt they were unable to follow independent policies without interference from International Headquarters. Ironically they were following in their father’s footsteps. He had resigned from the Methodist New Connexion forty years earlier because he felt his freedom of action was being limited. William’s sadness was deepened considerably by the death in a train crash of his daughter Emma in America in 1903. Despite these set-backs he soldiered on.

By the beginning of the twentieth century the Army and its General had become widely respected as a legitimate and beneficial Christian movement.

William himself began to receive honours. In 1896 he had discussions with retired Prime Minister William Gladstone. 1903 he opened the US Senate with prayer and the following year was invited to an audience with King Edward VII. In 1905 he was granted the Freedom of the City of London. He said he felt unworthy of the honour but accepted it as a recognition that the Army ‘had come to stay’. Later that year he became a Freeman of Nottingham. In 1907 he had the rare honour of an audience with the Emperor of Japan. Also in that year he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law at the University of Oxford.

None of these honours diverted William from his primary task of preaching the Gospel. In 1904, aged 75, he went on the first of six annual motor campaigns in the United Kingdom. Crowds gathered wherever the cars stopped and an impromptu meeting was held as well as the planned indoor meetings.

During the first of these campaigns he covered 1,220 miles between Land’s End and Dundee in twenty-nine days and spoke at 164 meetings. In Newport (South Wales) in 1909 he had to cut short his sixth tour for an emergency eye operation. The operation left him blind in the left eye but he continued to travel and preach in the UK and abroad up to his 83rd birthday.

A few weeks after that birthday, on 9th May 1912, a meeting was held in the Royal Albert Hall. Here, just prior to an operation on his right eye, he gave his last public address. It was a series of reflections. He spoke of the things he might have done with his life, the national roles he might have played. Then after each suggestion he illustrated how The Salvation Army had helped to solve problem after problem.

Towards the end of the speech he looked ahead: ‘And now, comrades and friends, I must say goodbye. I am gong into dry-dock for repairs...’ He concluded:

‘While women weep as they do now, I’ll fight;
while little children go hungry as they do now, I’ll fight;
while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I’ll fight;
while there is one drunkard left,
while there is a poor girl lost upon the streets,
while there remains one dark soul without the light of God,
I’ll fight - I’ll fight to the very end.’

Soon after the Albert Hall speech William had the eye operation but it was unsuccessful and his sight was lost completely.

He grew weaker in the following weeks and on August 20th 1912 an official notice announced that ‘the General has laid down his sword’. His body rested for three days in the Clapton Congress Hall where 65,000 people passed by to view it, and where wreaths were received from King George V and Queen Mary, Queen Alexandria, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany and the American ambassador on behalf of President Taft.

On Wednesday 28th August 35,000 people attended the memorial service at Olympia. On the following day the traffic in the City of London was halted as the funeral procession, with 5,000 Salvationists marching six abreast, left International Headquarters for the funeral service at Abney Park Cemetery where William was laid to rest beside Catherine. The editor of Punch, a magazine that had ridiculed the Booths and the Army in the early days, paid tribute in verse. Among the lines were these: 'Scorned or acclaimed, He kept his harness bright, Still through the darkest hour, Untaught to yield, And at the last, His face toward the light, Fell on the victor’s field.’

It is estimated that, during his sixty years as an evangelist, he had travelled five million miles and preached 60,000 sermons. In the eyes of the public he was The Salvation Army. Such was this total identification that one newspaper announced: BOOTH DEAD End of Salvation Army in sight

The prediction did not come true. The writer failed to realise that Salvationists had a higher loyalty: not only to William Booth as General, but primarily to Jesus Christ as Lord. Bramwell became the next General and the Army continued to grow. At the death of William it was present in 58 counties. It is now at work in 111. The mission continues! See The International Salvation Army.

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Quotes from William & Catherine

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