On the Day July 17 1950

85 Years of Servitude Come to an End

Khen Lim




Evangeline Cory Booth (Image source: alchetron.com)

One of the most famous sayings we have heard goes like this: ‘It is not how many years we live but rather what we do with them.’ For a good eighty-four years, its author Evangeline Cory Booth made the fullest use of her God-given life to do remarkable things for the poor until she died on this day in 1950.

Born the youngest daughter to William and Catherine Booth on Christmas Day 1865 in South Hackney, London, Evangeline shared an important birthday with her Methodist parents’ establishment of the Christian Mission that eventually became the Salvation Army in 1878. In naming her, Catherine was inspired by the reading of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin in which little Eva St Claire was its Christian heroine.

In his dislike, William wrote ‘Evelyne’ instead on her birth certificate and it was only decades later in America that Evangeline adopted her new name as she became The Salvation Army’s fourth general and the first woman to be ranked as such. She was also the first stateside commander across the Atlantic.

With her mother’s zeal as an inspiring preacher so capable of winning souls for Christ, it was unsurprising that Evangeline would take after her. She began to show remarkable flair for ministry work at an early age, becoming a Sergeant at 15 years of age while she was selling the Army’s newspaper, The War Cry, and preaching in impoverished London East End, earning her the compassionate moniker, ‘White Angel of the Slums’ in an area once made notorious by Jack the Ripper. 

There, she would, on occasions, dress up looking in the typical tattered clothes of a poor flower girl (not unlike Shaw’s Eliza Doolittle character) in order to preach to them. Inevitably Eva earned her deserved stripes for being an excellent trouble-shooter, capable of not only resolving disputes and all sorts of problems in the Army but also standing up for the cause of her parents’ organisation. She became so good at it that whenever strife arose, her father would simply call out, ‘Send Eva!’  

Evangeline with two children posing for publicity, 1907 (Image source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Six years later, at 21, she rose to the rank of officer of the corps, leading in Marylebone, infamous for its resistance against the Army. From 1888 to 1891, she became the Field Commissioner handling the entire Britain, an enormously difficult responsibility set against riotous crowds. Thereafter till 1896, she took charge of officer training at the International Training College in Clapton before trouble broke out in America. 

Orchestrated by her own brother Ballington and wife, Maud, who ran the Army forces stateside to break away and, alarmingly, form the rival Volunteers of America, Eva was quickly despatched to New York only to discover that on arrival, the Army head office doors were locked and hence, inaccessible. In fact, she faced an unwelcoming crowd who, under her brother’s influence, had grown disenchanted with the Army. Public opinion had divided the Army and secessionism was looking very real.

Relentlessly and to the chagrin of hissing and booing Army dissenters, Eva resorted to using the fire escape to gain entry via a rear window. Facing her enemies, she wrapped herself using the Stars and Stripes and challenged them, saying, “Hiss that if you dare!” Once silenced, Eva played her concertina, singing ‘Over Jordan without Fearing’ and her brother’s staged rebellion was well over. 

In a masterful display of problem-solving, she successfully held down the Army and prevented its breakup though she could not prevent her brother from resigning. She handed over the reins to her sister Emma and her husband once they arrived from Britain and then headed to Canada to lead the Army there.

Following her successful quelling of a dangerous rebellion, she returned from Canada and was made an interim Territorial Commander of the United States following the tragic death of her sister, Emma. Eight years later, in 1904, she became America’s full-fledged Commander and held office for thirty years until she was 69 years of age. 

Evangeline at the White House, Washington DC, 1926 (Image source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Two years after her appointment, she created Evangeline Residences in more than a dozen large metropoles to be homes away from homes for young working wives and mothers. Later, she led the Army in relief work amidst the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, raising $12,000 (worth $316,000 today) for the victims. To underline her commitment to the American cause, Eva became an American citizen on April 10 1923.

Just as things had begun to settle for her to develop the American side of the Army, her father, William Booth died in 1912 and set in succession his oldest son and chief of staff, Bramwell to assume power. Like her father, her brother took on absolute powers but unlike him, he was broadly resented. Soon, Eva found herself at odds with the Army’s high command and in 1922, Bramwell, using the excuse of the duty rotation policy, ordered his sister to relinquish her post. 

When word reached all the Salvationists, mounting pressure forced her brother to back down completely and urged the Army to rethink its constitution. For that, they leaned on Eva to lead the change. Leading a charge of high-profile officials, Eva persuaded her brother to give up his autocratic hold and when that failed, he was unceremoniously deposed, paving the way for a democratically-run electoral process to find a new General instead of resorting to the one he appointed.

Evangeline as the Army's First Elected Woman General (Image source: alchetron.com)

In 1934, after discovering that she was elected as the Army’s fourth General, she reluctantly left the country of her adoption to return to London where for the next five years, she busied herself in running a by now an organisation with international coverage over eighty countries and colonies. 

Through that time, she travelled widely as well. Eva remained General until October 31 1939 when her term ended. By the end of the following month, she left Britain for good and returned to upstate New York where she remained for the rest of her years.

Her retirement after her role as General marked the end of a golden era for the Salvation Army in which she portrayed a brand of leadership firmly cast in truly outstanding if not dominant individualism. Following her replacement, the Army had shifted to corporate solidity while Eva became the last of the Booth family to ever helm the organisation in Britain as its General and in America as its commander.

Eva’s work ethic was as confounding as it was miraculous. She would work for months on end until she dropped out of exhaustion and then convalesce for a few days before she felt charged up to resume her punishing schedule. Yet despite what we assume was joyless work in and out, she lived life to the fullest, enjoying her horse riding, swimming and playing musical instruments. At her summer cottage on Lake George, she would take to diving. To her credit, she was the first Salvationist to try out a bicycle in the late 1880s.

Eva is credited for a number of hymns, which she composed to be sung in Army meetings. They were eventually published in 1927 in a compilation called Songs of the Evangel, of which notable ones were ‘The World for God,’ ‘Calling Calling Jesus is Calling,’ ‘I Bring Thee My Cares and My Sorrows,’ ‘His Love Passeth Understanding,’ ‘Dark Shadows Were Falling,’ ‘There’s A Light in the Sky,’ ‘And Yet He Will’ and ‘Bring Thee All.’ 

As a motivational speaker, she was used to drawing large crowds at her public lectures throughout America. Aware of her not inconsiderable public influence and immense popularity, she not only promoted the Army but used it to support the prohibition movement and women’s suffrage. 

As a writer, she outdid herself with the book entitled, Toward A Better World. Apart from that, her other titles included ‘The War Romance of the Salvation Army’ as well as ‘Published and Unpublished Writings and Speeches of Evangeline Cory Booth.’

Her name has also been well revered. In Atlanta, Georgia, there is the Salvation Army Evangeline Booth College and in Chicago, a home for the homeless was dedicated to her, called The Evangeline Booth Lodge in which families and individuals made homeless through eviction, crises and disasters may find solace.

Evangeline's casket carried out from the Army's temple (Image source: gettyimages.co.uk)

On July 17 1950, Evangeline Cory Booth, who never quite contemplated marriage, passed away from complications arising from arteriosclerosis and was buried at Mount Pleasant near White Plains, New York. Among the honours bestowed upon her were degrees from Tufts College in 1921 and the Columbia University in 1939.