Rear-mirror views

DARKEST ENGLAND

General John Larsson (Retired) continues to share glimpses from the 13 astonishing years that shaped The Salvation Army – 1878-1890

SEVEN days after presiding over Catherine Booth’s funeral service, William Booth was again in the news. This time as the author of a blockbuster: In Darkest England And The Way Out.

The title was a stroke of genius. It played on Henry Stanley’s recently published bestseller, In Darkest Africa. And when William Booth’s book appeared on 20 October 1890 it immediately caught the imagination of the public.

People queued for copies. The first edition of 10,000 sold out on the day it appeared. A month later a second edition of 40,000 was printed. A third and a fourth quickly followed. A year after its publication the War Cry advertised a fifth edition of 200,000 copies.

Readers identified with William Booth’s description of the terrible living conditions of society’s ‘submerged tenth’ and were taken with his call for a Cab Horse’s Charter, whereby every citizen would be assured of the same standards guaranteed to every London cab horse: ‘When he is down he is helped up, and while he lives he has food, shelter and work.’

The detailed plans he outlined for social redemption were the concrete outcome of his change of mind regarding social service. And they were visionary and bold – the ultimate expression of ‘go and do something’.

For the Army, the war on two fronts was going to be on a massive scale. In the cities there would be the City Colony providing food, shelter and work for everyone. This would feature new social action initiatives and an expansion of the Army’s existing activities. In the country there would be the Farm Colony providing training and work in agricultural pursuits for those rehabilitated through the City Colony. And beyond the shores of Britain there would be the Colony Over Sea with assisted emigration, transport, training and work on arrival.

‘The first response to the plan was sensational. Expressions of approval came from all sides,’ writes Robert Sandall in The History Of The Salvation Army. ‘Great meetings were immediately held. There was a spontaneous outburst of enthusiasm in nearly all the chief centres of Britain, and headquarters was beset by a clamouring multitude.’

However, the wave of approval was soon followed by one of criticism, with Professor T.H. Huxley taking the lead. The pros and cons were argued at length in the newspapers. A key issue was how the scheme would be financed. An independent inquiry committee was formed. This backed William Booth and the scheme.

Such was the confidence in ‘General Booth’s Scheme’ that one commentator could write: ‘There will always be the submerged tenth, and we must leave them to The Salvation Army.’

The successful launch of the Darkest England scheme had enormous consequences for William Booth and his Army. At a stroke, he was recognised as a leading social reformer and became a celebrated figure in that role, not only in Britain but also beyond its shores.

By the same stroke, Salvationists suddenly found themselves members of an Army that basked in the warm approval of the public.

This change of attitude towards the Army had been glimpsed even before then. During the five-week London dock strike in 1889 the Army fed the dockers and their families, sometimes at the rate of 100,000 meals per day. When the Poplar Salvationists marched through the striking men, just before one of their mass meetings, a new mood was evident. ‘Where previously the little band of Salvationists would have been torn to pieces out of sheer devilment,’ commented the War Cry, ‘now the mighty host just opened like a well.’ They were cheered on their way.

The work of the City Colony soon spread throughout the main cities of Britain and a major Farm Colony was developed in Hadleigh, Essex. The chief focus of the concept of Colony Over Sea became assisted emigration, because foreign governments resisted the idea of large settlements of Brits drawn from the ‘submerged tenth’.

The public affectionately dubbed the work of the Army ‘soup, soap and salvation’. William Booth named the new development the Social Wing and, in an unexpected but inspired appointment, made Elijah Cadman, a former chimney sweep entrepreneur, his social commissioner. ‘Fiery Elijah’ made his name as an evangelist but, with his business acumen and downto-earth relational skills, he gave outstanding leadership to the Social Wing for the next ten years.

Such was the success of the Darkest England scheme in Britain that to this day the Army remains the largest provider of social services next to the state.