Bramwell Booth

William Bramwell Booth (born March 8, 1856 in Halifax , † June 16, 1929 in London ) was an English theologian and preacher. From 1881 to 1912 he was the first chief of staff and from 1912 to 1929 the second general of the Salvation Army, and in this position he was the successor to his father William Booth .

biography

Bramwell Booth was the first child of William Booth and Catherine Mumford . He had two brothers and five sisters. These included Evangeline Booth , Catherine Booth-Clibborn , Emma Booth and Ballington Booth . Through the service of father William, the family moved several times until they finally settled in London in 1865. Bramwell Booth was involved in the creation of the Salvation Army , from the beginnings of the 'Christian Mission' founded by his father to an international organization with numerous social and religious activities.

Known in his family as 'Willie', Booth was in poor health in his youth and had mild hearing loss. Even so, Bramwell began to help organize and conduct a feeding for the poor in his father's Christian mission in 1870, at the age of fourteen. He intended to study medicine after finishing school. Bramwell Booth was afraid to speak in public. Despite these obstacles, he became William Booth's secretary, advisor, and administrator. In 1874 he was already a full-time employee of his father's organization (then still Christian Mission) and, when the Christian Mission became the Salvation Army in 1878, an officer.

The name Salvation Army came about from an incident in which Bramwell Booth was instrumental. In May 1878 William Booth dictated a letter to his secretary with the sentence "We are a volunteer army." (We are an army of volunteers.) Bramwell heard this phrase and said, "Volunteer? I'm not a volunteer, I'm a regular soldier or nothing!" William Booth then deleted the word "volunteer" and replaced it with the word "salvation".

On October 12, 1882, Bramwell married Salvation Army officer Florence Eleanor Soper. After their wedding, Florence Booth took over the management of the Salvation Army's women's welfare organization. The marriage produced five daughters and two sons, all of whom later served the Salvation Army. Bramwell Booth died on June 16, 1929 with his family. He was buried near his parents in Abney Park Cemetery , London.

General of the Salvation Army

After the death of William Booth in 1912, Bramwell succeeded him as General of the Salvation Army. By will, William named his son before his death by means of a sealed envelope that was only opened after his death. This form of succession was laid down in the Salvation Army's founding charter of 1878. Like his father, Bramwell was autocratic and expected complete obedience. The first years of his office as general were overshadowed by the First World War , which threatened the internationality of the Salvation Army. Because the Salvation Army had its Salvationists both in the UK and in Germany . In his 1915 Christmas message, Booth emphasized: "Every country is my fatherland, because every country is my father's country.

Bramwell was confronted with internal allegations that the Salvation Army was a nepotism in naming his own children for positions when others would obviously have been more suitable. There were similar accusations against his father, who appointed his own children to high-ranking positions. This led to the claim that the Salvation Army is a booth family business. However, William Booth defended himself against this claim by telling his children: "The Salvation Army does not belong to you or me, it belongs to the world." Still, there was discontent among senior officers, including Edward J. Higgins , then chief of staff, and George L. Carpenter . Other high-ranking officers also questioned Bramwell Booth's leadership style, including his own sister Evangeline Booth and brother-in-law Frederick Booth-Tucker .

Bramwell's health began to deteriorate in May 1928, and from September 1928 he suffered from insomnia and depression. He turned down the offer to resign because of his poor health. On January 8, 1929, the High Council of the Salvation Army was convened for the first time; an advisory board, consisting of all commanders and country leaders of the Salvation Army, which assists the general and has elected the general since 1929.

Bramwell refused to resign, believing that his health would soon be fully restored. However, the high council voted on February 13, 1929 by 52 votes to 5 that Bramwell's term as general should end. The High Council then elected Chief of Staff Edward J. Higgins as 3rd General of the Salvation Army. On April 29, 1929, Bramwell Booth was informed by a letter from Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin that the British King George V would award him the Order of the Companions of Honor .

literature

• Richard Collier: The General of God William Booth. The history of the Salvation Army . 3. Edition. Johannis, Lahr 1990, ISBN 3-501-00110-X , ( Edition C C 44).

Web links

Commons : Bramwell Booth  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Bramwell Booth in the catalog of the German National Library
• Newspaper article about Bramwell Booth in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2. ↑ Richard Collier: The General of God - William Booth. Verlag der St. Johannis-Druckerei, Lahr-Dinglingen, 3rd edition 1990, p. 58.
3. ↑ ibid., P. 257.
4. ↑ ibid., P. 259.
5. ↑ https://www.salvationarmy.org.au/Who-We-Are/History-and-heritage/Salvation-Army-generals/Bramwell-Booth/ .
6. ↑ Order of the companions of honor ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

predecessor	Office	successor
William Booth	General of the Salvation Army 1912–1929	Edward J. Higgins