William & Catherine Booth,
Founders of the Salvation Army
20 August -- Commemoration
If celebrated as a Lesser Festival,
Common of any Saint, page 513
William Booth was born in Nottingham in 1829, the same year
as Catherine Mumford was born in Ashbourne, Derbyshire.
They were married in 1855. A passionate preacher, William's
style was criticised by his fellow Methodists and he left
them in 1861, founding his own revivalist mission in
Whitechapel four years later. The Christian Mission, as it
was known, evolved into the Salvation Army by 1878. Both
William and Catherine were famous for preaching and their
movement developed into a world-wide denomination. It
coupled moral fervour with a strong social commitment to the
poor. Catherine died on 4 October 1890 and William on this
day in 1912.