AJSAHistoryVol4Iss1 March 2019

ISSN 2206-2572 (Online)

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History is published by The Salvation Army, Australia
Eastern Territory Historical Society.

2016

IsVsuoel2ume 4 SeptemIsbsuere 21016 March 2019

Edition The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 1

storical Symposium

Call for Papers
The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History

ISSN: 2206-2572 (Online)
The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History is a multi-national journal that fosters a dialogue on all aspects of the
history and development of The Salvation Army. Articles are encouraged to be glocal, that is, both local and global in
consideration. All articles in this journal have undergone editorial screening and peer review by at least two reviewers. The
aim of the journal is to publish timely, useful, informative, original and honest historical research which will be of value to
both a general audience and those interested in Salvation Army history.

The journal is published by Cross and Crown Publications and seeks to increase the knowledge and promote the
interest of Salvation Army history and understanding of its development.

The journal publishes research papers and historical papers in any areas relating to the history and development of
The Salvation Army, including, but not limited to:

Aged Care, Biographies of individual Salvationists and employees, Buildings and Architecture, The Booth family, Brass Banding, Corps
history, Education of Salvationists, Education organised by Salvationists, Emergency relief and management, Fashion of uniform - design
and meaning, Gender and Cultural Diversity, Genealogical studies, Health work and ministry, Holiness Movement, Human Rights,
Hymnology, Internationalism, Leadership styles, Methodist and Salvationist theological development, Orders and Regulations and policy
development, Religion Studies, Literature Studies, Signs and Symbols meaning, Social justice and The Salvation Army, Social Work,
Social Welfare, Social Impact, Urban ministry, Unemployed and Vulnerable people, Welfare State, Young Peoples’ Ministry.

Papers presented at Salvation Army heritage meetings will be welcome. Where possible, primary sources should be
used and presumptive statements avoided. Images and graphics will be accepted if the contributor or The Salvation Army
holds the copyright and they are visually clear for reproduction. All articles contributed must be original, the contributor's
own work and referenced throughout. Articles previously published in either Army or non-Army publications will be
considered on a case-by-case basis.

Interested contributors are highly encouraged to submit their manuscripts/papers to the executive editor via e-mail at
[email protected]. Please indicate the name of the journal (The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History) in
the cover letter or simply put ‘Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History’ in the subject box if submitting by e-mail.

AJSAH is inviting papers for Vol. 4, Iss. 2. The online publication date is September 2019.
Submission deadline: 30 June 2019.
For any additional information, please contact the executive editor at [email protected]
Blessings,

Garth R. Hentzschel
Executive Editor - The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History

© The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History 2019 Cross & Crown Publications

Cross & Crown Publications
PO Box 998
Mt Gravatt Qld 4122
Australia

web address: https://www.salvationarmy.org.au/historicalsociety/

ISSN: 2206-2572 (Online)

Cover: The Salvation Army tricolour ribbon on a black background. A white crest of The Salvation Army. The picture is of

the former Salvation Army Headquarters and corps building in Beijing China. The picture was taken by Garth R. Hentzschel
of his visit to that country in 2011. The building has changed little since the Army’s operations ceased in China.

Executive Editor The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History was formed in 2016
Mr Garth R. Hentzschel and is prepared by a group of volunteers made up from members of
Peer Review and Editorial Team Salvation Army historical groups in Australia and New Zealand as well as
Dr. David Malcolm Bennett others who are interested in researching, writing and displaying Salvation
Army history. It is produced by Cross & Crown Publications for Salvation
Major Donna Bryan Army history groups in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.
Mr Lindsay Cox

Major Kingsley Sampson
Major David Woodbury

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 2

THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF
SALVATION ARMY HISTORY
VOLUME 4 ISSUE 1 2019

Editorial Note. Welcome to the seventh issue (Volume The next section has four book reviews which outline
4, Issue 1) of The Australasian Journal of Salvation the history of the Army: one a memoir, the next a
Army History (AJSAH). This issue again introduces new historical biography, followed by two reviews of the
authors, while also welcoming returning contributors. new official history of the movement. Then there is
We again see information from authors who represent information on new books and resources developed. Of
Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. This particular interest for those who collect the works of Dr.
issue has been produced under some difficulty as the David Malcolm Bennett is his work now available in
executive editor and some of the peer review team have word searchable format and his new transcripts from
been unable to access technology at times due to a Catherine Booth’s letters to her parents.
number of reasons. None the less it has still turned out
to be a full and varied issue. Included again is the continuation of the bibliography
of Salvation Army literature.
Lt. Colonel William (Bill) Allott investigates some
of the history of The war cry in Australia and New Selwyn Bracegirdle gives a paper which investigates
Zealand. This discussion is connected with his own the ministry of The Salvation Army in China through the
personal recollections of his time in The Salvation biography of Colonels Eva and Arthur Ludbrook.
Army’s editorial departments. It must be noted that there
is a change in reference throughout the paper as the title Major Robert (Bob) Broadbere gives a paper on The
of the magazine was transitioned in Australia from The Salvation Army work in the Tingha tinfields, Australia.
war cry to Warcry. As many Chinese miners came to find their wealth, they
came in contact with the Army’s ministry.
In previous issues, the history of some youth sections
of The Salvation Army have been presented. In this issue Another biography on an early Salvationist is
Howard McLachlan gives a chronological outline of the presented by Alison Briggs. Briggs introduces her
history to the Boys’ Brigade in the Gympie Corps, grandfather and his life and witness which ties in with
Queensland. It is somewhat of a unique partnership the work of Broadbere.
between the two Christian movements.
A comparative discussion is given by Hana Seddon
One of the myths that continue in discussions of who investigates how four New Zealand churches, one
William and Catherine Booth surround their resignation being The Salvation Army, responded to the Treaty of
from the Methodist New Connexion. Dr. David Waitangi. There are lessons to be learned.
Malcolm Bennett, with the use of original sources
methodically investigates each phase of the event which Gordon Taylor brings new information to light about
saw the Booths become independent evangelists. the Founder’s final public address.

Garth R. Hentzschel gives a biography of Major Alan I would like to thank the authors of each of the papers,
Gowlett, a veteran, adventurer and Salvation Army the people who read and write letters to the journal and the
officer with a unique mountain named in his honour. peer review and editorial group who work hard to ensure
accuracy and clarity in all the papers published. We hope
you enjoy this issue.

Blessings, Garth R. Hentzschel

Linking with some of the papers in
this issue of The Australasian
Journal of Salvation Army History,
(Left) the Journal’s executive editor
Garth R. Hentzschel stands at the
doorway of the former Salvation
Army corps and headquarters in
Beijing, China. Hentzschel is
holding his small Salvation Army
flag which he carries with him
throughout the world. (Right) The
tower of the same building. These
photographs were taken in 2011.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 3

The Australasian Journal of
Salvation Army History

CONTENTS Vol. 4 Iss. 1 Title/Author Page

Title/Author Page Book review, The history of The Salvation Army
volume 9, 1995 – 2015

Editorial note Reviewed by David Pickard 62
Garth R. Hentzschel
3

New Resources 63

Contents 4

Contributors 5 A bibliography of Salvation Army literature in
English 1980 – present. Surnames of book

authors R to S

News: The first business of a War cry? Garth R. Hentzschel 65
William (Bill) Allott
6

Save The World Army, The China missionary

A history of The Salvation Army 2nd Gympie service of a New Zealand Salvation Army
Boys’ Brigade, Queensland, Australia
officer, Eva Ludbrook (nee Wilkinson)

Howard McLachlan 15 Selwyn Bracegirdle 94

William Booth’s resignation from the Methodist Tinga and the tinfields of New England,

New Connexion Australia. An example of multicultural ministry.

David Malcolm Bennett 25 The Chinese population and The Salvation

Army

Salvation on ice: An Antarctic landmark linked Robert (Bob) Broadbere 105

to an Australian Salvationist

Garth R. Hentzschel 40 Bandmaster David Treffone
Alison Briggs
116

Book review, Recent memoirs of The Salvation How can the church in New Zealand respond to
Army kind – King’s messenger. My life among

Chinese people the Treaty of Waitangi? Lessons from our past

Reviewed by Garth R. Hentzschel 59 Hana Seddon 128

Book review, They took up their cross No. 2, A I’ll Fight update
Gordon Taylor
devoted hardship, to humble triumph, George 145

Herbert (Bert) Knowles

Reviewed by Robert Marshall 60 Request for information to assist with research
148

Book review, The history of The Salvation Army Review, comments, feedback and letter to the
volume 9, 1995 – 2015 editor on the AJSAH on Volume 3, Issue 2

Reviewed by Michael (Mike) Farrow 61 149

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 4

Contributors - Vol. 4 Iss. 1 Henry Lawson collection. Broadbere’s unpublished works

Lt. Colonel William (Bill) Allott is a retired Salvation Army include: Exploring Henry Lawson; From Coffee Palace to
officer living in Christchurch, New Zealand. He trained as a Peoples’ Palace (A history of Peoples Palaces in Australia
school teacher at Ardmore Teachers College and graduated and New Zealand); The Halabulah Man – the story of a
from Victoria University, Wellington. With his wife, Heather,
he has been involved in Salvation Army service in Nigeria, Cockney Salvationist who founded the Aboriginal mission in
the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand in a variety Warburton (WA); and Tingha – The tin industry. His most
of roles which have included teacher training, youth recent presentation was; Through the Ages – A history of aged
leadership, officer training and church leadership. For three
years he edited the War Cry in New Zealand and was for five care in the Australian Eastern Territory to the Sydney
years Editor-in-Chief of Salvation Army publications in
Australia. In retirement he has edited the Dallington Chapter of the Historical Society. Broadbere retired in 2003
Community News for the local Residents’ Association and has after 43 years’ service with The Salvation Army.
been a budgeter for the Army in Christchurch. He has also
researched Salvation Army history and this can be accessed Garth R. Hentzschel is currently studying for a PhD
on https://billallott.blogspot.co.nz.
in Salvation Army history. He has been a lecturer, course
Dr. David Malcolm Bennett is a Christian researcher
and writer based in Brisbane who has the gift of doing quality coordinator, Professional Experience Program Coordinator
historical research and presenting it in a readable form. He has
written two biographies of William Booth: William Booth and and acting dean in the areas of Social Sciences, Education and
his Salvation Army (Even Before Publishing) and The
General: William Booth (2 vols. Xulon Press). He is also the Humanities in a private tertiary education provider. He has
editor of The Letters of William and Catherine Booth and of
The Diary and Reminiscences of Catherine Booth. His other degrees in education, leadership and counselling (BEd,
books include The Altar Call: Its Origins and Present Usage
(his MTh thesis, awarded with merit) in 2000 and The Origins BAdminLead, MEd [SGC]). Hentzschel is the director of
of Left Behind Eschatology (his PhD thesis) in 2010. One of
Bennett’s latest books is John Wesley: The man, his mission Cross & Crown Publications, president of The Salvation
and his message (Rhiza Press). He is contributor and a
member of the peer review team for The Australasian Journal Army Historical Society, Brisbane Chapter and series editor
of Salvation Army History.
of They took up their cross. He has published works and
Selwyn Bracegirdle is a fourth-generation
salvationist and was brought up in the Wellington City Corps, presented papers on school chaplaincy, education and
New Zealand, and also Perth Fortress and Floreat Park Corps Salvation Army history. Publications include; The Devil’s
in Western Australia. He has been a bandsman, songster,
National Songster and loves singing sacred music. Most of his Army (2006), With A Smile and A Cuppa (2007), The Bag Hut
working life has been as a self-employed graphic designer.
The past four years have been spent at The Salvation Army Tabernacle (2012), contributions to the history magazine,
Heritage Centre & Archives, Upper Hutt, New Zealand. “I am
forever amazed at the capability and commitment of our New Hallelujah! the Bulletin of The Methodist Historical Society
Zealand Salvation Army pioneers. My great grandfather
Alfred Wilkinson holds a special place in my heart for his of Ireland and AJSAH.
fortitude and dedication to God (as an early day officer, and
later an envoy, through the first 50 years of The Salvation Howard McLachlan was born in Inverell (NSW) as
Army in New Zealand), without which I would not be in a
place of faith, willingly sharing our wonderful history”. a fourth-generation salvationist but grew up in Ipswich Corps

Alison Briggs is an active soldier at Hurstville (NSW) (Qld) through all the various sections of the Salvation Army
Corps where she has worshipped all her life. Throughout
those years she has served as a volunteer in many positions in youth program. He commenced leadership roles in his late
the Corps, in the areas of youth, women’s ministries, welfare,
administration, and seniors. She has always been interested teens including running an outpost Sunday School and later
in history, and since retirement has been able to devote more commissioned as Young People’s Sergeant Major before
time to research both family history and Salvation Army
history – which of course, is intertwined in her family. For moving to Gympie in 1971. In Gympie he was responsible for
over 3 years she has been the editor of Under the Tricolour,
the quarterly newsletter of the Sydney and Brisbane Chapters the development of young people through the Sunday School
of the Army’s Historical Society, for which she has as well as the Boys’ Brigade. In 1992 he moved to Emerald
contributed several articles. Alison is married to Frank, and
they have 3 sons and 6 grandchildren. (Qld) with work for over three years and was used in

Major Robert (Bob) Broadbere is a retired Salvation establishing a new corps (particularly with the children) in
Army Officer living in the Sydney. He and his wife, Christine,
have a ministry mentoring the students from the Hurstville that town before returning to Gympie. Working with young
Chinese Corps. In retirement his initial interest focused on his people for him has always been just a ‘Way of Life’.

Captain Hana Seddon is of Ngāpuhi/Te Rarawa
(Māori) and Pākehā/Irish heritage and has two sons. She loves

singing, writing and every other form of communication that

challenges an unhelpful status quo and creates an opportunity

for revelation, reconciliation, healing, participation and

restoration. Seddon has served with The Salvation Army in

Aotearoa New Zealand for 15 years and as an officer for the
past eight years. She currently has two Māori Ministry

appointments in Northern Divisional Headquarters and also in

the National Office for Addictions, Supportive

Accommodation and Reintegration Services (ASARS).

Seddon has qualifications in Social Work, Biblical Studies,
Māori Development & Public Health. She is a member of the
National Māori Ministry Council and is actively involved

with Recovery Church at the Auckland Bridge Programme.

Gordon Taylor worked on social policy and research
for the Greater London Council (1965 – 1986), then wrote the

Companion to the song book of The Salvation Army for the

1986 edition, and joined the staff of the International Heritage

Centre at its inception in 1988, working there successively as

Senior Researcher, Archivist and Associate Director until my

retirement in 2011. I have subsequently completed a two-

volume work on William Booth: His Life and Legacy,

awaiting publication (International Headquarters: Salvation

Books, 2019).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 5

Front page of the first War cry printed in Melbourne, Australia1

1 The war cry, (Melbourne, Saturday 16 June 1883).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 6

NEWS: THE FIRST BUSINESS OF A WAR CRY?

William (Bill) Allott

The Salvation Army’s initial War cry was published in London, England, on 27 December 1879.
General William Booth began the first article on the first page with a question: “Why a weekly War
Cry?” His answer, “Because The Salvation Army means more war!”2

This new paper was oddly named. In the 19th century a war cry was used as a rallying call by
combatants in a battle. Did the adoption of this title set parameters for the content of this paper? It
certainly provided a focus but in practice there’s little evidence that it has restricted the nature of
published articles.

Were readers called to participate in a battle and if so what was the nature of the conflict? A
current Australian Salvation Army website states, “The name refers to our ‘war’ against evil forces
and influences in the world; we raise a ‘war cry’ in opposition to anything that crushes the human
spirit.”3

In 1868, three years after William Booth became the leader of the East London Christian
Mission, the first monthly number of The East London evangelist was produced. In 1870 it became
The Christian Mission magazine and in 1879 it was converted into The Salvationist. In December
that year its place was taken by The war cry. “The need had long been felt for a weekly newspaper to
inspire, educate and bring together all Salvationists in the spirit of holy warfare.”4

This need was expressed strongly by both Bramwell Booth and George Scott Railton. The
growth of the Army during 1878 and 1879, wrote Railton, had made it utterly impossible for adequate
reports to be contained in a small monthly magazine.5 The Founder needed convincing that a weekly
newspaper could be published. He wrote to Bramwell that he wouldn’t have it until an editor could
be found as neither Railton or Bramwell had time to do it. However, by 26 November 1879 he had
capitulated and wrote to his wife, Catherine: “We have settled to do a weekly paper, The War Cry, for
a half penny every Saturday. It has become a necessity, or I would not have consented.”6

The General determined that the War cry should, if at all possible, be printed on the Army’s
own press.7 A second-hand gas-engined printer was installed at Whitechapel but it “played all manner
of pranks”. At 11.00 p.m. on the first day it was pronounced hopeless and fit only for scrap-iron. They
worked on it overnight and by the next day were able to produce over 1400 copies per hour.8

One way that printing shortcomings were overcome was to employ the services of a Bethnal
Green Salvationist, James Barker. He’d been working in the composing room of the Oxford
University Press. His services were so much in demand at the printing works that when he was a cadet
training to become an officer he set up type by day and studied and trained at night!9

Reference citation of this paper
Bill Allott, “News: The first business of a War cry”, The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, 4, 1, 2019,
6 – 14.
2 Cited in Robert Sandall, The History of The Salvation Army, Volume. Two, 1878 – 1886, (London, UK: Thomas Nelson
and Sons. 1950), 71.
3 “What is Warycry?”, Warcry website, (Melbourne, Australia: The Salvation Army Australia, 2018),
http://www.warcry.org.au/about ¶ 3, accessed 12 September 2018.
4 Anon, The Salvation Army, Its origin and development, (London, UK: Salvationist Publishing and Supplies, 1938), 72.
5 Sandall, The History of The Salvation Army, 2:71.
6 Catherine Bramwell Booth, Bramwell Booth, (London, UK: Rich & Cowan, 1933), 108.
7 Sandall, The History of The Salvation Army, 2:71.
8 Bramwell Booth, Bramwell Booth, 108 – 109.
9 Sandall, The History of The Salvation Army, 2:73. On 21 September 1882 Major James Barker with his new wife,

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 7

The old printing-press and its engine, the latter of the vertical type with an upright boiler and
works on its side … came at last to the point when it could be made to do no more! The formes
for the issue of 4th September 1880 had to be sent elsewhere to be printed. It was almost a year
before a new press, capable of 15,000 [copies] per hour, had been obtained and was at work …
The circulation of the first number of the War Cry was 17,000; the new machine’s first printing
was over 200,000.10

News was prominent on page one of the Founder’s first War Cry11

Alice, landed in Australia where they pioneered Salvation Army work in Melbourne, Victoria.
10 Sandall, The History of The Salvation Army, 2:73.
11 The war cry, (London, Saturday 27 December 1879), 1.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 8

Although printing press technology improved over the years the actual printing process
remained dependent on metal type and blocks being assembled in pages and locked into a chase or
frame for printing or plate-making. For many decades editorial departments sent copy to printers who
produced galleys or strips of type. These were then proof-read, and copy was cut and pasted on
dummy pages to indicate layout. Printers then prepared galley proofs for printing.

Catherine Bramwell Booth said of her father, General Bramwell Booth, “No account of his life
would be complete which did not touch upon Bramwell Booth’s influence on the Army’s press... He
believed in the power of the press. No part of the page was unimportant to him.”12 The Founder,
General William Booth, also had decided views concerning The war cry.

The purpose of every publication in the Army shall be the same as that for which the Army itself
exists, namely, the glory of God in the salvation of the people, the sanctification of the soldiers,
and the inspiration of each and all, officers and soldiers alike, with the Spirit which brought Jesus
Christ from Heaven to live and suffer and die for the salvation of the world.

… All who read the War Cry will naturally conclude that whatever is published therein has
the sanction of those in authority, and expresses the feelings and purposes of the General.

[Army] publications shall contain no politics; no unfavourable reflections on Christian
churches; no fiction …: no joking or frivolity in articles or stories; no flattery or praise of men or
women …; no long-winded or sermonic papers or preachments of any kind; no exaggeration; no
outside advertisements …

In all reports of the work done by the Spirit of God care should be taken to give him all the
glory.13

To what extent does this prescription apply to War cry publications today? Current editors and
territorial leaders would have little difficulty in accepting that the purpose of every publication is still
as outlined in the first paragraph of this statement. But would today’s readers be more willing to
accept writing that expressed a personal opinion than was formerly the case? Also, are topics of a
political nature completely forbidden or is there room for relevant comment about the issues of the
day? Unfavourable reflections on other Christian churches are unlikely in today’s ecumenical climate
as we now recognise the need for the Church to work together to promote the Christian gospel in an
increasingly secular environment. Readers today, and especially those of younger age, accept the
occasional fiction, a good joke and a little frivolity.14 We note that the Founder couldn’t afford to
waste space on anything not contributing to the ‘war cry’! And this included flattery and boring
religious statements! Exaggeration no matter how appealing would still be dishonest and inconsistent
with purpose of Army publications.

It was decided that there should be no outside advertisements. These had previously been
accepted for Christian Mission publications.15 The General wanted War cry pages to be “devoted

12 Bramwell Booth, Bramwell Booth, 271.
13 Sandall, The History of The Salvation Army, 2:324, Appendix H.
14 Current Salvation Army publications often include cartoons, jokes, riddles, quizzes and what can only be described as
frivolous items. One clear example of frivolous items in Army publications was the April Fool’s Day copy of the
Salvationist that played jokes on its readers that; the bonnet was to return, woodwind instruments and bagpipes would
be introduced into the International Staff Band and that William Booth College would have all cadets graduate as multi-
linguist. A. F., “Can you give the ISB its second wind?” Salvationist, (London, No. 1596, 1 April 2017), 5.; A. F., “At
last, the bonnet is back!” Salvationist, (London, No. 1596, 1 April 2017), 5.; A. F., “Plus ca change at the college,
William Booth college”, Salvationist, (London, No. 1596, 1 April 2017), 5.
15 Sandall wrote, “To the end of 1878 The Christian Mission Magazine had printed “outside” advertisements for which
it charged at a rate of £1 10s per page, but the pages of the War Cry have been devoted entirely to the affairs of the
organization.” Not all advertisements were included in this publication, “An advertisement of hair-dye sent for insertion
in the Christian Mission Magazine was returned by Railton (18th January 1876) who wrote: ‘It seems to us so repugnant
to the notions of religion adopted by the vast majority of our readers that it could scarcely produce any benefit to the
advertiser, and might damage us.” Sandall, The History of The Salvation Army, 2:72.; Robert Sandall, The History of

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 9

entirely to the affairs of the organization [sic]” and “every paragraph to advertise salvation”.16 He
certainly didn’t want content to be influenced by advertisers. Attempts in the 1990s to include
“outside” advertising often failed due to the lack of suitable advertising that can be addressed to a
limited range of readership.17 While the New Zealand War cry and editions in other territories still do
not carry such advertising, the Australian edition does at times.18

The editors of early Australasian War crys were very much influenced by the Founder’s
expectations. The first Salvation Army meeting in Adelaide is assumed to be held on 5 September
1880. The first officers were appointed early in 1881. It was early recognised that a necessary
component of this advance was the publication of War crys. They proved a means by which converts
were encouraged, challenged and instructed and the unity of the Army was promoted while promoting
the Army and the Christian message to the wider community.

The first War Cry published in Australia was the Sydney issue of March 24, 1883… The War Cry
carried lively news of corps, spiritual articles, songs and information about The Salvation Army...

South Australia was soon to produce its own War Cry and the first issue was dated April 6,
1883. Victoria’s first edition followed on June 16, 1883. With the acquisition of a house for the
Headquarters at South Melbourne, a printing press was located in the basement and all colonial
War Crys were printed in Melbourne; an all-Australian War Cry was produced in 1891. Separate
colonial War Crys were resumed in 1896; then in 1898 an all-Australian War Cry was again
adopted.19

On 1 April 1883 the first Salvation Army meetings were held in New Zealand in the southern
city of Dunedin. Priority was given to the publication of a War cry with the first issue coming out in
just over two months, dated 16 June 1883.

The first number had four pages; it included racy reports of progress in New Zealand, a short
account of the beginnings of the Army, a holiness address by Mrs General Booth, accounts of the
work in Britain and overseas, and several rousing songs. Five thousand copies were sold at the
price of one penny, and within two months the circulation had reached fourteen thousand.20

At its beginning and for much of the 20th century, War crys were weekly Christian newspapers.
This was emphasised in a memorandum written by Bramwell Booth towards the end of his
generalship:

The War Cry is a newspaper. Its first business is to publish news, our news, S[alvation] A[rmy]

The Salvation Army, Volume. One, 1865 – 1878, (London, UK: Thomas Nelson and Sons. 1947), 218.
16 Sandall, The History of The Salvation Army, 2:72.
17 My experience as Editor-in-Chief in Melbourne showed some difficulties to secure appropriate advertisement
revenue. When I was appointed in 1991 there were no “outside” advertisements in our publications. We decided to
explore this idea when we adopted full desktop production about 1994 or 1995. We entered into a contract with an
advertising agency which produced only a few advertisements at a significant expense. The agency could source little
that was compatible with our objectives and relevant Australia-wide.

For Christian publications it’s difficult to define what advertising is acceptable and what’s not. When William
Booth stated, “There must be no outside advertisements,” he added, “Salvation is not to be made a stalking-horse for
traders to trot out their money-making schemes upon.” Sandall, The History of The Salvation Army, 2:325.
18 See for example Warcry, (Melbourne, Vol. 137, No. 26, 30 June 2018), 15.; Warcry, (Melbourne, Vol. 134, No. 2, 17
January 2015), 10.; Warcry, (Melbourne, Vol. 134, No. 19, 16 May 2015), 10.; Warcry, (Melbourne, Vol. 134, No. 35, 5
September 2015), 15. Please note that the Australian edition joins the two words together as does the New Zealand
edition. Australia however does not capitalise the latter word.
19 Barbara Bolton, Booth’s Drum, The Salvation Army in Australia 1880 - 1980, (Lane Cove, Australia: Hodder and
Stoughton, 1980), 60.
20 Cyril Bradwell, Fight the good fight, The story of The Salvation Army in New Zealand 1883 - 1983, (New Zealand:
A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1982), 12.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 10

news...
Of course, the paper should be Salvation from cover to cover, but it should also be cheerful,

friendly and human, and avoid like poison mere preachifications.21

Early War crys were tabloid in size and printed on newsprint. Pages were laid out in multiple
columns and verb-driven headlines were adopted. For most Salvationists War crys were the main
source of information as it wasn’t until the late 1960s, with the advent of photocopiers using plain
untreated office paper, that headquarters departments, divisional headquarters and corps had the
technology to produce their own newsletters. Most readers have a preference for local news; corps
newsletters competed with War crys and they were free. However, a significant advantage of a War
cry or any other published paper is that anyone can access its contents. The more limited circulation
of other newsletters means they are dependent on the subsequent action of their recipients to ensure
that relevant news and information is passed on.

During the 1980s, desktop computers were developed to the point where Salvation Army
editorial departments could use them to typeset and lay out pages. By 1988 the Editorial Department
at International Headquarters in London was already using a partial desktop process. They had the
capacity to produce master copies of pages for all their publications but faced a reluctance within the
printing industry to displace typesetters. Copy set up as galley proofs on Editorial Department
computers was still being sent to the press in time-honoured cut-and-paste form.

In the late 1980s most New Zealand headquarters computing was handled by a computer section
so the first step towards desktop production of The war cry was to convince a steering committee that
computers should replace electric typewriters in the Editorial Department. This was eventually
achieved and initially three desktop computers were purchased and used as word processors. Copy
continued to be produced as galleys that were cut-and-pasted for printing.

Training was undertaken in the desktop software package, Adobe Pagemaker, and in mid-June
1989 this technology was introduced to lay out one page of the New Zealand War cry. In subsequent
weeks other pages were added and master copies of page layouts were sent for printing to the Standard
newspaper press in Palmerston North. Supplied photographs were inserted by the printer into
rectangular outlines positioned within the text of the master copies. Desktop provided greater control
of outcomes and lead-time was reduced to nine days.

Another significant development was the introduction of colour photographs made possible
when the press upgraded its technology. Separations were done by a Wellington photographic
processor and were limited, for economic reasons, to four pictures per issue. These could only be
placed on the front and back covers and the centre Young soldier pages. Spot colour continued to be
used on the other pages. The first colour photograph used was that of General Eva Burrows who
adorned the cover of the 11 March 1989 issue to mark her visit to Wellington for a congress weekend.
Colour registration wasn’t always perfect but this first effort proved successful.

21 From a memorandum produced on 12 April 1920 cited in Bramwell Booth, Bramwell Booth, 274 – 275.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 11

A magazine-style front page of a recent New Zealand War cry22

In the early 1990s the Australian War cry, Musician and Young soldier were produced in the
Editorial Department at Hawthorn, Melbourne. It shared a large building with its printer, Citadel Press,
which was owned by The Salvation Army. At that time 70,000 copies of The war cry were printed
each week as a tabloid newspaper. It had the largest circulation of any Christian paper in Australia.
Although Citadel Press had a variety of printing machines the only one capable of a run of this
magnitude was a Linotype newsprint press. This limited the options concerning the introduction of
desktop technology as at that stage there was no intention of having the papers printed at another
printing establishment.

The main difficulty was establishing a link between a computer in the Editorial Department and
the Linotype newspaper press at Citadel Press. This was eventually achieved and having worked
through a training process a demonstration computer was used to lay out page seven of The war cry.
Eventually all obstacles were overcome and in 1994 whole War crys were set up using desktop.

This technology meant that it was then relatively easy for anyone to publish documents. The
war cry found itself competing for news with departmental newsletters, reports and public relations
promotional material. Larger territories could have the luxury of printing a paper for the general
public and another with an in-house focus for a Salvationist readership. Small territories had to
continue producing hybrid papers that tried to meet the needs of a broad constituency of readers.
Today there’s also the competition from the social media environments of Facebook, Twitter and
blogsites.

In this environment hard copy Salvation Army publications have substituted higher quality

22 War cry, (New Zealand, Saturday 19 May 2018), 1.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 12

paper for newsprint, outside printers have been engaged and publications now adopt magazine-style
layouts. Consequently, newspapers have become magazines. An Australian Salvation Army website
states that the Warcry Magazine explores real people, real stories, faith and culture. It is a magazine
produced by The Salvation Army for the wider community. It includes articles, features, film reviews
and news.23

The New Zealand War cry is a fortnightly 24-page Christian magazine for Salvation Army
readers and all those exploring faith issues. Subscribers are encouraged to “stay up-to-date with
what’s happening in the Salvation Army and celebrate God’s work through people’s lives.”24

Australasian Salvation Army magazines can still be obtained in hard copy by subscription and
they are also available on the internet. Current Australian issues of the Warcry and Others, a magazine
connecting Salvationists in mission, can be accessed both as hard copies and on a website.25 Copies
of the New Zealand War cry are not available on its website until four weeks after the cover date.26

In its early years The war cry was used as an evangelistic tool and officers and soldiers were
encouraged to promote its circulation through street and hotel distribution. As such it produced
income through sales and donations and was financially viable. Print versions of Christian
newspapers are increasingly hard to sustain and are more likely to be subsidised than to produce
income. One outcome of this trend is that the New Zealand War cry is now a fortnightly publication.

The very first weekly War cry started with a news emphasis. It came into being in London to
cater for an abundance of reports that couldn’t be contained in a monthly paper. There’s news in all
current Army publications but it sometimes has to be looked for in magazine-style presentations. A
visit to the Others website in Australia shows that national, divisional and international news is still
given priority in a magazine that’s replaced the Australia Eastern Territory’s Pipeline and Australia
Southern Territory’s On fire magazines. A promotional panel is occasionally included in the New
Zealand War cry that asks people to “share your news in 400 – 600 words with one or two captioned
photos.”

A contemporary Australian website indicates that the publication priorities haven’t changed
very greatly from William Booth’s day. It states:

[The] Warcry is written for non-Christians and aims to challenge, inform and encourage readers
to consider the claims of Jesus Christ and the Christian church.

We do this by focusing on modern culture—including community and political issues,
entertainment, sport and the internet—and drawing lessons and parallels from the Christian faith.

Jesus used parables—symbolic stories with a clear moral or spiritual message—to teach
lessons about God. Warcry uses daily events and issues to cause people to think about God.27

It’s a commentary on our times that the message is now communicated through “community
and political issues, entertainment, sport and the internet”.

23 “What is Warcry?”, ¶ 3.
24 “War Cry”, (The Salvation Army New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa Territory, 2018.),
www.salvationarmy.org.nz/research-media/publications/war-cry, accessed 21 April 2018.
25 www.warcry.org.au/ and www.others.org.au.
26 www.salvationarmy.org.nz/research-media/publications/war-cry.
27 “What is Warcry?”, ¶ 4 – 6.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 13

Photographs and headings feature in news presentation in current issues28

28 War cry, (New Zealand, 30 June 2018), 18.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 14

A HISTORY OF THE SALVATION ARMY
2ND GYMPIE BOYS’ BRIGADE, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA

Howard McLachlan1

This paper is a memoir of the introduction, implementation and brief history of The Salvation Army
Gympie Corps’ inclusion of Boys’ Brigade into its ministry.

In 1971 the Gympie Corps of The Salvation Army, under the direction of corps officer, Captain
Doug Clarke,2 started looking at an activity group for boys to replace the Life Saving Scouting
movement that had been associated with the Army for many years.

The following year it was decided to go ahead as a pilot trial of The Boys’ Brigade Program
that had been adopted by several other protestant churches in Australia as well as around the world.3
Sir William Alexander Smith founded this movement in Glasgow, Scotland on 4 Oct 1883, the first
of its type for boys, and it has has been operating in Australia since about 1890.4

The logo of the Boys’ Brigade5

While it was originally established as a club for boys attending Sunday School, in recent years
it became a means of reaching boys outside the church and introducing them to Christ through Church
attendance.

With a program based on Spiritual, Physical, Educational and Social values,6 it was seen as an
ideal way of developing young boys into men with its object as:

1 Reference citation of this paper
Howard McLachlan, “A history of The Salvation Army 2nd Gympie Boy’s Brigade, Queensland Australia”, The
Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, 4, 1, 2019, 15 – 24.
2 Anon, Disposition of forces 1971, (Sydney, Australia: Territorial Headquarters, The Salvation Army Australia Eastern
Territory, 1971), 41.
3 For example, in Queensland the current denominations that have partnered with Boys’ Brigade include; Presbyterian
Church, Baptist Church, Anglican Church, Uniting Church, Lutheran Church, Congregational Church, Church of
Christ, South Pine Community Church. “Queensland Brigade groups”, (The Boys’ Brigade Australia website, 2018),
https://boys.brigadeaustralia.org/qld-brigade-groups accessed 21 September 2018.
4 “Short history of Boys’ Brigade”, (The Boys’ Brigade Australia website, 2018), https://boys.brigadeaustralia.org/qld-
brigade-groups accessed 21 September 2018.
5 “Welcome to the Boys’ Brigade Australia”, (The Boys’ Brigade Australia website, 2018),
https://boys.brigadeaustralia.org/qld-brigade-groups accessed 21 September 2018.
6 “Online shop”, (The Boys’ Brigade Australia website, 2018),
https://boys.brigadeaustralia.org/component/content/category/7-national accessed 21 September 2018.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 15

The advancement of Christ’s Kingdom among Boys, and the promotion of habits of Obedience,
Reverence, Discipline and Self-Respect, and all that tends toward true Christian Manliness.7
As there were only a few boys attending the Gympie Corps of The Salvation Army at the time,
it took 12 months of perseverance to achieve the required attendance of 12 boys for 6 weeks to be
registered.
On 30 September 1973 permission from the Boys’ Brigade headquarters was granted and the
No.1 Section with 14 boys (aged 8 – 11 years) was enrolled by the Queensland President Mr Doug
Adam.

No.1 Section Enrolment8
The original Boys’ Brigade officers of the company were Howard McLachlan (Brigade
Captain), Lyall McLean (Brigade Lieutenant), David Lyon (Brigade Lieutenant) and Doug Lyon
(Brigade Chaplain) with the corps officer at that time being Captain Ray Allen.
A couple of weeks later The Salvation Army decided to adopt The Boys’ Legion as the Army’s
program for boys, but permission was obtained to continue with Boys’ Brigade in Gympie.
The following year, 1974, the No.2 Section (12 – 18 years) was enrolled with 13 boys.

No.2 Section Enrolment9

7 Peter Shave, “Purpose, Object, Motto”, (The Boy’s Brigade Australia, 9 June 2006),
https://boys2.brigadeaustralia.org/index.php?id=7 accessed 21 September 2018.
8 Photograph courtesy of Howard McLachlan.
9 Photograph courtesy of Howard McLachlan.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 16

Activities based on the values mentioned above centred on drill, gymnastics, badgework,
games, craft etc. within a balanced program developed for each school term.

In 1974 the first of many camps were held where the No.2 Section boys were taught how to
“rough it” on a creek bank near Bells Bridge on the Wide Bay Highway, Queensland.

Brother Stan Jocumsen was very influential in teaching the boys and other leaders many bush
skills and the boys’ self-confidence grew rapidly.

No.2 Section camping10
Within a year, the numbers of boys in the company had grown to 40 boys with 6 registered
officers and several other helpers.
Through fundraising efforts, the company was able to start purchasing gym and camping
equipment. In 1976 the company colours were designed and made in a satin material. These colours
were dedicated in November 1976 and proudly flown on many occasions.

Dedication of colours11
One of the big advantages of adopting the Boys’ Brigade in a rural area like Gympie was the
ability to join other local churches with similar companies to form a Battalion. With three churches

10 Photograph courtesy of Howard McLachlan.
11 Photograph courtesy of Howard McLachlan.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 17

in Maryborough, two in Bundaberg and others in Murgon and Gympie that had Boys’ Brigade
companies, several activities were arranged for combined yearly battalion events.

No.1 Section Battalion Camp12
These included camps for each section. As well as combining for community events, there were
three-in-one competitions of figure marching, quiz and physical activities for No.1 Section and drill,
gymnastics and first aid for No.2 Section.

3 in 1 Competition Awards13
In 1980, with some of the older boys looking for more challenges, the Duke of Edinburgh
Scheme was introduced. The Boys’ and Girls’ Brigades from the Baptist Church, Church of Christ
the local high school and the Army’s Guards became the core of the local Duke of Edinburgh branch
in Gympie.

Boys’ Brigade Duke of Edinburgh Awardees with
Staff Sergeant Michael Mason & Boys’ Brigade Captain Howard McLachlan14

12 Photograph courtesy of Howard McLachlan.
13 Photograph courtesy of Howard McLachlan.
14 Photograph courtesy of Howard McLachlan.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 18

Boys’ Brigade Captain Howard McLachlan held the position of chairman of the Gympie Duke
of Edinburgh Committee for approximately 10 years before moving from Gympie.

A Parents’ Committee was formed in 1981 which, through more fundraising provided bugles
and drums to form a band amongst the boys. A trailer to transport six 15-foot Canadian Canoes were
built by the Company from funds raised by the Parents Committee. The canoes and camping
equipment were also donated to the Company by the Gympie-Widgee Skillshare Training Centre and
Community Youth Centre.

Howard McLachlan, Mayor Joan Dodt and Tony Parsons
present canoes to the Gympie Company15

When the Boys’ Legion was established, the Gympie Company was invited to join in the
Army’s activities through the Legion. In 1981 a good representation of the Gympie Company
attended a large SAGALA Corroboree Camp at Tuchekoi, Queensland.

Gympie Boys’ Brigade at the SAGALA Corroboree Contingent,
Tuchekoi, Queensland16

The Boys’ Brigade Centenary Year, 1983
While 1983 was the Centenary celebrations worldwide, the 2nd Gympie celebrated 10 Years with
what was considered to be the climax year for the Company. Several key milestones occurred in the
year; the Company attended the Pan-Australian Camp, the Company participated in The Salvation

15 “Outdoor equipment for Boys Brigade”, unidentified newspaper, (Gympie, 9 February 1989), n.p.
16 Photograph courtesy of Howard McLachlan.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 19

Army’s State Congress, 50 boys were enrolled and in uniform, and the 2nd Gympie Company achieved
its first Queen’s Badge.
Pan-Australian Camp
The year, 1983 started with a huge Centenary Pan-Australian Camp (similar to a Scout Jamboree)
held at the Canberra Showgrounds with 1,400 boys and Boys’ Brigade officers from all over Australia
and some overseas representatives. Two officers and five boys from 2nd Gympie were able to join in
the great range of activities over the ten-day camp.

Pan-Australian Camp March Past17

2nd Gympie Contingent to the Pan-Australian Camp18

17 Photograph courtesy of Howard McLachlan.
18 Photograph courtesy of Howard McLachlan.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 20

Company Participation at The Salvation Army State Congress
Later in the year the Company attended The Salvation Army State Congress in Brisbane where the
boys presented a Figure Marching Display at the Youth Demonstration in Festival Hall. The Bugle
and Drum Band joined in the March of Witness with other Salvation Army brass bands on the Sunday
afternoon.

Gympie Boys’ Brigade members in The Salvation Army
Queensland State Congress March of Witness19

Goal of 50 enrolled boys in uniform achieved.
It became a goal for the Company to have 50 enrolled boys in uniform and this was achieved in 1983.

Centenary Year Company20
Boys’ Brigade Officers: (Back) Lieuts. Michael Staples and Henry Sorrensen, Capt. Howard

McLachlan.
(Middle) Salvation Army corps officer: Captain Murray Atfield.
(Front) Boys’ Brigade Officer Lieuts. Diane Gentry and Shane Jocumsen.

19 Photograph courtesy of Howard McLachlan.
20 Photograph courtesy of Howard McLachlan.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 21

2nd Gympie Company achieves its First Queens Badge
Michael Mason with a great passion for The Boys’ Brigade and music established himself among his
peers as a born leader. He led the way by earning the first Queen’s Badge for the Company.

With the introduction of the Army’s Boy’s Legion General’s Award, Michael was to also
receive the first of these awards for the Gympie Company.

Michael Mason receives the Legionnaire’s General’s Award from Bob Messenger.
Divisional Youth Secretaries Majors Glenys and Graham Harris look on21

Michael Mason receives his Queen’s Badge
from the Governor of Queensland, Sir James Ramsay22
Over the years, the boys participated in many challenging activities such as hikes and
expeditions for up to 3 days. Abseiling, canoeing, water skiing as well as a great variety of weekly
activities continued to keep the boys interested.
The ultimate goal for the boys was achieving the Queen’s Badge, which required a huge amount
of effort. Only 8 of almost 300 boys who went through the Company achieved this award.
Eight boys also received their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award while three achieved the Silver
and only one, Stephen McLachlan reached the Gold.
At the beginning of 1992, Howard McLachlan moved from Gympie due to work and the
Company was handed over to Alan Bagnall as Boys’ Brigade Captain who continued the work for 4

21 Photograph courtesy of Howard McLachlan.
22 Photograph courtesy of Howard McLachlan.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 22

years. In 1996, Bill Matthews took over as Captain of the Company. Bill’s wife served as a helper
and leader throughout the life of the Company and, for many years, was in charge of the No.1 Section
boys.

During this period activities became more difficult with a lot of similar ones being offered
through the schools or other organisations, and legalities of insurance and need for qualifications
made it difficult to find good certified leaders in areas such as gymnastics which the boys enjoyed. It
is fair to say that over all the years the Company operated, even with many risky activities, no serious
casualties or legal issues were received.

In 2003, a 30-year reunion was held to celebrate the Company and many of the old boys were
invited to attend. Several attended and reminisced on the good times had by all throughout the years.
Through this reunion, one of the boys returned to serve as a soldier in the Gympie Corps.

The Company was closed in 2005.23

A report that appeared about in the Gympie times in December 2003 covering
the 30 year celebration of Gympie Salvation Army Boys’ Brigade Company24
Further afield

The Salvation Army and the Boys’ Brigade have had limited connection throughout the history of the
movements. Two unidentified officers of the Army were present at the meeting to form a Company
of the Boys’ Brigade in Brisbane during 1890.25 In Adelaide, the Army took over the work with boys
from the Boys’ Brigade in the west end of the city in 1924.26 The Army continued to run the Boys’
Brigade into the 1930s.27 Again in Adelaide, the Army used the Boys’ Brigade hall to hold meetings
in the 1910s to 1930s.28 In 1907 the Boys’ Brigade at Broken Hill raised funds for The Salvation

23 Lindsay Robinson, “Historical companies”, The Boys’ Brigade Queensland, (10 August 2013),
http://www.boys2.brigadeaustralia.org/wiki.php?p=Historical_Companies accessed on 18 September 2018
24 Undated newspaper report courtesy of Howard McLachlan.
25 “Working Boys’ Brigade”, The telegraph, (Brisbane, Tuesday 22 April 1890), 2.
26 “Boys’ Brigade”, News, (Adelaide, Saturday 20 September 1924), 10.
27 “Work of Boys’ Brigade”, The advertiser, (Adelaide, Tuesday 11 August 1936), 11.
28 “Salvation Army”, Quorn Mercury, (South Australia, Friday 18 March 1910), 2.; “Salvation Army”, News,
(Adelaide, Friday 12 October 1928), 7.; “Salvation Army”, News, (Adelaide, Friday 6 February 1931), 5.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 23

Army29 and in 1912 the Try Company raised funds for The Salvation Army’s Self-Denial Funds in
Geelong.30

The Gympie Company is believed to be one of the few Salvation Army Companies of Boys’
Brigade and certainly appears to be the only one in operation during the time of its existence. In 2014
it appears that The Salvation Army Zimbabwe Territory decided to introduce the Boys’ Brigade
program into its ministry. The Boys’ Brigade Facebook page stated,

2014 we are not looking back, letters have been sent out to all The Salvation Army divisions the
whole country after a request by the The Salvation Army Territorial Youth Secretary to introduce
The Boys Brigade to The Salvation Army. We will be holding a Basic Officer Trainning [sic] at
Stedfast [sic] Park from the 7th-10th of August 2014. By His grace we are moving from strength
to strength.31

It would also appear that the companies grew in the Army as two years later, the Facebook page
carried a call to all Salvation Army associated Boys’ Brigade companies to attend Harare Citadel for
the anniversary of the Army in Zimbabwe. The Facebook page included the following,

The Salvation Army 125 celebrations is the talk, the excitment [sic] is growing, the preparations
are getting prettier, The Boys and Girls Brigade are all geared up, most of all brace yourselves we
are to be inspected by the greatest of all time, lets [sic] all get out there boys and girls, this is our
time to make a mark, forward we going, who can stop us we are for Christ. Tomorrow Harare
Citadel is the place to be, lets come in our numbers and make this work. 32

In the same year that Zimbabwe Territory chose to link with the Boys’ Brigade program, corps in the
United Kingdom also commenced connecting to the program. In spite of the Army running its own
boys’ program call SABAC (Salvation Army Boys Adventure Corps), Bradford corps was the first
to connect to the Boys’ Brigade as reported by The telegraph and argus,

The 26th Bradford, the brigade’s first partnership with The Salvation Army, meets on Tuesdays
at The Salvation Army Bradford Citadel, Wibsey, from 7pm to 8.30pm, and is for boys aged
between 11 and 15. The group is appealing for new members from the Wibsey, Odsal and
Buttershaw areas.33

The success and longevity of these Salvation Army companies will only be told in time. It can be
stated that for many of the boys connected to the Boys’ Brigade in the Gympie Corps the group was
more than a movement for boys, it was a ‘Way of Life’. They lived the slogan, “First for Boys” and
the motto, “Sure & Stedfast” into everything they did throughout their life.34

29 “Barrier Boys’ Brigade”, Barrier Miner, (Broken Hill, Thursday 17 October 1907), 2.
30 “Entertainments. Salvation Army Bazaar”, Geelong advertiser, (Victoria, Thursday 19 September 1912), 4.
31 “The Boys Brigade Zimbabwe”, (29 June 2014), https://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/category/Religious-
Organization/The-Boys-Brigade-Zimbabwe-252569248162252/ accessed 19 September 2018.
32 “The Boys Brigade Zimbabwe”, (27 May 2016), https://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/category/Religious-
Organization/The-Boys-Brigade-Zimbabwe-252569248162252/ accessed 19 September 2018.
33 Jo Winrow, “Bradford Boys Brigade are growing strongly!” The telegraph and argus, (UK: 3 May 2014), ¶ 5,
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/11189530.Bradford_Boys_Brigades_are_growing_strongly_/
accessed 20 September 2018.
34 Peter Shave, “Purpose, Object, Motto”, (The Boy’s Brigade Australia, 9 June 2006),
https://boys2.brigadeaustralia.org/index.php?id=7 accessed 21 September 2018.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 24

WILLIAM BOOTH’S RESIGNATION
FROM THE METHODIST NEW CONNEXION

David Malcolm Bennett

In the story of William and Catherine Booth there is an incident that has been commonly
misunderstood and romanticised, more, perhaps, than any other. That is William Booth’s resignation
from the Methodist New Connexion ministry in 1861 to launch out as a travelling evangelist. This
paper seeks to establish what did happen in what proved to be a drawn-out sequence of events rather
than the commonly portrayed quick decision and almost immediate resignation.1

The Booths and Methodism

Nineteenth century Methodism in Britain was fractured into many denominations, with Wesleyan
Methodism the main, original, body. Catherine Mumford was brought up as a Wesleyan Methodist.
William Booth, from a nominal Anglican family, became a Wesleyan Methodist. Before Booth and
Mumford knew each other they both left the Wesleyans to join a large breakaway group, known as
the Methodist (or Wesleyan) Reformers. William Booth’s first ministerial experience (1852 – 1854)
was with these Reformers. Early in 1854, so during their engagement, William and Catherine left the
Reformers and joined the Methodist New Connexion,2 a group which had been formed as early as
1797.

For more than two years the New Connexion used William Booth as a travelling evangelist, a
role for which he proved especially gifted. He was then pushed into circuit ministry, first for a year
in Brighouse in Yorkshire, which both he and Catherine hated, and then for three years in Gateshead
in the far north-east of England, which proved a fertile ground for Booth’s fervent evangelism. It was
in Gateshead that Catherine first preached.

The Booths’ Gateshead ministry was highly successful. One would have expected the results
to have satisfied them, as they would have satisfied most others, but they did not. Early in 1861
Catherine told her parents:

Our services are going on delightfully. We had about 35 cases on the week and 13 last night, eight
of the whole number for Holiness. It is more eminently a work of the Spirit than any we have had
in Gateshead. The church is coming better up to the mark, seeking a higher life. Many of the cases
are very remarkable ones, middle aged men of intelligence & respectability. We had a special
prayer-meeting yesterday afternoon. I went & lead [sic] it & gave an address to save W[illia]m.
the extra service. I had a very good time, a [unknown word] melting influence was present &
many felt it good to be there.3

Reference citation of this paper
David Malcolm Bennett, “William Booth’s resignation from the Methodist New Connexion”, The Australasian
Journal of Salvation Army History, 4, 1, 2019, 25 – 39.
1 Other examinations of this issue include R. G. Moyles, “Did Catherine Booth Say ‘Never’?” in Exploring Salvation
Army History: Essays of Discovery, (Edmonton: AGM Publ. 2009), 24; Roger J. Green, Catherine Booth: A Biography
of the Cofounder of The Salvation Army, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 85 – 91; and an earlier attempt by David Malcolm
Bennett, covering the Conference and following events, The General: William Booth, (FL: Xulon, 2003), 1:287 – 304.
2 For more details see David Malcolm Bennett, “William and Catherine Booth and Methodism: A brief look”,
http://www.williamandcatherinebooth.com/methodist-church/william-and-catherine-booth-and-methodism-a-brief-look.
3 Catherine’s letter to her parents, P195, Jan. 21st, 1861, “Catherine Booth’s Letters to her Parents, PDF”, 254. (From here
referred to as “CBLP”.)

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 25

A graphic novel’s portrayal of William Booth’s resignation from the Methodist New Connexion4

4 Daniele Paula Strozecki (Narrator), Angelo di Marco (Illustrator), John Ord, and David R. Guy (Eds), William Booth
and the soldiers of compassion, (Lingolsheim, France: Parc d’Activites des Tanneries, 1987).

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 26

But they still desired to be involved in evangelism full time.

The Booths’ Desire to Evangelise

In Brighouse and even in their successful ministry in Gateshead, their desire was not for ongoing
circuit ministry, however fruitful, but rather to be used specifically as evangelists.5 The decision on
the future of William Booth’s ministry (Catherine does not seem to have held any official position in
the Connexion) was to be made at the New Connexion Conference in May 1861. The Booths,
meanwhile, had decided that if the New Connexion did not reappoint William Booth to the role of its
travelling evangelist, they would leave and become independent, itinerant evangelists, sharing the
preaching role between them.6

To this end William Booth wrote a letter to Rev. James Stacey, the current President of the
Conference, on 5 March 1861, so more than two months before Conference.7 The letter was extremely
long, so only a few brief parts of it will be quoted. Near the beginning Booth said,

During the period I was contemplating joining the New Connexion, the Lord opened my way in
a very remarkable manner to the works of an evangelist; but I declined to walk in it, and for some
time I was exceedingly unhappy on that account.

That, no doubt, referred to the period at the end of 1853 and the beginning of 1854, when he was
evangelising in Lincolnshire at the end of his ministry with the Wesleyan Reformers, which was
followed by a brief time of study under Dr. Cooke for the New Connexion.

He then added, that after that period,

the Annual Committee, and afterwards the Sheffield Conference [1855],8 without any solicitation
on my part, appointed me to that sphere [the role of evangelist]. After being engaged in it for two
years and a half, the Nottingham Conference [1857], by a small majority, decided that I should
take a circuit.

That claim that he had earlier been officially appointed to the role of the denomination’s evangelist
is significant, because at the 1861 Conference some officials argued against such a role being created.
Yet it had previously existed.

Booth then made it clear that after four years of circuit work he desired to be appointed to the
evangelistic role once more, and asked Stacey the key question: “Am I, or am I not, to resume the
work of an evangelist?” That question would have to be answered by the 1861 Conference, under its
new President, not James Stacey.

5 See, for example, letters to her parents, P101, Oct. 16th, 1857; P110, Jan. 6th, 1858; P147, Dec. 2nd or 9th, 1858; P155,
probably Mar. 20th or 27th 1859; P196, Feb. 4th, 1861; and P204, May 1st, 1861, “CBLP”, 138, 152, 199, 209-10, 255,
and 266.
6 See, for example, letters to her parents, P175, possibly late winter or spring 1860; and P196, Feb. 4th, 1861, “CBLP”,
232 and 255.
7 There has been disagreement over the date of this letter, different parties opting for 5th and 15th March 1861. The printed
form of the letter, which was later produced by William Booth for distribution to his friends, says 5th March. See
“Resignation of The Rev. W. Booth,” which contains that letter and his later letter of resignation. All the quotations here
are from that edition of the March letter, not Frederick Booth-Tucker’s version, which appears in Life of Catherine Booth,
(2 vols. London: Salvation Army, 1892), 1:277 – 278. (A copy of this resignation document is in the International Heritage
Centre, London.)
8 That Conference appointed Booth to the role of conducting “special Connexional Services”, that is, evangelistic services,
“under the direction of the Annual Committee”, see an extract from the Minutes of Conference, in the Methodist New
Connexion Magazine, 1855, 651, (From here referred to as MNCM.) The Annual Committee attended to the
denomination’s affairs between Conferences.

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Circuit and District Meetings prior to the Conference

The quarterly meeting of the New Connexion Gateshead Circuit was probably held late in April 1861.
It proposed to the Newcastle District, of which it was part, that that District recommend to the
upcoming Conference that William Booth be employed as the denomination’s evangelist. The District
meeting, held on 6 and 7 May, tabled a resolution for the upcoming Conference, which read:

That owing to the spiritual necessitive of this District, calling, as they do for the employment of
some extraordinary agency to supply them, this meeting earnestly requests the conference to
appoint the Revd Mr. Booth, to labour as an Evangelist in this District for the next year residing
at Newcastle on Tyne9 (emphasis added).

There are two key points in this Newcastle District proposal that became significant later. The first
was that William Booth should be set aside “as an Evangelist”. The second was that he should be
based in Newcastle and serve in that area for at least a year. That role and where Booth was to serve
became significant issues in what transpired later.

William Booth appears to have been at this meeting, and the main thrust of the proposal was
clearly in line with his thinking. However, someone else seems to have proposed that he be based in
Newcastle.10

The Conference Setting

The 1861 Conference of the Methodist New Connexion was held at the Bethesda Chapel in Liverpool
and began with the traditional opening services on Sunday 19 May.11 The matter of William Booth’s
future arose more than once as the Conference progressed and was hotly debated.

The Rev. James Stacey, who had been the president of the Conference in 1860,12 was ill and
was unable to be present at the 1861 Conference.13 As was seen above, Booth had written to Stacey
in March, explaining his position. Whether Stacey’s presence at the Conference would have made
any difference to the outcome in William Booth’s case is unclear. Stacey and the Booths knew each
other well. There had been a little tension between them in one of Booth’s early campaigns,14 but
Catherine called him “a sweet fellow”,15 and there seems to have been a mutual liking.16 In more
recent times, it has been said that Stacey had a “sensitive and cultured piety”.17 Even assuming Stacey
would have supported the move to make Booth the denomination’s evangelist, he may not have been
the type of person to have swayed others in a controversial and heated debate. Indeed, at another
Conference Stacey did support Booth on a related matter, but the vote went against him.18

9 Extracts from the minutes of the Methodist New Connexion Newcastle District meeting, May 6th and 7th, 1861, Part 15,
2nd and 3rd sections, kindly supplied by the Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, Newcastle upon Tyne, August 3rd, 2018.
10 Letter P204, May 1st, 1861, “CBLP”, 266.
11 “The Recent Conference at Liverpool”, MNCM, 1861, 324 – 325.
12 E. Alan Rose, “Dr. James Stacey” in John A. Vickers (ed), Dictionary of Methodism in Britain and Ireland,
(Peterborough: Epworth, 2000), 332 – 333. (From here referred to as DMBI.)
13 “Recent Conference”, MNCM, 1861, 324 – 326, 328.
14 Letter P34, Dec. 24th, 1855, “CBLP”, 59.
15 Letter P45, possibly Feb. 14th, 1856, “CBLP”, 76.
16 Letters P39, Jan. 16th, 1856; P44, Feb. 11th, 1856; and P45, possibly Feb. 14th, 1856, “CBLP”, 68, 76.
17 Rose, “Stacey”, DMBI, 333.
18 Letter P244, mid-June 1863, “CBLP”, 331.

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The “Official” Account of what Happened at the Conference?

A history of the Methodist New Connexion said that the Liverpool Conference “was made interesting
by the second Septennial Revision of the General Rules.”19 But it was made explosive by another

matter.

On Monday, the first business day, Rev. Dr. H. O. Crofts, the newly elected President of the
Conference, said in his opening address, “The gathering of precious souls into Christ’s fold” was
“their greatest work”.20 Whether the Conference later acted with that end in view might be debated,

though some of the following addresses and references clearly had that in mind. Indeed, Rev. Dr. W.
Cooke was appointed to deliver a paper at the 1862 Conference on the “important” subject: “Special
Services”, i.e. evangelistic missions, “how to conduct them, so as to secure from them precious and
permanent fruit.”21 The wording of the title suggests that some were not convinced that missions such

as those conducted by William Booth were as successful as they at first seemed.

Indeed, it remains a fact that not all who come forward to a communion rail and make religious

confessions of faith were genuinely converted. The ministers of the various churches knew that from
experience, but the Booths seemed reluctant to concede it. If “converts” were lost after the Booths
had left the scene of evangelism, the Booths tended to blame the local clergy.22 While in some cases

that may have been justified, in others it almost certainly was not. After all, some of the clergy and

leading laity were ardent supporters of the Booths and their methods and remained so after they had
left a district in which they had been ministering.23 Those supporters, one would expect to have

followed up energetically those who had presented themselves at the communion rail. If some fell
away, it was not always the fault of “the Parsons” (Catherine Booth’s favourite term for the ministers

she did not like).

It is also significant that after the mission in Sheffield in October 1855, William Booth gave an
address to “office bearers, local preachers & leaders … on the best means of sustaining &
consolidating the work.”24 So Booth did help, on this occasion at least, to assist the local clergy in

retaining the fruits of the mission.
The Conference first discussed Booth’s case on Thursday afternoon 23 May. The Newcastle

District tabled “a series of resolutions” advocating that William Booth be used as an evangelist. The

one original resolution of the District Meeting now became three, but, as shall be seen, they fairly
reflected the spirit of the original.25 Roy Hattersley says that this was for legal reasons and that
whether there was to be an evangelistic “agency”, a specific position had first to be decided.26 Yet,
as has been seen, such an “agency” had previously existed and William Booth had filled it.

The first resolution formally “recognized the value and importance of evangelical agency”. The
second proposed that “the Rev. W. Booth be employed as an Evangelist”. The third “recommended

19 T. D. Crothers, “Historical Sketch of the Methodist New Connexion” in G. Packer (ed.) The Centenary of the Methodist
New Connexion, (London: Burroughs, 1897), 136.
20 “Recent Conference”, MNCM, 1861, 326.
21 “Recent Conference”, MNCM, 1861, 329.
22 See for example, letters P58, possibly Sept. 15th, 1856; P208, probably mid-June 1861, “CBLP”, 93, 272. See also
P63, Oct. 7th, 1856, “CBLP”, 98.
23 When Booth was removed from the evangelistic ministry in 1857, the vote against him was 44 to 40, which indicates
that he had plenty of supporters, see Letter WBM4, possibly June 8th, 1857, “CBLP”, 125 – 126.
24 Letter P20, probably Oct. 27th, 1855, “CBLP”, 37.
25 “Recent Conference”, MNCM, 1861, 330.
26 Roy Hattersley, Blood and Fire: William and Catherine Booth and their Salvation Army, (NY: Doubleday, 1999), 119
– 120.

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that for the next year he, in that capacity, should be located at Newcastle-upon-Tyne.”27 There is no
mention in the report in the Methodist New Connexion Magazine (MNCM) about the area in which
Booth was required to minister, just where he was to be based. However, one would have expected
the resolution put to Conference to have been in line with the May minutes of the District Meeting,
that he would not only reside in Newcastle for at least a year, but also serve as an evangelist in that
area until the next Conference.28

The discussions on those resolutions resulted in “a very long, anxious, and spirited debate”. The
legal position was discussed that Thursday and the two lawyers present “like doctors … differed”.
One said that the denomination’s Poll Deed “interposed neither let nor hindrance” to such an
appointment, while the other said “that it did”. After considerable “tedious” discussion, the
Conference decided “by a large majority” that it was “compatible with the Deed Book to employ, if
found necessary, a special agency for carrying on the work of God among us”29 (emphasis added).
That seems to have ended the debate for that day.

So, there was no legal complication that would stop the appointment of Booth as the
denomination’s evangelist. But it remained to be decided on a later day if that appointment was
“necessary” and, what appears to have been the real issue, if it was desirable.

The next stage of the debate about appointing Booth as evangelist took place on Saturday 25
May. The first point was, according to the MNCM, to decide “the desirability or otherwise of
establishing such an agency” (emphasis added), that is, the position of an evangelist. This issue, again
according to MNCM, “gave rise to a discussion, which, while eliciting some diversity of sentiment
… was yet, on the whole, distinguished by intelligence, sobriety, and straightforwardness.”30 Not that
Catherine Booth saw it that way, as shall be seen. It also appears that during this part of the debate,
the chairman invited Booth to read the letter that he had sent to James Stacey in March.31

Then, when some in the Booth camp were sensing victory,32 though that was far from assured,
unexpectedly Dr. William Cooke moved an amendment, which appears to have been an attempt at a
compromise. It stated,

The Conference declares that any circuit, with the consent of the superintendent preacher, is at
liberty to make such arrangements with any of our ministers and their respective circuits, as may
be found needful for holding revival services among them.

Suddenly the issue of an appointment of an evangelist had flown out the window, and William Booth
had become just one “of our ministers” who might be called upon to conduct a series of evangelistic
services. The amendment, if approved, also meant that Booth would be appointed to a circuit and
evangelise in other places part time by arrangement. This was not what he wanted.

Then, after what appears to have been a break (perhaps for lunch) the third and final stage of
the debate was launched. The delegates then “elicited much kindly feeling towards Mr. Booth and his
earnest measures”. (Whether the Booths saw it that way is doubtful.) However, the Conference
decided that now was not the time to originate “the agency discussed”, that of evangelist, perhaps in

27 “Recent Conference”, MNCM, 1861, 330.
28 I have not been able to locate the New Connexion Minutes of Conference for 1861, which might throw further light
on this.
29 “Recent Conference”, MNCM, 1861, 330.
30 “Recent Conference”, MNCM, 1861, 332 – 333.
31 Booth-Tucker, Catherine, 1:289.
32 See Catherine Booth’s account in Booth-Tucker, Catherine, 1:287. See also Booth-Tucker, Catherine, 1:289.

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future years, but not now.33 It was presumably then that the amendment was put to the vote and it was
approved by, according to Booth-Tucker, “a large majority”.34 The appointment of an evangelist,
then, seems to have been deemed neither necessary nor desirable, at least at that time. The Booths
and their supporters had lost. The Conference directed that William Booth was to take the Newcastle
circuit and arrange evangelistic meetings in other circuits as time and commitments to his own circuit
allowed.

Rev. J. Stokoe, the writer of the report in the MNCM, concluded by saying that it had been “a
good Conference. At times there had been sharp-shooting, but in the end it turned out to be with blank
cartridges. No one, unless sensitive to a high degree, was wounded.”35 But two people had been
“wounded”, William and Catherine Booth.

Catherine gave the following account of some of the discussions in the debate, which paint a
different picture from Stokoe’s:

At length our case came on for consideration. As we anticipated, the proposal for our restoration
to the evangelistic sphere met with brisk opposition, although the reasons advanced for it had
undergone a complete change. In fact, it was necessary for Mr. Wright and his friends to invent
some fresh pretexts for their action, inasmuch as we had completely cut the ground from beneath
their former objections. Nevertheless, there was every reason to believe that nearly half the
ministers and the majority of the laymen present were in favour of the proposal, and we trusted
that with their help we should be able to carry the day. Nothing surprised me, however, more than
the half-hearted and hesitating manner in which some spoke, who had in private assured us most
emphatically of their sympathy and support. I believe that cowardice is one of the most prevailing
and subtle sins of the day. People are so pusillanimous that they dare not say “No,” and are afraid
to go contrary to the opinions of others, or to find themselves in a minority.

On three separate occasions the subject of our appointment was brought forward for
discussion and was successively adjourned, the debate occasioning considerable excitement
throughout. Every imaginable and unimaginable objection was resorted to by the opposition,
which was headed, as before, by the Rev. P. J. Wright. It so happened, moreover, that Dr. Crofts,
who had been largely instrumental on the first occasion in relegating us to circuit work, was this
year appointed as President of the Connexion. There can be little doubt that this nomination
exercised an important influence upon the events that followed.36

Catherine’s account is vivid and emotive, though not necessarily inaccurate.
Catherine wrote to her parents at this time, giving them the news. At the end of that letter she

instructed them to “burn the first part of this letter.” Sadly, they seem to have done so, for the top of
the first two pages (one sheet) are missing. The remaining letter begins:

… been triumphant & we should have had a majority, but for his empty & foolish ressolution
[sic].37 P. J. Wright only laughed at it, & no man of any perception could do any other. Mr.
Cook[e] sold our cause, & I find it very difficult to rid myself of the opinion, & so do others, that
he offered up my husband on the altar between two parties, in order to procure for himself a

33 “Recent Conference”, MNCM, 1861, 333.
34 Booth-Tucker, Catherine, 1:289.
35 “Recent Conference”, MNCM, 1861, 336.
36 This is from Booth-Tucker, Catherine, 1:287 – 288. It does not appear to have been a letter from Catherine Booth to
her parents, as might be supposed, as it seems to follow on from a passage on page 286 that Catherine wrote “in later
years”.
37 That is Dr. Cooke’s amendment.

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reap[p]ointment to the Editorship.38 If it was so, the bait took admirably & verily he has his
reward. But God lives & justice & judgment are the …39

But, however the Booths felt about it, the Conference had appointed William Booth to the
Newcastle circuit, which is at least what the Newcastle District had requested, and he had permission
to conduct evangelistic meetings in other New Connexion circuits, by arrangement.

The Later Accounts of the Resignation “Romantic” and Otherwise

It is with regard to the Booths’ immediate response to this decision that mythology often seems to
take over from fact, especially with regard to events at the Conference. Booth-Tucker recorded it this
way: Mrs. Booth “had been sitting at a point in the gallery from which she and her husband could
interchange glances.” When the decision was announced, “Rising from her seat and bending over the
gallery, Mrs. Booth’s clear voice rang through the Conference, as she said to her husband, ‘Never!’”

Booth Tucker continued:

Every eye was turned towards the speaker in the gallery. The idea of a woman daring to utter her
protest, or to make her voice heard in the Conference, produced little short of consternation. It
was a sublime scene, as with flushed face and flashing eye, she stood before that audience… Her
“Never!” seemed to penetrate like an electric flash through every heart…

Mr. Booth sprang to his feet, and waved his hat in the direction of the door. Heedless of the
ministerial cries of “Order, Order,” and not pausing for another word, they hurried forth, met and
embraced each other at the foot of the gallery stairs, and turned their backs upon the Conference,
resolved to trust God for the future …

Accompanying Booth-Tucker’s text is an illustration of the scene. In this Catherine is standing
in the second row of the crowded gallery, with her arm raised. William is standing amidst the
delegates in the lower part of the chapel, with one hand holding his hat, lifted high, and the other hand
pointing towards the chapel door. The message is clear. The Booths were not just leaving the chapel,
but there and then they were leaving the New Connexion.

Booth-Tucker produced an abridged, one-volume edition of the biography of Catherine Booth
in 1893. In this the three chapters on the resignation in the original were reduced to one, and the 21
pages were reduced to nine. However, it still contained the “Never!” and Booth signalling with his
hat and immediately leaving the assembly.40

It is all very detailed, dramatic and vivid. But is it true?
First it seems at variance with Rev. Stokoe’s report that he did not expect anyone to be
“wounded” by these events. If the Booths had responded in the way Booth-Tucker described, it is
very clear that the Booths had been “wounded”. But on the other hand, Stokoe’s account may be a
cleaned up, in-house version of events. It is certainly hard to imagine that anyone could assume that
no one was hurt by the decision. St. John Ervine (1934), who had seen the relevant Minutes of
Conference but may have been unaware of Stokoe’s report, referred to Booth’s “wounded feelings”
at this time.41

38 A move had been made to remove Cooke from the editorship of the magazine.
39 Letter P207, late May 1861 “CBLP”, 270. As the top of this letter is missing, it is not dated. However, it sounds as
though it was written soon after the vote on William’s role in the denomination, which was on Saturday, 25th May.
40 F. de L. Booth-Tucker, The Short Life of Catherine Booth, (London: Salvation Army, 1893), 119 – 127.
41 St. John Ervine, God’s Soldier, (2 vols. London: Heinemann, 1934), 1:244.

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The resignation42

42 Booth-Tucker, Catherine, 1:291.

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One of the early criticisms of Booth-Tucker’s account came from T. D. Crothers (1897), who
was a New Connexion minister at the time of the Liverpool Conference,43 though he does not seem
to have been present on that occasion. Crothers says, it was “hard to harmonise … the sensational
scene at the Conference given in Mr. Booth-Tucker’s life of the late Mrs. Catherine Booth” with the
fact that Booth took up his appointment in Newcastle and did not resign until “eight weeks after
Conference.”44 Other similar criticisms followed as will be seen.

In 1910 Booth-Tucker produced a new two-volume, abridged edition of his biography of

Catherine Booth. Astonishingly, the three chapters of 21 pages about the resignation in the original
had been reduced to one chapter of 1½ pages, and it did not mention Catherine calling out “Never!”
and William waving his hat and leaving the Conference.45

Was this reduction and omission because there was no room for the details in the shorter

version? Or was it because he knew that the story was probably not true? The latter seems more likely,

because when one abridges a book, one includes in the shorter version the most dramatic and

important events and excludes those that are less exciting and less significant. These events in Booth-
Tucker’s original account are most dramatic. As Roger Green says, that account would “make for
good reading even in an abridged version.”46 It is hard to imagine that Booth-Tucker would leave it

out for lack of space. Indeed, even this abridged biography has two volumes of reasonable size, so

there was plenty of room for the story.
However, parts of Booth-Tucker’s original version have often been uncritically adopted by

other writers. W. T. Stead, who loved a dramatic story, referred to “Never!” and to Booth waving his
hat in the direction of the door in his biography of Catherine (1900).47 Thomas F. Coates (1905)
followed Booth-Tucker48 and, in Roger Green’s estimate, embellished his version.49 Indeed, to Coates

that ‘Never!’ brought the Salvation Army into being by taking [William Booth] out of a work
where his spirit was killed, and putting him into a new work where his spirit was to give life to
and maintain a splendid reforming organization.50

That is an astonishing weight to place on a word that may never have been spoken. George Scott
Railton (1912) mentioned Catherine’s cry of “Never!” but nothing else.51 Charles T. Bateman (1915)
quoted a sizable portion from Booth-Tucker word for word without criticism.52

Harold Begbie (1920), briefly followed Booth-Tucker’s original account of the Booths’
reaction to the Conference decision. He did add, however, that Catherine’s cry of “Never!” was in
response to a questioning “glance” from William. He also recommended that anyone who wanted
more information should read Booth-Tucker.53 Oddly, Begbie seemed to completely underestimate
the significance of the event. In his opinion the New Connexion Conference of 1861 was “not likely

43 Crothers entered the MNC ministry in 1850, see E. Alan Rose, “Thomas Dickson Crothers”, MDBI, 83.
44 Crothers, “Historical Sketch”, in Centenary of MNC, 137.
45 F. de L. Booth-Tucker, The Life of Catherine Booth, (2 vols. 2nd abr. ed. London: Salvationist Publishing, 1910), 223 –
224. I first became aware of this through Ervine’s God’s Soldier, 1:240. Moyles also notes the omission in the abridged
edition, “Did Catherine Booth say ‘Never’?” Exploring, 24.
46 Green, Catherine Booth, 112 – 113.
47 W. T. Stead, Catherine Booth, (London: Nisbet, 1900), 161.
48 Thomas F. Coates, The Prophet of the Poor: The Life Story of General Booth, (London: Hodder, 1905), 51 – 52.
49 Roger J. Green, The Life and Ministry of William Booth, (Nashville: Abingdon, 2005), 86 – 87.
50 Coates, Prophet, 52.
51 George S. Railton, General Booth, (London: Salvation Army, 1912), 46 – 47.
52 Charles T. Bateman, Everybody’s Life of General Booth, (London: Marshall Bros, 1915), 31.
53 Harold Begbie, Life of William Booth, (2 vols. London: Macmillan, 1920), 1:317.

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to interest posterity”, which is a remarkably blind assessment, and he consequently said little about
it.

St. John Ervine (1934) obtained “statements” from two ministers in 1931 who were present at
the 1861 Conference, Rev. James Gibson, aged over 90 at the time of his statement and Rev. Thomas
Scowby, aged 94. Ervine said that these two men, despite their ages, “had clear recollections of the[se]
events”. They indicated the debate on the Saturday was vigorous and that leading figures, including
the President of the Conference, spoke against setting Booth aside for such a ministry, while those
who spoke in favour, such as Edward Rabbits and Joseph Love, “spoke without force”,54 which fits
with what Catherine Booth said in her comments on the debate.

But from there their accounts differed. At some stage those in the gallery were asked to vacate
it. But when was that? Scowby claimed that the gallery had been cleared before Cooke moved his
amendment. However, Gibson seems to have indicated that the gallery was not cleared until after the
vote on the amendment had been taken.

In Scowby’s account, though the gallery had been cleared, Mrs. Booth had remained at one of
the gallery doors, where she would presumably have been visible to part of the assembly on the
ground floor. When the amendment was announced, Scowby says, “the Conference was surprised by
the voice of Mrs. Booth exclaiming, “No, never!” Scowby says that Catherine then went to the front
door of the chapel until her husband joined her later. He makes no mention of a flamboyant gesture
from Booth or him making an early exit, indeed, he indicates that Booth did not leave until after the
vote was declared and Booth seems to have done so “not hastily, but quietly”.

Gibson said that while Catherine may have said something, he did not hear it because there was
“a general buzz and excitement.” A Dr. Townsend, a visitor to the Conference, said that he heard
Catherine say something, but he does not seem to have been clear what it was.55 This suggests that if
Catherine did say something at that juncture, it was not a shout.

When these testimonies are considered together it seems quite likely that Catherine Booth said,
“Never!” or “No, Never!” But it does not appear likely that many if any on the ground floor, where
the Conference business was being conducted, would have heard her. It would also seem almost
certain that at that point William Booth did not wave his hat, point to the door and immediately leave
the Conference. He more likely left the Conference later in a much less noticeable manner.

Indeed, Ervine argued that the Booth-Tucker account is inconsistent with William Booth’s
known character and conduct. Booth was not a man who made impulsive decisions. He usually
laboured long and hard over his options before deciding. While the night time walk from the East
End of London in 1865, that is usually regarded as the founding of The Salvation Army, may be
regarded as a momentary decision, it was also the result of months of frustration over his evangelistic
mission, when most churches had become reluctant to use him. And as Ervine argued, Booth loved
Methodism. He was more likely to reject it reluctantly than flamboyantly, with a wave of his hat.56

In more recent times the myth has continued to be accepted by some but modified or rejected
by others. Robert Sandall (1947) adopted the “Never!” and the Booths meeting “At the foot of the
gallery stairs” and then leaving the Conference. Sandall gave no hint that the account might be
doubtful.57

54 The quoted words are Ervine’s, God’s Soldier, 1:237 – 239.
55 Ervine, God’s Soldier, 1:237 – 243.
56 Ervine, God’s Soldier, 1:240.
57 Robert Sandall, The History of The Salvation Army, vol. 1, (NY: Salvation Army, 1947), 10.

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According to Richard Collier (1965), when Dr. Cooke made his amendment, Henry Crofts
ordered that the gallery be cleared, but as the visitors were leaving Catherine called out “No–Never!”
from a gallery doorway. Then, says Collier, Crofts ordered the doorways closed, and the debate
continued. When it concluded, “Booth took up his hat and left the chapel, to find [Catherine] waiting
in the porch.” So instead of Catherine being in the second row of the gallery when she cried out, she
was in a gallery doorway. Instead of William signalling to his wife and both leaving the assembly
early together, he waited until the discussion was over and then left.58 Collier may have drawn that
account from the evidence provided by Ervine.

Catherine Bramwell-Booth (1970) gave an abbreviated account of uncle Booth-Tucker’s
version. She said that William was on the ground floor of the chapel, while Catherine was in the
gallery, and that each was visible to the other. When the amendment was proposed,

William looked into that loving face above. Was there a question in his eyes? Catherine thought
so and was instantly on her feet, her clear voice answered him ‘Never’. She made her way to the
exit, William met her at the foot of the stairs, where they embraced and walked out.59

Her account clearly owes more to Booth-Tucker and Begbie than to later more reliable research.
In the first two editions of my shorter biography of William Booth (1986 and 1996) I state that

Catherine said “No, never!” from the gallery, but noted that they did not resign from the New
Connexion until “eight weeks later”.60 In the third edition (2012) I omitted the “No, never!”61 In my
two-volume biography The General (2003), I criticised the Booth-Tucker version of events.62

Roy Hattersley (1999), in what Moyles calls “a more neutral analysis”,63 briefly describes the
Booth-Tucker version and does not completely dismiss it. However, he rightly states that if William
Booth did react in that way, he “acted against his usually cautious instincts”,64 a point we have already
noted.

Roger Green (2005) opts for the less dramatic but more likely to be true version of events,
criticising the versions of Booth-Tucker and Coates. He says, “Crofts cleared the balcony before a
vote was taken on the resolution, and Catherine left the balcony with the other guests.”65

How did the Booth-Tucker Story Originate?

It is unknown how the Booth-Tucker account originated and too much speculation would be unwise.
However, the most likely source was the Booth family. But if so, how did they come up with such a
questionable account? It is probably a case of an incident gaining characteristics in the retelling, to
which Booth-Tucker added some flourishes. Yet it must be remembered that Booth-Tucker’s
biography of Catherine Booth was launched with William Booth’s approval, and, as Garth Hentzschel
has shown, the General had a good memory.66

58 Richard Collier, The General Next to God, (London: Collins, 1965), 43.
59 Catherine Bramwell-Booth, Catherine Booth, (London: Hodder, 1970), 207.
60 David Bennett, William Booth and the Salvation Army, (Basingstoke: Marshall Pickering, 1986), 16; David Bennett,
William Booth (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1996), 18.
61 David Malcolm Bennett, William Booth and his Salvation Army, (Brisbane: Even Before Publishing, 2012), 9.
62 Bennett, General, 1:287 – 304.
63 Moyles, “Did Catherine Booth say ‘Never’?” Exploring, 27.
64 Hattersley, Blood, 123 – 124.
65 Green, William Booth, 86 – 87.
66 Garth R. Hentzschel, “A Recitation to Romance: A study on the poem and event that led to the romance of William
Booth and Catherine Mumford”, Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, (Vol. 1, Iss. 1, 2016), 43 – 45.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 36

According to William Booth

According to William Booth, after the Conference decision had been made, he “informed the
Stationing Committee and afterwards the Conference, both orally and by letter, that I could not take
the responsibility of the Newcastle appointment, but still the Conference persisted in it.” He thought
of resigning there and then but decided to wait until he could see what arrangement could be made
with the Newcastle circuit.67

There is no reason to doubt that Booth did what he claimed here. But it is surprising that the
New Connexion leaders did not ask for his resignation at that time or take some conciliatory action.
It was clear that if they took Booth’s words seriously, the Newcastle Circuit was likely to be without
an effective superintendent.

Back in March 1859 Catherine had told her parents

I have fully & formally consented to let William go as an Evangelist on condition of his working
a district & coming home once a week, and he now thinks of writing to the annual committee &
making certain proposals to them, (f.5r) & asking their advice how to proceed next Conference.
If they decline to employ him as before, he will ask to be allowed to retain his standing amongst
them & left at liberty to accept invitations whereever [sic] they may offer, & get his salery [sic]
as he can. If they refuse this (which he thinks they will not), he will then most likely cut loose
altogether.68

There appears no evidence that William Booth approached the Annual Committee about that in 1859,
but this seems to have been how he viewed his new situation. That is, he would “retain his standing
amongst them” (as a minister in the Methodist New Connexion) but he would be “at liberty to accept
invitations” from anybody, within the New Connexion or outside it.

The Booths in Newcastle

After the Conference the Booths did not ride off into the sunset to become travelling evangelists, as
some seem to suppose. The Booths went to Newcastle to take up their appointment, however
reluctantly and with whatever reservations. But their intention was very different from what the
Conference had laid down.

Indeed, it appears that even before they arrived in Newcastle the Booths were looking
elsewhere. In a letter that was clearly written soon after the Conference decision, presumably late in
May, Catherine told her parents, “Wm. is writing to day to Mr. Caughey & Reginald Radcliffe”, two
independent evangelists. Then she added,

If an arrangement should be come to with Newcastle so that we get the House, would my dear
Mother come & keep house for me for three or four months, & so let me go & hold services in
some adjacent places? But I want Wm. to begin in London. Can you get us any information about
the committee who appoints the preachers for the Halls & theatres in London?69

This letter indicates that the Booths were hoping to live in Newcastle for some time and that Catherine
desired to conduct missions in “adjacent places”, though whether only in New Connexion chapels is

67 “Resignation of The Rev. W. Booth”, 2.
68 Letter P155, March 20th or 27th, 1859, “CBLP”, 209-10.
69 Letter P207, late May 1861 “CBLP”, 271.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 37

not clear. Yet William, with the support of his wife, was already looking further afield and hoping to
conduct missions clearly outside the New Connexion, and apparently on an independent basis.

A little later Catherine told her parents,

Our position alltogether [sic] is about as trying as it well could be. We have reason to fear that the
Annual Committee will not allow even this arrangement with the Circuit to be carried out, & if
not, I don’t see any honourable course for us but to resign at once & risk all, if trusting in the Lord
for our bread in order to do what we believe to be his will, ought to be called a risk.

If the arrangement is allowed to work, which I fear will not be the case, it involves all sorts
of difficulties. This Circuit is the worst to be managed in the whole connexion & Wm. will get
nothing by his connection with it but trouble & vexation. This I have seen from the beginning &
have opposed his coming as far as I could. I am sick of the New Connexion from top to bottom…70

In this letter Catherine does not make clear what was the “arrangement with the Circuit”, though
it appears to have been made at the circuit meeting held on a Monday, either 3 or 10 June.71 However,
the arrangement appears to have been quite different from that which the Conference had made with
the Newcastle Circuit, and it favoured more mobility for Booth and more absences. While the

Conference had in mind the Newcastle Circuit first and evangelising in other New Connexion circuits
second, the arrangement with the circuit seems to have been evangelising anywhere and with whoever
was willing first, and the Newcastle circuit second. It is astonishing that a circuit would have agreed
to that, but that appears to have been, at least, how the Booths understood it. What is most strange is
that, according to the Booths, the Newcastle Circuit had approved this arrangement “unanimously”.72

Towards the end of June, William Booth went to London and met some people engaged in
independent evangelism, with, it would appear, the intention, of conducting missions in halls and
theatres.73 While there he met an evangelist named Hammond, probably E. P. Hammond an
American, who told Booth, “Cut the denomination and go to work for Jesus, and He will open your
way.”74

Booth returned to Newcastle and in the first week of July, he seems to have fulfilled part of his
obligation to the New Connexion. He ministered in nearby Alnwick, presumably in a New Connexion
chapel.75

However, Booth’s visit to London’s evangelistic agencies was clearly contrary to what the
Conference had decided. So, the New Connexion officials had no option but to take action. On 16
July Rev. H. O. Crofts wrote to Booth accusing him of “not taking [his] circuit, according to the rules
and usages of the body, nor according to the resolution of Dr. Cooke.” Frankly, however much Booth

might have argued otherwise, that charge seems fair. Yet he had warned them at the close of
Conference that he did not wish to take on the “responsibility” of the Newcastle Circuit. Booth
responded to Crofts’ letter on 18 July and resigned from the New Connexion, so about eight weeks
after the Conference.

On 20 August 1861 and after, Booth sent to an unknown number of friends a printed version of
the letter that he had sent to Stacey in March and had read to Conference in May. That printed

70 Letter P208, probably mid-June 1861, “CBLP”, 272.
71 I have tried to obtain the minutes of the relevant circuit meeting but have been unsuccessful.
72 “Resignation of The Rev. W. Booth”, 2; Letter P210, July 5th, 1861, “CBLP”, 275.
73 Letters William Booth to Catherine Booth, (WB129) probably June 19th or 20th, (WB130) probably June 22nd and
(WB131), probably June 24th, 1861, David Malcom Bennett (ed), The Letters of William and Catherine Booth, (Brisbane:
Camp Hill Publ. 2003), 343 – 346 (Booth Letters CD, 333-35).
74 Letter William Booth to Catherine Booth, (WB129) probably June 19th or 20th, 1861, Booth Letters, 343 (Booth Letters
CD, 333).
75 Letter P210, July 5th, 1861, “CBLP”, 275.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 38

document also contained his letter of resignation from the New Connexion that he had sent to Rev.
H. O. Crofts on 18 July. Booth plainly intended to make his position clear.76

Summary

We will close here with a dated, point by point summary of events related to William Booth’s
resignation from the New Connexion.

Dates of 1861 Incidents
5 March
William Booth wrote a letter to James Stacey, stating his desire to be the
6 & 7 May denomination’s evangelist again.
19 May
23 May Newcastle District Meeting, which drew up a proposal for the forthcoming
25 May Conference.

29 May The Methodist New Connexion Conference opening services.
Possibly 29 May The first stage of the Conference’s discussion on Booth’s case.
Late May The second stage of the Conference’s discussion on Booth’s case, which
Early June abandoned the idea of creating the position of evangelist.
3 or 10 June
Mid-to-late June The Conference appointed Booth as Superintendent of the Newcastle Circuit,
Early July with approval to minister in other New Connexion circuits by arrangement.
16 July
18 July Booth protested about his appointment.
18 or 19 July
12 August Booth wrote to James Caughey and Reginald Radcliffe.
20 August
The Booth family moved to Newcastle.

The Newcastle Circuit held a meeting, which seems to have given Booth the
freedom he desired.

Booth visited London to investigate evangelistic agencies.

Booth returned to Newcastle and ministered in Alnwick.

Rev. Henry Crofts wrote to Booth accusing him of not acting in accord with
the Conference decision.

Booth replied to Crofts and resigned from the New Connexion.

The Booths left Newcastle and retreated to Nottingham.

The Booths began their mission in Cornwall.

William Booth began to send the printed letters explaining his position to
some of his friends and supporters.

76 “Resignation of The Rev. W. Booth”, 1 – 2.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 39

Alan Gowlett “off to the Antarctic”1

1 The victory, (Melbourne, Vol. 55, No. 5, May 1951), front cover.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 40

SALVATION ON ICE
AN ANTARCTIC LANDMARK
LINKED TO AN AUSTRALIAN SALVATIONIST

Garth R. Hentzschel2

The Salvation Army has entered the Australian psyche with landmarks on its continent being named
after Salvationists. Two such places are Kiels Mountain on the Sunshine Coast, and the Brisbane
suburb of Tarragindi, both in Queensland, Australia.3 Other mountain peaks named after a
Salvationist are found in the Australian Territory on the continent of Antarctica. The peaks were
named after a diesel engineer who later became an officer of The Salvation Army, Major Alan
Gowlett. This paper gives a brief biography of Gowlett’s life with information about his expedition
to the icy continent and data about the peaks that carry his name.

Alan Stanley4 Gowlett was born on 21 January 19215 in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.6
The Gowletts were a well-known family in the Toowoomba Corps and Alan was a fourth-generation
Salvationist.7 He attended the Brisbane Technical School and later, in Victoria attended the College
of Civil Aviation.8

When World War Two broke out, Gowlett tried to enlist, to serve “King and country”;9 however
being under 21 years of age his parents would not sign the papers. To do his bit, he went to Newport

Railway Workshop, Victoria which had been converted into an aircraft factory. The factory was used
to build the bodies of the Beaufort Bombers.10

When he was old enough, Gowlett joined the Australia Imperial Forces (A.I.F.) in April 1943.
He joined the 2/9 Armoured Regiment and went into Camp Pell in the Royal Park.11 From Camp Pell

they went by train to Bendigo for initial training. At Bendigo the recruits were given aptitude tests
and Gowlett was sent to a school for engineers, the Australian Army Trade School where he became
qualified as a diesel fitter.12 Gowlett received more training at Liverpool in Sydney and then on to
Southport, Queensland.13 Training for tropical conditions was completed in Atherton, North

Reference citation of this paper
Garth R. Hentzschel, “Salvation on ice: An Antarctic landmark linked to an Australian Salvationist”, The
Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, 4, 1, 2019, 40 – 58.
2 The author would like to thank Major Howard Davies who informed him that the Gowlett Peaks has Salvation Army
connections. Attempts were made to contact family members for additional information.
3 Ray Kerkhove, “Heinrich Keil and the origins of Kiels Mountain and Diddillibah, Queensland, Australia”, The
Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, (Brisbane, Vol. 3, Iss. 1, March 2018), 13 – 20.; Garth R. Hentzschel,
“He changed the face of a city”, Hallelujah!, (Sydney, Vol. 2, Iss. 2, April 2009), 19 – 22.
4 The name “Stewart” was given as Gowlett’s middle name by error in “7 Victorians chosen in Antarctic party”, The
argus, (Melbourne, Victoria: Tuesday 2 November, 1954), 6.
5 Salvation Army Officer Personnel Record, held at The Salvation Army Heritage Centre, Melbourne.; Alan and Beth
Gowlett interviewed by Mark Congdon and transcript by Grant Elsbury (2 August 1995), 1, held at The Salvation Army
Museum Melbourne.
6 “Alan Stanley Gowlett”, Ancestry, (2006 - 2018), https://www.ancestry.com.au/genealogy/records/alan-stanley-
gowlett_63111304 accessed 18 September 2018.
7 Retirement order of service, (Victoria, Hawthorn Corps, 1987), 4.; Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by
Elsbury (2 August 1995), 13.
8 Salvation Army Officer Personnel Record, 1, held at The Salvation Army Heritage Centre, Melbourne.
9 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 1.
10 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 1.
11 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 1.
12 Salvation Army Officer Personnel Record, 1, held at The Salvation Army Heritage Centre, Melbourne.
13 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 2.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 41

Queensland where he trained with the 9th and 6th Divisions.14 During his training, Gowlett learned
that some of his peers did not appreciate his Salvationism;

… when I was in the schools in learning about all the equipment and so on, we had some pretty
rough diamonds in the school there and one night, I also endeavoured to witness, to say my prayers
before I went to bed. This particular chap came on home drunk one night, he objected to it and he
picked me up and threw me outside … the amazing part about it was that later in life a couple of
years later I heard the [sic] he’d been converted and joined the Salvation Army.15

Gowlett tried to join the 2/6th battalion band that were being sent to Papua New Guinea as a
number of the bandsmen were Salvationist from Moonee Ponds Corps. However, the military
considered that his work as an engineer was more essential.16

His work in the workshop of the 2/9th Armoured regiment saw him service the tanks before they
were sent to different units. The first focus was to supply equipment for the battle of Tarakan, the
first stage of the Borneo Campaign.17

At last the waiting was over and Gowlett’s battalion was called into action. In April 1945 the
group pulled out of Cairns and went to Moratai, Indonesia. Here at the American and Australian base
they loaded and unloaded ships in preparation for the further invasions of Borneo. The preparation
was not easy as the Japanese were still active in the area. The Japanese did not officially surrender on
Moratai until September 1945.18 Snippers were active in the area and especially at night the Japanese
would try to infiltrate the base.19 The preparation went on from April until early June.

All the preparation for the next stage of the invasion of Borneo were in place for June 1945.
Gowlett, with other Australian and American military personnel boarded ships in a convey of about
50 to 60 vessels and headed around the Philippines. Gowlett remembered, we;

… couldn’t give any lights on deck at night time, … there were subs about they reckon so they
had to. It was so hot downstairs that we used to try to get a place on deck and sleep up on the deck
at night time ‘cause it was a lot cooler...20

The transporter which Gowlett was on carried tanks and could transfer the tanks straight from the
ship to the shore.

The Borneo campaign occurred between 1 May and 21 July 1945 and was the last major allied
campaign of the South West Pacific area during World War Two. The 2/9th Armoured Regiment, B
Squadron landed at Labuan on 10 June 1945. Gowlett recalled that;

…we landed on the island of Luduan which is off the North, North West coast of Borneo. The …
brigade landed with the 2/9th. The other brigade in the same convoy went to the other side on the
island. One of the companies went with tanks they used, 2/9th Army regiment used for the first
time in Tarakan, which was the East coast, island off the East coast of Borneo…21

… as I was a tank mechanic I went in with the tank, the wave of tanks about the second or
third wave in. There’s firing on the beaches, but not a great resistance they had there…

… we had to go and stand by the tanks if anything happened to them. One of the things I
did do during that day, they went forward and they got up to the aerodrome where a tank slid

14 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 2.
15 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 11.
16 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 3.
17 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 3 – 4.
18 One Japanese soldier, Private Teruo Nakamura did not surrender on Morotai until 18 December 1974.
19 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 4.
20 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 4.
21 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 5.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 42

down one of the potholes, in the bomb hole and ripped off its tracks. And I had to go up with
another chap and put the tracks back on and drag the tank out onto the aerodrome where they
were fighting the Japanese up there.22

… it was about a week and then one of the tragedies of the place. They drove the Japs into
a pocket, in underground caves and so on. Then one night … they decided to break out. They
came through the swamps where nobody expect[ed] them to come out and they got in amongst
the troops on the beach. They even got into different tents and they slashing their swords and
killed one or two fellas in tents. And they came through and they … I was just up the road from
there at the time and I heard the fighting …, uh, they were just out of our … about half a mile
away they came in and they had to kill ‘em off about 43 of them.23

Gowlett stayed with his division on Labuan for a few months and then moved on to Nempahul,24

Borneo where he continued to work on tanks. He was here when victory in the Pacific was declared

on 15 August 1945. Among the 20 or 30 people in the workshop there was little excitement, as the
soldiers just wanted to get home.25 As most of the men had not received enough points to return home,

it was decided that they should be posted to Rabaul, Papua New Guinea.

They were loaded on to the HMAS Canberra and headed for Rabaul. Gowlett remained in

Rabaul until January 1946 and then headed back to South Melbourne by way of Cairns and troop
train south.26 For a time he was with the transport unit in Melbourne until he was transferred to
Enoggera, Queensland mid-1946.27

After he was released from the military, Gowlett worked for a Salvationist named Iverson in
Canterbury28 and then for Robert Bosch Australia Ltd. as a Technical Sales Representative.29 Other
skills he had were diesel mechanic and tailoring.30 By the end of the 1940s he was a diesel engine
mechanic which took him to sites around Victoria and South Australia. He repaired “engines for
pumping on rivers, driving sawmills, lighting plants, flour mills and power stations.”31 He also
worshiped at the Hawthorn Corps.32

On 7 January 1949 Gowlett became engaged to Elizbeth (Beth) Winifred Steinberg.33 Steinberg
was born on 17 July 1926, also from a Salvationist family. Beth’s mother was at one stage an editor
of the Melbourne edition of The Young Soldier.34 Beth held leadership positions in the Hawthorn
Corps; being corps organist, primary leader and timbrel leader.35 Their marriage took place on 11
February 1950 after which they remained soldiers of the Hawthorn Corps.36

22 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 6.
23 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 7.
24 This place could not be identified, however in later comments, Gowlett stated that he travelled south to Bruni so the
location of this place must be on the North East or North Coast of what was Borneo.
25 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 8.
26 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 8 – 9.
27 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 10.
28 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 12.
29 Salvation Army Officer Personnel Record, 1, held at The Salvation Army Heritage Centre, Melbourne.
30 Salvation Army Officer Personnel Record, 2, held at The Salvation Army Heritage Centre, Melbourne.
31 “Young Salvationist engineer goes off to the Antarctic”, The victory, (Melbourne, Vol. 55, No. 5, May 1951), 1.
32 Salvation Army Officer Personnel Record, 1, held at The Salvation Army Heritage Centre, Melbourne.; The victory,
1.
33 The name “Elizabeth Beth” was incorrectly used in, “Alan Stanley Gowlett”, Ancestry.
34 Retirement order of service, (Victoria, Hawthorn Corps, 1987), 4.
35 Retirement order of service, (Victoria, Hawthron Corps, 1987), 4.
36 Salvation Army Officer Personnel Record, 1, held at The Salvation Army Heritage Centre, Melbourne.; The victory,
1.

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Gowlett playing the trombone in the Hawthorn Corps Band, 195137

In 1951, after reading a newspaper advertisement for an engineer with the expedition to
Macquarie Island, Alan Gowlett joined the Government Scientific Observation Party. The
observation party was part of the new Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE)
which had been formed in August 1947.38 These were the formative years of ongoing Antarctic
scientific research as the research station at Buckles Bay on Macquarie Island had only been
established in March 1948.39 Gowlett was appointed to this station as the diesel and electrical
engineer, and camp fire officer. For the latter duty of this role Gowlett received special training at the
Eastern Hill (Melbourne) Fire Station. In addition to the duties assigned to his position he also
received training in the erection of “Nisson and prefabricated huts”.40

“The last look”, Gowlett farewells Melbourne41

The victory reported on the impact of the isolation on the individual;

… It sounds very romantic, and there is a great deal of adventure in it, but those who already are
saying, “Lucky fellow!” should stop for a moment and examine the following: Alan will live with
sixteen other men for twelve months, and will not see another person except his companions for
that period; he will not get a single letter from his wife or friends; he will not attend a programme
or Army Meeting; he will not see a newspaper – including The War Cry! – for a year.

37 The victory, 1.
38 Gillian Triggs, “Australian sovereignty in Antarctica”, Melbourne University law review, (Vol. 13, June 1982), 302 –
333, 310.
39 Triggs, “Australian sovereignty in Antarctica”, Melbourne University law review, 311.
40 The victory, 1.
41 The victory, inside front cover.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 44

… The party will have radio communication with Australia, and each will be permitted to
send a message of one hundred words a month to his next-of-kin, free of charge. It will be possible
to send more at a stipulated charge.

The party sailed on a River class vessel, the River Fitzroy, on Saturday, April 28, and, after
taking on stores at Hobart, Tasmania, expected to reach Macquarie Island five days later. They
will disembark in amphibious “ducks.”42

Continuing, The victory outlined the character of Gowlett and wrote;

Alan is a good Salvationist, and we have no doubt that he will let his light shine during the twelve
months of voluntary “exile”.43

Not only were these pioneering times for the individual, but for Antarctica exploration
generally. One scientific journal wrote the following about the frozen continent of this time:

Man’s knowledge of the Antarctic Continent before 1954 was fragmentary. (I choose 1954
because that was the year that ANARE [Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition]
established Mawson station.) There were many stretches of coast that had never been explored
and many mountains that had never been sighted. The Antarctic Plateau was almost wholly
unknown and no one had experienced a winter at any point inland upon its surface. One could
only conjecture as to its average altitude, the contours of its surface and the extremes of
temperature which might be experienced upon it. Meteorological information was of very
elementary information nature, consisting of detailed observations from a few coastal stations and
a lot of imaginative generalizations and extrapolations with little factual basis on a continental
scale. Glaciological and geological knowledge was confined to a few restricted areas surrounding
coastal expedition bases.44

Gowlett on the bulldozer taken to Macquarie Island45

Gowlett later outlined his role on Macquarie Island;

… I was the diesel mechanic in charge of all the electrical and mechanical equipment. Domestic
equipment as well as mechanical equipment we ran the electricity all the time.46

42 The victory, 1.
43 The victory, 1.
44 Christy Collis, “Mawson and Mirnyy Stations: the spatiality of the Australian Antarctic Territory, 1954-61”,
Australian Geographer, (Vol. 38, Iss. 2, 2007), 215 – 231, 215.
45 The victory, inside front cover.
46 Gowletts interviewed by Congdon and transcript by Elsbury (2 August 1995), 12.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 45

Gowlett’s returned home from Macquarie Island on the Antarctic ship Tatton. He was observed
by The daily advertiser. This newspaper had a photograph of the Gowlett couple and stated,

… Mrs. Gowlett was one of many wives and sweethearts who shouted: “That can’t be him. Not
behind THAT beard!”

Alan’s grin was partly because he had gone to Macquarie [Island] to save money for a
house, and had returned to carry out his plan.47

Alan and Elizabeth Gowlett greeting each other
upon Alan’s return from Macquarie Island48

Macquarie Island was joined by Heard Island as a research station and;

ANARE relief teams were shipped in early 1949 to both the Heard and Macquarie Islands and
during the winter of 1949 topographical surveys of Heard Island were completed. Similar
ANARE relief teams replaced the previous year’s team in 1950, 1951, 1952 and 1953. In March
1953 an Act for the administration of the Heard and McDonald islands were passed. In the same
year the government announced that an expedition would be sent to the continent itself to establish
a scientific research station on the Australian Antarctic Territory. In February 1954, after relieving
the two island stations, a new mainland coastal station was established and named Mawson in
MacRobertson Land.49
In the latter part of 1954 Gowlett was again chosen to join an ANARE. This time he would join
14 other men to “relieve the Australian party at Mawson [Base] on the Antarctic mainland”.50 It was
announced that “Mr. Phillip Law, director of the Antarctic division of the External Affairs
Department, would lead the party” to the base.51 It must be noted that he would arrive just one year
after the foundation of the base. The newspaper also stated Gowlett lived at Kew, Victoria and was
an engineer.52

47 “Back – With a beard”, The daily advertiser, (Wagga Wagga, NSW: Friday 18 April 1952), 2.
48 “Back – With a beard”, The daily advertiser, (Wagga Wagga, NSW: Friday 18 April 1952), 2.
49 Triggs, “Australian sovereignty in Antarctica”, Melbourne University law review, 311.
50 “7 Victorians chosen in Antarctic party”, The argus, (Melbourne, Victoria: Tuesday 2 November, 1954), 6.
51 “7 Victorians chosen in Antarctic party”, The argus, (Melbourne, Victoria: Tuesday 2 November, 1954), 6.
52 “7 Victorians chosen in Antarctic party”, The argus, (Melbourne, Victoria: Tuesday 2 November, 1954), 6.

The Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019. Page 46

The relief team for Mawson left on 7 January 195553 via Heard Island on the ship, the Kista
Dan. In January 1955 word reached Australia that a new mountain range had been discovered in
Antarctica.54 This was 150 miles inland from the Mawson base.

Location of the New Mountain Range55

Black and white photograph of the New Mountain Range56
The voyage to Heard Island took 16 days and the ship experienced heavy seas which caused
some damage.57 As the station on Heard Island was closing the expedition spent three days loading
stores and equipment on to the ship, including 15 huskies and four huts which needed to be
deconstructed. These were all to be relocated to Mawson.58 As the ship reached Antarctica the new
method of exploration was attempted where “short well-organised forays at selected points on the
Continental coastline with small parties to carry out intensive programmes of scientific and
geographical exploration. Three such trips were made along 300 miles of Antarctic coastline.”59 One
of the places explored was Magnetic Island and other islands in the Vestfold Hills region. Here they
found penguin breeding areas, fjords and salty lakes.60

53 “Good results from new techniques in Arctic exploration”, The Canberra times, (ACT Thursday 24 March 1955), 2.
54 “New peak”, The argus, (Melbourne, Monday 10 January 1955), 6.
55 “New peak”, The argus, (Melbourne, Monday 10 January 1955), 6.
56 “New peak”, The argus, (Melbourne, Monday 10 January 1955), 6.
57 “Rough trip for Kista Dan”, The Canberra times, (ACT, Friday 28 January 1955), 2.
58 Good results from new techniques in Arctic exploration”, The Canberra times, (ACT Thursday 24 March 1955), 2.;
Phillip Law, “Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition, 1955”, The Geographical Journal, (Vol. 122, No. 1,
March 1956), 31 – 39, 31
59 Good results from new techniques in Arctic exploration”, The Canberra times, (ACT Thursday 24 March 1955), 2.
60 Law, “Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition, 1955”, The Geographical Journal, 33.

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The route taken by the ship which took Gowlett to Mawson61
The issues and political context of the time was hinted at later by Quilty and Lugg;

During the 1954/55 summer, Law was in his element. Heard Island was closed, all the huts
disassembled and prepared for re-erection at Mawson. After two days in the Vestfold Hills, during
which Law spent a night ashore, a visit to the Larsemann Hills some 100 km south was thwarted
by ice so they stayed at Lorten (now Lichen) Island, where Law took part unhappily in his first
man-hauling exercise. He spent another night ashore, then sailed along the Amery Ice Shelf,
mapping all the way to Mawson where they arrived at noon on 9 February. Relations with the
captain were excellent. The change-over at Mawson occurred on 28 February when Kista Dan
sailed for Heard Island and Îles Kerguelen where they enjoyed best French hospitality. Some
ANARE personnel attended unofficially and one became drunk, embarrassing Law and causing
him to exercise his authority forcefully. The ship arrived back in Melbourne on 22 March and
Law encountered an unexpected storm from two media people he had taken with him.62

61 Law, “Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition, 1955”, The Geographical Journal, 32.
62 Patrick G. Quilty and Desmond J. Lugg, “Phillip Garth Law 1912 – 2010”, Historical records of Australian sciences,
(CSIRO publishing, Vol. 24, 2013) 134 – 159,
https://www.science.org.au/files/userfiles/fellowship/memoirs/documents/phillip-garth-law-hr.pdf 143, accessed 6
December 2018.

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Map showing distance from Australian cities to Australian Antarctic bases.
Gowlett served on both Macquarie Island and Mawson Base63

Upon Law’s return he outlined what he found at Mawson Base. The sights described would
have also greeted Gowlett;

When I landed at Mawson on 9th February this year I was taken on a tour of inspection of the
Station. There was an engine hut containing two 15 KVA diesel electric generators, mounted on
concrete beds, from which power cables led to all other building; and elaborate workshop, with
tools neatly arranged on shadow boards, with lathe, drilling machines and welding plant; a surgery
complete with operating facilities, dispensary and X-ray unit; a radio office, from which messages
to Perth, Sydney or Cape Town could be dispatched by either of two 500-watt transmitters; a
living hut, with a kitchen boasting an AGA stove at one end, dining room and library at the other,
and ten one-man cubicles around the edge; a well-appointed photographic dark-room and a
surveyor’s office; a meteorological office; two store huts with an elaborate system for the
arrangement and labelling of stores; a carpenter’s workshop with electrically-powered tools; dog
lines where thirty huskies strained at their chains and barked a welcome finally, neatly stacked
piles of bagged coke and coal, and lines of fuel drums some distance from the huts to minimise
the fire hazard.64

63 “Research stations”, (Department of the Environment and Energy, Australian Antarctic Division, Australian
Government, 12 December 2012), http://www.antarctica.gov.au/living-and-working/stations accessed 17 September
2018.
64 Phillip Law, “Antarctic Exploration Australian achievements in 1954 – 1955”, Australian geographical Walkabout
magazine, (1 September 1955), 10 – 15; 11 – 12.

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View of Mawson Base February 1954. Kista Dan at anchor in the back ground and a “duck”, centre
right is making its was towards to unloading point65

The first job for Gowlett and the others in the party were to erect an additional 10 huts, which
went up in the first three weeks. Throughout the remainder of the year addition buildings were erected
until there were 19 separate buildings which included;

… a physics hut to house cosmic ray and ionospheric apparatus, a new meteorological building,
additional storage huts, two magnetic observatories, two additional sleeping huts, a new surgery
and several shelters for specialized meteorological equipment.66

On 13 February 1955, Philip Garth Law raised the Australian flag at the ceremony
to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of Mawson.

Men of the 1954 and 1955 parties are assembled around the flag-pole, one is Alan Gowlett67
In addition to the scientific work on the base, field journeys for scientific experimentation and
exploration were conducted by “weasel, sometimes by dog sledge, and sometimes by a combination
of the two.”68

65 Law, “Antarctic Exploration Australian achievements in 1954 – 1955”, Walkabout, 12.
66 Law, “Antarctic Exploration Australian achievements in 1954 – 1955”, Walkabout, 12.
67 Law, “Antarctic Exploration Australian achievements in 1954 – 1955”, Walkabout, 21.
68 Law, “Antarctic Exploration Australian achievements in 1954 – 1955”, Walkabout, 12.

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