Vol 23 No 1 Winter 2022

VOLUME 23 NUMBER 1 WINTER 2022

THE CREST

NEWS AND VIEWS OF THE SALVATION ARMY
ARCHIVES CANADA AND BERMUDA TERRITORY

THE SALVATION ARMY ARCHIVES, CANADA AND BERMUDA TERRITORY WWW.SALVATIOMARMY.CA
26 HOWDEN ROAD, TORONTO ON M1R 3E4 [email protected]

SALVATION ARMY CHAPLAIN MAKES HISTORY
Lieutenant Colonel Cyril Everitt

Lt. Col. Cyril Everitt was born in 1908 in a small village in England to Salva-
tionist parents who migrated to Toronto when he was five years old. Eight
years after their arrival in Canada, his parents were accepted for officer-
ship, and young Cyril was introduced to what would become his life’s call-
ing. So enthusiastic was he about ministry life, that when his parents went
away for their annual furlough, teenager Cyril stayed behind to run the
corps in their absence. Cyril was also an avid musician who was featured in
many major Army events throughout his life as a pianist and organinst, in-

cluding playing the majestic organ at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Eng-

land.

Lt. Col. Cyril Everitt From his earliest years, he was stirred by the sacred call to be a Salvation

Army Officer, and responded to that call when commissioned in 1931. Following Commissioning, along

with his wife Olive whom he married in 1935, he served in corps ministry and divisional work prior to be-

ing appointed as chaplain at the Don Jail in Toronto.

It was sixty years ago, during his six year tenure as chaplain at the Don Jail, that then Brigadier Cyril
Everitt was involved in an historic experience that would impact his life. For almost eleven months, he
was the spiritual advisor, counsellor, mentor, confidant, and friend to Arthur Lucas and Ronald Turpin,
the last people to be executed in Canada. He attended their trials, and when they were sentenced in
February of 1962, he visited them every day until the day they were executed on December 10. He ap-
pealed and advocated for the sentence to be commuted, even making a personal call to the Prime Minis-
ter of the day to see what could be done. He spent time with them learn-
ing about their difficult and broken lives. He told them about the love of
Jesus and how they could know that love, and he demonstrated that love to
them daily. He shared their last meal with them, and walked with them on
their journey to the gallows. One of them confessed that he had never
known a father’s love, and told Cyril: “You have been like a father to me.”

In an interview with “Rights and Freedom” March 1985, Everitt recalls:
“The day before the hanging, I got up early and I remember saying to my
wife, ‘If I haven’t got them saved by now, I guess I never will.’ When I got
to the jail, the first thing Turpin said was, ‘I guess we should pray now.’”

Minutes before the execution occurred, Lucas spoke to Everitt through his

cell bars. “You know, Brigadier, we is lucky.”, he said. Everitt asked him

what he meant by ‘lucky’. “Well”, Lucas replied, “if I were on the street, I
could be killed by a car and I wouldn’t be ready to meet my maker. But

this way, because of your talking to us and leading us through the steps to

salvation, I’m ready to meet my maker.” (continued on page 4)

Page 2

TREASURE BEHIND THE WALL

Historical material
sometimes comes to us
from the most unusual
places. Recently, the
Archives received an
email from a Corps Of-
ficer. Attached to that
email was the scanned
copy of a letter that had
been delivered to the
secretary of the Corps.
According to the Corps
Officer, this letter was
found inside the wall

of a house that was

being renovated!

The letter, dated No-
vember, 1899, written
on THQ letterhead, was

a Self-Denial appeal
sent out by Commis-
sioner Evangeline
Booth, who was Territo-
rial Commander of the
day. For a document
that is over 120 years
old, it is incredibly well
preserved. Excerpts
are included to the
right. You can read the
full text at this link:

https://anyflip.com/pfqoo/
dmxj/

Page 3

A TOUCHING Brigadier Irwin The Fall 2021 issue of
“LOST AND FOUND” STORY
The Crest featured
James Ludwig the story of Brigadier
Ada Irwin. She was a
Canadian Salvation Ar-
my officer serving in
South Korea when
North Korea invaded in
June 1950.

The article quoted excerpts of a letter
which Ada wrote in July 1950, describing
her experience of sudden evacuation.
Her niece, Jean McEachern, had donated
this letter to the Archives.
Subsequently, Jean donated Ada’s Bible,
which had been left behind during the
evacuation and found ten months later
by a perfect stranger – James Ludwig. In
his letter to Ada, James did not explain
why he was in Korea at the time. But
what a thoughtful thing he did by finding
out where she lived and sending the Bi-
ble to her.

The Bible had been given “To Ada on
her 24th Birthday From Mother and Fa-
ther”. On the back pages of the Bible
Ada had recorded dates from 1920 to
1947, including her Cadet training, ap-
pointments, and rank promotions.

What a treasure!

The Bible is in line to be restored at the Archives. A sermon which Ada wrote some
time later, using the story of her
Bible in the introduction.

CHAPLAIN MAKES HISTORY—Lt. Col. Cyril Everitt Page 4

(Continued from page 1)

Everitt described the funeral of the two condemned men that took place about 3:00 a.m. immediately fol-
lowing their execution. (Taken from an interview with Rights and Freedoms March 1985.)

“It was a cold night and there was snow on the ground. I was ready to start the service, and people were
standing around smoking. I told them to put out their cigarettes, and one by one the lights went out.
When I came to the part about ‘as it has pleased Almighty God’, I left that out because I didn’t think it had
pleased God. I substituted another phrase.”

The interviewer then asked: “Did this event affect your life?”

Everitt replied:
“I’ve had heights and depths in my life. The high was playing organ in the Royal Albert Hall, and con-
ducting music camps. That execution was the depth; but I ‘ll never forget it, or those two men.”

And he never did. Until his promotion to glory almost twenty four years later, Cyril Everitt made regular
visits to the graves of the two men whose deaths he witnessed. He continued to be a fierce opponent of
capital punishment throughout his lifetime. Though he continued to minister to those on death row at the
time, there were no more executions. Capital punishment was eventually abolished in Canada in 1976.

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KELOWNA BAND BANDING
1922
A Hundred Years Ago

From its very beginning, the Army
used music and especially banding
as a key element to its growth and
outreach. It seems that wherever
there was a Corps, there was a band
of some kind. Such groups sprung
up quickly all over the Territory,
and utilized whatever music re-
sources available to them. As a re-
sult, the earliest groups consisted of
all kinds of instrumentation, and in-
cluded all ages, and all manner of
fashion and uniform styles. Consid-
er this photo from a century ago that
speaks for itself.

Photo 28463 A picture is worth a thousand words.

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