Elijah Cadman

Commissioner Elijah Cadman (10 December 1843 – 12 December 1927) was an evangelist, an early member of The Salvation Army and the originator of the idea that Salvationists should wear uniforms. and Elijah Cadman started work as a silk weaver alongside his mother and sister. Aged six Cadman was unusually small and, because of his size, found work at that age climbing and cleaning chimneys for a chimney sweep. He would start work at 4 a.m. and continued climbing chimneys until he was 13, when the British Government passed a law which stopped boys from working up chimneys.

By 1881 Cadman was a Major in The Salvation Army. In 1888 he was appointed to International Headquarters in London and in 1890, by now a Colonel, he became the first leader of the Men's Social Work Headquarters and administered the 'Darkest England' scheme.

Later years

In his later years Cadman held the role of International Travelling Commissioner and campaigned on behalf of The Salvation Army in the West Indies, South Africa, the United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Scandinavia, Germany and other countries. Until July 1900 he was in charge of The City Colony, a homeless shelter in London which took the poor and destitute and gave them board and lodgings in exchange for a day's work . Cadman accompanied William Booth on all his motorcades around the United Kingdom.

Elijah and Marina Cadman retired from active service in 1915 and lived in Catford, south London. Marina died on 8 January 1923 and Elijah on 12 December 1927.