Evangeline Booth

Evangeline Cory Booth OF (December 25, 1865 – July 17, 1950) was a British evangelist and the fourth General of The Salvation Army from 1934 to 1939. She was the first woman to hold the post.

Early life She was born in South Hackney, London, England, the seventh of eight children born to William Booth and Catherine Mumford, who had earlier in the year founded The Christian Mission, which became The Salvation Army in 1878. Catherine Booth had recently read Uncle Tom's Cabin and wanted to name her baby 'Evangeline', but William Booth did not like the name and wrote 'Evelyne' on the birth certificate. Years later, while in the United States, Evelyne would be persuaded by Frances Willard, founder of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, to adopt the name 'Evangeline' as being more dignified and more befitting the commander of The Salvation Army in America.

At 15 she was a Sergeant selling the Army's paper The War Cry in the slums of east London.

The Salvation Army Booth was appointed as Field Commissioner throughout Great Britain from 1888 to 1891, courageously facing riotous crowds. From 1891 until 1896 she was in charge of Officer Training. When in 1896 an American break-away group led by her brother Ballington Booth and his wife Maud Ballington Booth attempted to tempt American Salvationists away from The Salvation Army and into a rival group called Volunteers of America, General Booth sent Evangeline to New York. When she arrived the doors to Army headquarters on 14th Street had been locked against her. However, "she mounted the fire escape and climbed through a rear window. The dissidents hissed and booed until she literally wrapped herself in an available American flag and challenged: "Hiss that, if you dare." In the stunned silence she played her concertina and sang "Over Jordan without Fearing." Ballington's rebellion was quelled."

She was appointed temporary Territorial Commander of the United States, then Territorial Commander of Canada. In 1904 she returned as Commander of the United States, and held this position until 1934. In the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, she led a mass meeting in Union Square, New York, and raised over $12,000 for Salvation Army relief work among the victims of the disaster. During this period she became a US citizen. Booth was one of only a very few civilian women to be so honored for service during the First World War.

In 1926, Booth recounted a story in which her dog "Mazie" saved her life by fetching others in her household to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. In 1927, Booth visited her brother, General Bramwell Booth, with a memorandum which set to change the way in which The Salvation Army appointed its General. At first Bramwell refused to speak with Evangeline and forced communication through his speech writer, Commissioner Cornelius Obadiah Phelps. After finally agreeing to meet, Bramwell was not convinced; he was adamant that he would appoint his successor as his father had done before him.

General Evangeline Booth lived in Hartsdale, New York, until her death at the age of 84 from arteriosclerosis. She is interred in Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, Mount Pleasant, New York near White Plains, New York. Her home, the Evangeline Booth House, now known as St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.