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Catherine Mumford Booth was born the daughter of a coachbuilder in 1829 at Ashbourne, Derbyshire. When she was a child the family moved to Boston, Lincolnshire and later they lived at Brixton.
Catherine was a devout Christian and by the time she was twelve, she had read the entire Bible eight times. She also had a social conscience. When she was only twelve years old, Catherine Mumford became secretary to a little temperance society. She also raised money for sending the gospel to foreign lands and even denied herself sugar in order to contribute to missions. She was bright and earnest child and wrote articles for publication when she was but a child. Catherine had a good heart and always took up the cause of the weak and unfortunate.
Being poor in health, Catherine was sent to the seashore to regain her health. She suffered from a disease of the spine and seemed likely to die of tuberculosis. It was while she was ill that she began publishing articles in magazines about the dangers of drinking alcohol.
Upon her return to London in 1852, Catherine met William Booth, a young Wesleyan preacher. William’s father had once been wealthy, but had died, leaving his family penniless. William was working as an apprentice while preaching to support himself and his family.
William and Catherine shared a strong commitment to social reform and while they were both poor, they joined heart and hand for soul saving and the uplifting of humanity. They were married at Stockwell New Chapel on June 16, 1855. William became a circuit preacher, and later assistant pastor in a London church. He was a very successful evangelist and had many calls for him to speak in different parts of England. But his real love was evangelistic work, a work he shared with Catherine. When he was only 27, he was ordered by the conference to give up his evangelistic
work and was given a small church to pastor. It was here that Catherine began to conduct classes and speak on temperance.
The Booths were next moved to a town of fifty thousand people. Their little church numbered less than 100 members when they began their ministry there, but soon the church was crowded with nearly two thousand people. This church became known as the “Converting Shop”.
The stories of Catherine’s assistance to the poor and intemperate are both touching and thrilling. She was of a very sensitive nature and was really quite shy. She dreaded the thought of speaking in public, but felt
that God had laid this upon her. So she began to preach and people responded. Hundreds of people were soon converted under her speaking. Her husband’s health failed and she was compelled to take his place, which she did, and was a great success. Calls became to come for both her and her husband to hold evangelistic meetings, but the leadership of his church conference disapproved. At last the Booth’s felt they must resign the conference and be free to go where God might call them.
The beginnings of what became the “Salvation Army” were wrought in the slums of London, where William and Catherine held tent meetings and marched through the streets to advertise the meetings. Mrs. Booth became an effective preacher and was offered to have her sermons published. She refused, however, and continued to endure the abuse and violence of the degraded people to whom they were commissioned to serve.
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