Booth, REV. WILLIAM, founder and 'general' of the Salvation Army (q.v.), was born at Nottingham in 1829, was educated there, and from 1850 to 1861 acted as minister of the Methodist New Connection. From the first he was zealous in holding evangelistic services, but the new departure which led to the creation of the Salvation Army on military lines began in 1865 with mission work among the lower classes in the East End of London. Since 1878 Booth's movement has been known as the Salvation Army, of which he has continued to be the mainspring and controlling power, directing its movements at home and abroad from his headquarters in London. His enthusiasm and wonderful organising power have given life to the religious military system, of which he is really 'general.' The property of the Salvation Army is held for its exclusive use by Booth. His wife (1829–90) was fully associated with him in the movement and the publications dealing with it, and Booth has written Darkest England and the Way Out (1890).
See the Life of Mrs Booth by Tucker-Booth (1892), and the works quoted at SALVATION ARMY.