Catherine Bramwell-Booth
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Commissioner Catherine Bramwell-Booth CBE, OF, (20 July 1883–4 October 1987), (born as Catherine Booth Booth) Salvation Army officer, was one of seven children born to General Bramwell Booth and Florence Eleanor Soper, and was the grandaughter of the Salvation Army's founder, General William Booth and his wife Catherine Mumford, the 'Mother of the Salvation Army'.
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[edit] Salvation Army Officer
Adding her father's Christian name to her surname, Bramwell-Booth entered the Salvation Army Training College in 1903, aged 19, and was given her first posting in 1904 as a Captain in Bath. She then held appointments in a number of important provincial centres, being placed in charge of the Salvation Army's evangelical work. In 1904 she joined her grandfather, General Booth, as he travelled in a motorcade around the country, preaching from his car in village and town centres. From 1907 to 1917 she was involved in the training of women officers at the Army's International Training College in Clapton in London.[1]
In 1913 she preached in Russia and in 1917 made headlines when she led a rescue team into the area devastated by the Silvertown TNT explosion at the Brunner-Mond munitions factory in what has become known as the Silvertown explosion, when seventy-three people died and hundreds were injured. Later, she was to be involved with relief work in Europe after both World War 1 and World War 2[2]
She left the International Training College in 1917 to become the Under Secretary for Europe for Salvation Army work in Europe, being attached to the International Headquarters in London. In 1926 she was promoted to Colonel, and from then until 1946 she was in charge of the Army's social work among women in Great Britain.[1] In 1927 she was promoted to Commissioner, and became closely involved in the Salvation Army's social welfare activities, dealing with everything from orphaned children to the elderly residents of Salvation Army eventide homes. From 1946 she was international secretary for Europe until her retirement in 1948.[3]
Bramwell-Booth was nominated three times for the generalship of the Salvation Army, in 1934, 1939, and 1946. However, on each occasion she was unsuccessful, it possibly being felt that leadership of the Salvation Army should not appear to be exclusive to the Booth 'dynasty', as both her father and aunt Evangeline Booth had previously been Generals.
[edit] Later life
Bramwell-Booth wrote several books, including a biography of her grandmother, Catherine Mumford. This brought her a certain fame, and, because of her engaging personality, during the 1970s and 1980s she made frequent appearances on radio and television programmes, being interviewed by, among others, Malcolm Muggeridge, Russell Harty and Roy Plomley on Desert Island Discs in 1979.[2] She reached her greatest audience through her appearance on Parkinson, hosted by Michael Parkinson.[3] In 1971 she was appointed CBE, and in 1977, at the age of 93, as a life long teetotaller, she was delighted to receive the Guild of Professional Toastmasters best speaker award. She was presented with the Humanitarian Award of 1981 by the Variety Clubs International,[4] and in 1983 was awarded the Salvation Army's prestigious 'Order of the Founder' (OF).[4]
Catherine Bramwell-Booth died at the age of 104 on 4 October 1987 at her home, North Court, in Finchampstead, Berkshire, where she lived with two of her sisters. She never married.
[edit] Publications
- Bramwell-Booth, Catherine: 'Bramwell Booth' Pub. by Rich and Cowan, 1933.
- Bramwell-Booth, Catherine: 'Catherine Booth: the story of her loves' Pub. by Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1970.
- Bramwell-Booth, Catherine: 'Fighting for the King' Pub. by Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1983.
- Bramwell-Booth, Catherine: 'Letters: Catherine Bramwell-Booth' Pub. by Lion, 1986.
- Bramwell-Booth, Catherine, with Ted Harrison: 'Commissioner Catherine' Pub. by Darton, Longman and Todd, London, 1983.
[edit] Books about Bramwell-Booth
- Batchelor, Mary: 'Catherine Bramwell-Booth' Pub. by Lion, 1986.
- Swift, Catherine M.: 'Catherine Bramwell-Booth' Pub. by Marshall Pickering, 1989.
[edit] References
- ^ Eva Burrows, 'Booth, Catherine Bramwell- (1883–1987)', rev., Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
- ^ Mary Batchelor, 'Catherine Bramwell-Booth' Lion, (1986)
- ^ Eva Burrows, 'Booth, Catherine Bramwell- (1883–1987)', rev., Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
- ^ Eva Burrows, 'Booth, Catherine Bramwell- (1883–1987)', rev., Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
