Eva Burrows

General Eva Evelyn Burrows AC
Eva Burrows at The Salvation Army's Australia Southern Territory Training College
13th General of The Salvation Army
In office 1986–1993
Preceded by	Jarl Wahlström
Succeeded by	Bramwell Tillsley
Personal details
Born	(1929-09-15)15 September 1929 Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Died	20 March 2015(2015-03-20) (aged 85) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Spouse(s)	None
Relations	Only living sister from 8 siblings, Margaret Emma Southwell who resides in Melbourne
Children	None
Residence	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Religion	Christian

Eva Evelyn Burrows, AC (15 September 1929 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian Salvation Army Officer and was, from 1986 to 1993, the 13th General of the Salvation Army. She served as an Officer of the Salvation Army from 1951 to her retirement in 1993. In 1993 Henry Gariepy released her biography, General of God's Army the Authorized Biography of General Eva Burrows.

Early life

Burrows was born on 15 September 1929 in Newcastle. Her parents, Robert Burrows and Ella, were both Salvation Army Officers. The couple had nine children: Dorothy, Joyce, Beverly, Walter, Robert, Bramwell, Elizabeth, Eva and Margaret.^[1] With her parents' itinerant life-style Burrows primary schooling was interrupted, she completed her secondary education at Brisbane State High School, where she was selected as a prefect and Head Girl.^[2] From the age of seventeen, Burrows attended the University of Queensland and received her Bachelor of Arts in May 1950 with majors in English and History.^[3]

Salvation Army

In 1950 Burrows entered The Salvation Army's International Training College in London.^[4] She was commissioned as a Salvation Army Officer in 1951. After studying at London University to be a teacher^[5] she served at the Howard Institute in Zimbabwe from 1952 to 1967, was Principal of the Usher Institute from 1967 to 1970, and served at the International College for Officers, at The Cedars, Sydenham Hill London, from 1970 to 1975, first as Assistant Principal, then as Principal.

She became the leader of the Salvation Army's Social Services for Women in Great Britain in 1975, and leader of the Salvation Army's work in Sri Lanka in 1977. In 1980 she became leader of the Salvation Army's work in Scotland, followed in 1982 as leader of the Salvation Army's work in the Australian Southern Territory. In 1986 she was elected General of the Salvation Army by the slimmest margin in the history of the High Council (22 to 24 on the fourth ballot, a margin of one person's vote).^[6]

Burrows continued active salvation warfare, having completed a ten-year post on the Board of the International Bible Society (in 2005), and being the international Champion of the Be A Hero campaign, as well as sitting on the Board of Reference of The Salvation Army War College. She wrote A Field For Exploits: Training Leaders For The Salvation Army.^[7]

Death

Burrows was Promoted to Glory on 20 March 2015 at the Coppin Centre in Melbourne, Victoria, aged 85.^[8] She was surrounded by loved ones on the day she passed, and two African nurses who were working there sang the Zimbabwe National anthem with her. A third nurse was from Usher, the school she had been Principal at in Zimbabwe. ^[9]

Honours

In the Australia Day Honours of 1986 Burrows was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) with the citation "In recognition of service to the temporal and spiritual welfare of the community and to social justice as the world leader of the Salvation Army".^[10] In 1994 it was upgraded to Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).^[11]

In 1988 she became an Honorary Doctor of Liberal Arts at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, and was awarded an Honorary LLD from Asbury University in the USA in 1988. In December 1993, she received an honorary Doctor of Philosophy from her alma mater, the University of Queensland.

On 1 January 2001 Burrows received a Centenary Medal "[f]or service to the Australian community".^[12]

Appointments and qualifications

^[13]

References

External links

• Biography and Interview from Australian Biography Online
• General Eva Burrows, biography at Women's International Center
• "Why Help the Poor?" – A condensed version of an address delivered by General Burrows at the opening session of the Third Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop on Banking with the Poor held in Brisbane 21–25 November 1995.
• Burrows, Eva Evelyn in The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia