Corps, congresses, and carols: the history of The Salvation Army in Wembley

Ruth Macdonald

(Archivist & Deputy Director, Salvation Army International Heritage Centre)

The well-known church and charity The Salvation Army began life in 1865 in the east end of London. Known by a number of names in its early years, the name Christian Mission was settled upon once it began expanding outside of London around 1870. Its founders William and Catherine Booth, former Methodists, were concerned for the souls of those living in areas of high poverty who tended not to attend established churches. Although the Christian Mission made some efforts to attend to the practical needs of its target congregation, its main focus was spiritual redemption rather than charitable relief. It sought to capture attention by repurposing aspects of popular secular culture for religious purposes: converting a tavern into its headquarters and preaching in theatres and music halls. In 1878 the Mission elected to change its system of governance and, tapping into the jingoism popularised in musical halls at the time, it took the army as its model for a new, more hierarchical structure. Soon after, its name was changed to The Salvation Army and other well-known features like uniforms and brass bands were adopted around this time too.

The Salvation Army reached Harrow in 1887. The organisation’s newspaper, The War Cry, reported that ‘considerable difficulty was experienced in advancing on this pretty little town with its schools, and learning and other agencies of refinement.’ This was seemingly a very different world from the urban poverty with which The Salvation Army generally occupied itself, and The War Cry goes on to say that ‘this constituted the main obstacle of our entrance’. People asked ‘what need can there be of The Salvation Army here?’ The Salvation Army was reportedly told that Harrow was ‘sufficiently evangelized’ as it had ‘a zealous untiring vicar, and a detachment of the Church Army’, the Church of England’s militaristic wing. Undaunted, The Salvation Army still felt there were plenty of souls in need of saving, particularly as intellect, they argued, was at odds with faith. They also said they had found that Harrow did, after all, have ‘a large number of just our class of folk’—poor, working people.

According to the report, which uses the military language typical in The War Cry at the time, ‘the morning of attack was about the furthest from inspiring—cold, wet, and miserable. The Chelsea Band was appointed as storming party.’ Nonetheless, ‘the place was packed and large crowds outside’. Unfortunately, it doesn’t say where this first meeting took place, just that it was in ‘a large hall’, but records held in our archives at the Salvation Army International Heritage Centre in Camberwell show that by December, The Salvation Army had taken out a seven-year tenancy of a flour and corn store on London Hill, capable of holding 209 people.

After a year, by their own account, the Harrow pioneers’ persistence was rewarded. Harrow corps was said to be ‘a marvel of wonder’ where ‘many wonderful characters had been captured’. It also had four outposts, which were smaller missions or cottage meetings held in nearby localities, although sadly the article doesn’t specify where. This, however, set a pattern that would continue well into the twentieth century. By February 1905 Harrow had an official outpost at Sudbury, and by November of the same year the outpost was serving both Sudbury and Wembley. This is the first mention of Wembley, I’ve been able to find in our records.

This is a photograph of Harrow Band in 1905 from a magazine called The Local Officer. It shows some of the Salvationists who would have been involved in serving the Sudbury and Wembley outpost. The article also included a table showing their occupations (see below) which revealed an interesting mix of manual trades—plumbers, carpenters, bricklayers, coal porters—and white-collar jobs such as architects and engineers. Also interesting to note is that there’s one Salvation Army Life Assurance Agent. The Salvation Army had taken over the Methodist and General Assurance Society in 1891 and began issuing Salvation Army life assurance policies in 1894. This was one of several financial service institutions established by The Salvation Army in the 1890s, aimed primarily at working class people, including a bank called the Reliance Bank and a General Insurance Company which are both still in operation today. The life assurance society operated until the late 1970s when it was taken over by Wesleyan Assurance.

In 1907, Harrow corps opened its own purpose-built meeting hall in Roxeth Hill, which it occupied until very recently. The Hall is now rented out to community groups, while Harrow corps undertakes its mission in other community spaces and online.

Salvation Army founder, William Booth made one recorded visit to Harrow in 1910. Once again, rain threatened proceedings but the people of Harrow were undeterred. The Public Hall was filled to overflowing, and the school masters and chaplain of Harrow school along with other local dignitaries heaped praise on William Booth, who was fresh from an audience with the then Home Secretary Winston Churchill. What’s most remarkable about the recognition and plaudits that William Booth was now receiving from these establishment figures is that just two decades earlier he and his organisation had been widely considered a threat to public order and decency. The Salvation Army, with its noisy open-air preaching and its processions of drunkards and ‘roughs’ led by ‘Captains’ of both sexes who were often little more than teenagers, was not seen as respectable in the 1880s. But a lot had changed in thirty years. As the article reports, Mr Acton Davies, a local magistrate, ‘narrated an incident which had changed his attitude towards The Army from one of indifference to that of respect’. He had overheard two women discussing how the husband of one, who had been ‘a terrible drunkard’, had become a different man since meeting The Salvation Army. Through its spiritual work, as well as its social work (which by then had become well-established), The Salvation Army was gaining a reputation for effecting positive transformation in individual lives and in communities.

It wasn’t until 1932 that Wembley had its own Salvation Army corps. On 7 May The War Cry announced that it was to be opened as part of the North London Division but a week later had to print a correction because it actually came under the West London Division. The inaugural meetings were held on the 18th of May in the Brotherhood Hall on the High Road. At some point the lease of the Brotherhood Hall was given up and Wembley corps moved to London Road, but I haven’t been able to establish when the move took place. The corps was certainly in London Road by the mid-1940s.

Sadly, we only have two surviving photographs of Wembley corps in our archives. One shows a woman receiving chiropody treatment. An obituary in the Harrow Observer tells us that Christina Joyce Barlow was one of the first chiropodists to offer her services to the Wembley Salvation Army for their free foot clinic for old age pensioners in the 1940s. She very sadly died aged 39 in 1949. The other photo (below) shows what appears to be a tea meeting at the corps in the 1940s. If anyone by any chance recognises the interior of building, we’d grateful to know whether it shows the Brotherhood Hall or the London Road premises. We know that the corps was saving towards a fund to acquire another building from at least 1936 as a concert in aid of the fund was held in October that year. An account of the concert appeared in the local paper, the Observer and Gazette.

Wembley corps closed in 1978. For over a decade before its closure, Wembley was worked from Harlesden corps, so having started as an outpost of Harrow corps to the north-west, it ended its days as an outpost of Harlesden to the south-east. Harlesden corps is still active today, and it’s likely that most Wembley Salvationists would have transferred there to worship in 1978.

One of the most significant and most tragic events to occur in the area during the lifetime of Wembley corps was the Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash in October 1952, and we know from newspaper reports that Salvationists from several corps were involved in the rescue and relief efforts in the aftermath. Several Salvationists were also passengers on the trains and very fortunate to escape with their lives. The Harrow Observer commended the efforts Salvationists from Harrow, Wealdstone, Watford, Burnt Oak and Wembley, mentioning that some Salvationists helped with the rescue efforts while others staffed a Kodak canteen, and one Salvationist from Wealdstone carried out nursing.

When Wembley was gearing up to host to the British Empire Exhibition in 1924, The Salvation Army announced that it would have a pavilion at the event. The pavilion was situated in ‘Quality Street’ next to the British Government pavilion. Of course, the British Empire Exhibition embodied values and practices that The Salvation Army no longer subscribes to today, but like many other cultural, charitable and religious institutions that have existed since that time, it did play a part in British global expansion and participated in the event as a means of promoting its work.

The War Cry reported that the Salvation Army exhibits would include ‘a set of instruments made at The Army’s [Musical Instrument] Factory at St Albans, samples of the excellent printing done at [The Salvation Army’s printing press] the Campfield Press, and uniforms [and] books by the Founder, the Army Mother […] and other well-known writers’. ‘Needlework from the various Women’s Social Homes [would also] be on sale, while the Emigration Department [was to] have an experienced Officer in attendance to give advice to intending emigrants.’ Portraits of William Booth and his son and successor Bramwell were also displayed alongside various unspecified ‘relics’ relating to the founder.

The Salvation Army was eager that its pavilion would be a ‘very visible witness for God amid a world of pleasure’. The Salvation Army flag at its summit was intended to be a ‘beacon of warning and hope and a reminder [of God]’, while a quiet corner of the pavilion was set aside as a prayer space. Religious meetings were also held regularly in and around the pavilion.

Salvation Army exhibits were not confined to The Army’s own pavilion. The Salvation Army had become such an integral part of life in many of the Empire’s Dominions that Salvation Army exhibits were included in their displays as well. For example, tomatoes displayed in the South African pavilion were grown in a Salvation Army Industrial Farm there, while fine lace and drawn-thread work from Salvation Army Industrial Homes in South India featured in the India Section.

The 23rd of August was a special day for The Salvation Army at the Exhibition as it secured the main Conference Hall for a series of meetings throughout the day. Salvationists descended on the exhibition in their hundreds to attend the meetings and tour the various pavilions. The visitor books from The Salvation Army pavilion are testimony to its popularity: the signatures and messages left by visitors between 13 May and 1 November 1924 fill three volumes which we have in our archives.

When the exhibition resumed in 1925, The Salvation Army had not one but two pavilions. The Salvation Army’s work in India was to be a particular focus of both pavilions in 1925 and a contingent of Indian officers travelled over especially for the duration of the event to stage scenes of life in India. Over the course of the exhibition, their daily demonstrations were extremely popular, reportedly attended by over 130,000 people.

After the British Empire Exhibition ended, almost fifty years passed before The Salvation Army held another event at Wembley. But in 1972 The Salvation Army chose Wembley’s Empire Pool as the venue for its British Congress. Despite the name, the British Congress was more of a mini-international congress with a British flavour, as delegates came from every country where the Salvation Army was present. Since its first International Congress in 1886, The Salvation Army had held others in 1894, 1914 and 1965, the centenary of the establishment of the Christian Mission. The 1972 British Congress lasted six days with 13 events including rallies, festivals, and meetings, and culminated with the debut performance of a new musical ‘Jesus Folk’ by the prolific Salvation Army musical composers Gowans and Larsson. 60,000 Salvationists attended the Congress, and it was used to launch a nationwide spiritual campaign.

A shorter time elapsed before the next major Salvation Army event at Wembley. The success of 1972 prompted The Salvation Army to hold its next International Congress there in 1978. 1978 marked 100 years since the Christian Mission had become The Salvation Army, so it was a second centenary congress for the organisation. At the previous centenary congress in 1965, the Queen had attended one of the meetings, but the real coup of 1978 was having Prince (now King) Charles give a speech at the opening ceremony.

Once again, the Congress featured an array of spectacular events, with a strong emphasis on music, drama and youth. It included more musicals by Gowans and Larsson: ‘Glory!’ and ‘The Blood of the Lamb’, alongside a celebration of more traditional Salvation Army music in ‘A Century of Brass’. That event received another royal distinction in the form of a letter from the Queen Mother, fondly recalling her attendance at a Salvation Army Composers’ Festival fifty years prior in 1928.

The Salvation Army’s next international congress was held in 1990 and again Wembley was chosen as one of the main venues. Wembley again played host to the opening ceremony, as well as a gospel arts festival, a whole day of prayer and worship, a musical, a good news extravaganza, a women’s rally and a youth spectacular. The 1990 International Congress was the first to be held while The Salvation Army had a woman General at the helm and special commemorative cover was issued in recognition of this. General Eva Burrows, an Australian, was The Salvation Army’s second female General. She was elected in 1986 and served until 1993.

Since 1991, The Salvation Army has put on an annual carol concert in the run up to Christmas. It is now held at the Royal Albert Hall, but in the 1990s it was held in Wembley Grand Hall. Each year, the carol concert has celebrity guests: Pam Rhodes, Angela Rippon, Annette Crosbie, Cheryl Baker and Derek Nimmo were among the special guests when it was held in Wembley. In 1994, the Princess Royal also attended.

These days carolling at Christmas is one of the things most closely associated with The Salvation Army in the public imagination but, surprisingly, in the early days, carolling was only permitted reluctantly and under strict conditions. Notices like this appeared in The War Cry in the 1880s:

Thankfully, however, carolling was soon accepted, so Salvation Army bands and carollers could start bringing joy to many at Christmas!