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LAY WORKERS.
ANNE AYSCOUGH, otherwise Askew, the Martyr (1521-1546) local tradition says was born, or spent her early life, at Nuthall. Her father was Sir William Ayscough, Lord of Nuthall, Basford, and other places, who was knighted in 1513, and her mother,—nee Elizabeth Wrottesley—having died, Sir William, who had a house at Stallingborough, went and lived at his second wife's residence at South Kelsey, near Grimsby. No registers are available. The marriage settlement is dated in 1522, the year after Anne's birth. It is said Anne was compelled to marry when 15 a man named Kyme, a zealous Roman Catholic, who having turned her out of doors, she went up to London to sue for a separation, but was arrested on a charge of heresy. Twelve pages of Fox's "Book of Martyrs" are occupied with her persecutions, sham trials, and martyrdom. She was burnt at Smithfield, July 25th, 1546, being in the twenty-fifth year of her age, distinguished for her wit, beauty, learning and religion.
"THE PILGRIM FATHERS," (1608) so called, had their origin in Nottinghamshire. Three of their early leaders must be named:—
WILLIAM BREWSTER, Scrooby Post.
REV. JOHN ROBINSON, Sturton-le-Steeple.
WILLIAM BRADFORD, Austerfield.
WILLIAM BREWSTER, (1566 (?) -1643). His father was a farmer, agent to the Archbishop of York, and Post for the supply of horses for travellers between Tuxford and Doncaster. The son, who must have had some tuition in Latin, was sent to Cambridge University, after which he entered the service of Mr. Davison, Secretary of State, where he was "so discrete and faithful as he trusted him above all other that were about him, and only employed him in all matters of greatest trust and secrecie." (Bradford). Here he became the subject of a spiritual awakening, and when he returned to Scrooby to take charge of the Post business, it was like a transfer to an ice-house. Many centuries before, in Saxon times, the Archbishops of York possessed the patronage of the rectory of Sutton and Scrooby, but as the rector lived at the former place, five miles to the South, the latter stood the chance of neglect, except when the Archbishops were there. Brewster endeavoured to obtain "godly " preachers in the churches, and ultimately Separatists meetings were held in some part of the former Archbishop's manor house. Persecution arose, and Brewster and others fled to Holland, where he, after much poverty, became a teacher of Latin and English to the sons of gentlemen, and then assisted in compiling and printing books for export. After some years the Pilgrims left in the "Mayflower," and formed a colony in what is now part of the United States, where for many years Brewster acted as the minister, teaching twice "every Sabbath, and that both powerfully and profitably," and during the week working on the land. He appears to have been a man who fitted himself for whatever might happen, and adapted himself to circumstances, but always with an eye to promoting the good of others.
REV. JOHN ROBINSON, (1575 (?) -1625), M.A., after taking the full course at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduated, secured a fellowship, was duly ordained, and later, on conscientious grounds, renounced his orders, and became what we should call a Noncom-formist Minister. In 1603 he was married in Greasley Church, the entry being, "Mr. John Robinson and Mistress Bridget Whyte 15 Feb. 1603." He was minister to a congregation at Norwich, and leaving there he became a colleague with the Rev. Richard Clyfton, who after being Rector of Babworth became the senior pastor of the congregation at Scrooby. When it was dispersed he (Robinson) went with the pilgrims to Amsterdam and Leyden, and had under his charge 300 communicants. Practically he had the care of the community while it was in Holland, and he remained with the majority when the minority left in the "Mayflower." He was exceedingly helpful to his people, and wrote sixty-two non-controversial essays.
WILLIAM BRADFORD, (1590-1657), was the son of a farmer at Austerfield, one mile across the Yorkshire border, but anciently a part of the parish of Blyth. He was accustomed to attend the meetings at Scrooby, and went with the rest to Holland, he being then about seventeen years of age. He obtained employment as a fustian worker and as a silk dyer and worker. Out of working hours he learned to think and speak in Dutch, to talk in French; he mastered Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and became skilled in history, antiquity, and philosophy. "But," says Cotton Mather, "the crown of all was his holy, prayerful, watchful, and spiritual walk with God." When the Plymouth Colony was established William Bradford was appointed Governor, and thirty-six years of wise administration followed, he being elected to office annually. He wrote several books, the principal being "History of the Plymouth Plantation." He had in earlier life fitted himself for the use of power, the tide at length rose to the flood of opportunity, and led "on to fortune" (Shakespeare) of usefulness. It must not, however, be assumed that his "government" was according to our modern ideas. Religious liberty was not then understood.
GEORGE FOX, (1624-1690), the Founder of the Society of Friends, was born at Drayton, in Leicestershire. His connection with Nottinghamshire was partly in his early labours in the Vale of Belvoir. In Nottingham, in 1649, after interfering with a service at St. Mary's Church, then conducted in the Presbyterian form, he was imprisoned in the Town Gaol, a horrible place; this, his first imprisonment, leading to the conversion of the Sheriff, who went into the Market and preached repentance, and later he frequently stayed at the house of the Sheriff, John Reckless, No. 1, Spaniel Row. When imprisoned at Derby in 1650, he was described as "late of Mansfield in the County of Nottingham," he having lived for some time at Mansfield Woodhouse, and worked at his trade as a shoemaker. According to Crosse, he was apprenticed to a shoemaker at Nottingham (D.N.B.)
In estimating the value of the work and testimony of George Fox a discriminating judgment is necessary, otherwise the permanent value will be lost in the temporary fire and smoke. The peculiar dress, the lack of courtesy in keeping the hat on in company, the singularities of speech, the interference with other people's worship—then conducted in the Presbyterian form—all these, and much more, may be dispensed with as unwise and improper, but this must not blind us to the fact that George Fox revived the scriptural doctrine of communion with God by the Spirit of God dwelling in, and working through, the individual soul, and the further scriptural requirement that the spiritual life must be manifested by purity and simplicity of life, by self denial, by active efforts to promote the good of others, rather than by forms and ceremonies. Hence his work among prisoners, and his protests against oppression.
JAMES PARNELL, (1636-1656), Quaker Martyr, was born at East Retford, and in the church register he is described as the "sonne of Thomas Parnell and Saray his wife." In the list of aldermen for the borough of East Retford for 1607, thirty years before James was born, are the names of Henry and Richard Parnell, both being described as "gentlemen," which Mr. F. C. Atter regards as establishing the young man as probably of gentle birth or breeding, of good church people, and he received his early training at the old Retford Grammar School. When about sixteen he, being in Carlisle, visited George Fox, who was then in gaol there, and he became a converted lad, and afterwards a minister, "speaking with great fluency and power." Two years later he was imprisoned at Cambridge, and then went into Essex, and for a riot in Great Coggleshall Church, in which he was in some way concerned, he was fined at Colchester forty pounds, and in default, was committed to gaol there, where after a year's imprisonment he died. He was treated with the utmost barbarity, being lodged in a hole in the wall reached partly by a ladder, and above pulled up by a rope. He is described by Besse as "a strong man in Christ," "with a remarkable Innocence, Patience, and Magnanimity." He died a prisoner in the Castle, and his name appears in the Martyrs' Memorial in Colchester Town Hall.
"JOHN GRATTON, (1642-1712) a Derbyshire 'Quaker,' Preacher and Prophet of the XVIIth Century"—such is the title of a pamphlet by Mrs. Manners—was born at Bonsall, and was well educated, his home for forty years being at Monyash and in 1707 he and his wife went to reside with their daughter at Farnsfield, where he was afterwards laid to rest in the Burying Place of Friends by the Meeting House. As a youth he kept his father's sheep, but was apprenticed to a tallow chandler. When about thirty he married, passed through a spiritual crisis of conviction and conversion, and joined the Quakers. He then opened his house for meetings, and began to testify, journeying through the shires of Derby, Nottingham and Chester holding meetings; was summoned and fined and his goods distrained for his preaching; was arrested under a writ de excommunicato capiendo, and imprisoned in Derby gaol more than five and a half years, but was frequently allowed by his gaoler to go out, always returning according to promise. On the passing of the Toleration Act he was discharged, and returned home. He then devoted twenty years to mission work throughout England. The testimony of those who knew him was, "One of the Lord's Worthies."
SUTTON IN ASHFIELD STOCKING MAKERS— a band of them—in 1756 removed to Leicester, and subscribed £50 for the purchase of a barn and site, in Harvey Lane, in which religious services were held, and four years afterwards they built a chapel thereon. Thirty years later it was enlarged, for Mr. Carey was then the minister. He subsequently went to India, and became the pioneer and life-long translator for mission work in that country. There was a further enlargement of the chapel in 1809, when the eloquent and famous Baptist divine, the Rev. Robert Hall, was the minister. Those Sutton Stocking makers could not do much, but their little formed a necessary step for thousands to be blessed through more able men.
MATTHEW BAGSHAW, (d. 1803), lived in Crossland Place, Narrow Marsh, Nottingham, and deserves to be remembered for his ingenuity. He was a zealous Methodist, and in 1757 wanted people to hear the Rev. John Wesley preach indoors, but there were no halls, chapels, or schoolrooms available, and the churches were closed against him. The great crowd could hear in the open air, but a few chosen souls must be further taught and edified within doors, so Matthew, whose house was on the western side of the yard, broke through the chamber floor, and made a large opening into the room below. In the upper room he placed the men, in the lower room the women, and the preacher was so fixed that he could preach to crowded audiences upstairs and down at the same time. Matthew was committed by the Mayor to the House of Correction for keeping a conventicle; but the people went with him to prison, and turned the gaol into a conventicle, and the keeper of the prison complained to the Mayor, who discharged them, but a resolute Quaker said he would not go until Matthew was set at liberty, so the Mayor gave way, and they went back to Matthew's house for praise and prayer. (Harwood's History, pp. 10 and 32).
Matthew remained a constant worker for nearly half a century after this. He must have prospered, for when he died his residence was in Charlotte Street (east of Shakespeare Street), whence an immense multitude followed him to his grave. He usually wore a three cornered hat, and large bushy wig, which gave him an antique appearance. He died in 1803. (Harwood, p. 115).
"Dinah Morris" is better known than ELIZABETH TOMLINSON, and yet they represent the same person, although the latter name was known seventy or eighty years before the former was thought of. The facts are as follows: The Rev. William Bramwell was, about 1799 and later, the Methodist Minister at Halifax Place Chapel, Nottingham. He was a mighty revivalist preacher, and during his stay in the circuit six hundred names were added to the roll of members. He had as an assistant Mary Barritt,. for those were days before the Methodist Conference had put its ban upon Women Ministry. Mr. Bramwell said he "never knew any one man so much blessed in the salvation of souls as this young woman." One of her converts was Elizabeth Tomlinson, a girl who worked as a lace mender, and who became a devout worker and preacher, accustomed to address religious meetings.
According to Mr. J. W. Russell, who has investigated local records, she ministered to the comfort and aid of Mary Voce, the prototype of "Hetty Sorrel" who was hanged at Gallows Hill, Mansfield Road, Nottingham, in 1802, and the cart containing the malefactor and Elizabeth Tomlinson as comforter was followed to the gallows by Methodists singing hymns.
Elizabeth Tomlinson went into the villages for mission purposes, and so became acquainted in Derbyshire with the Evans family. She was in 1804 married at St. Mary's Church, Nottingham, to Samuel Evans, the uncle of Miss Evans, authoress of "Adam Bede, published in 1868, under the assumed name of "George Eliot." The married couple removed to Derbyshire, and afterwards lived at Wirksworth, where "George Eliot" visited her aunt and heard her story. In the Wesleyan Chapel at Wirksworth is a marble tablet to the memory of the worthy pair. (J. W. Russell).
MRS. MARY TATHAM, nee Strickland, was the wife of Thomas Tatham, a Grocer, in Middle Pavement, Nottingham. When Thomas wrote Mary with a definite love proposal, she replied with a dead refusal, and as soon as she had posted the letter, womanlike, she was sorry she had written it. He would not take a denial, and wrote again, and then she wrote parleying. He went and conquered, and this was followed by fifty years of happy married life, and twelve children born. He was the most active promoter of the building of Halifax Place Wesleyan Chapel, which was opened in 1798 by the Rev. Coke, LL.D. and Thomas Tatham went far and wide in begging the money to pay for it. Mrs. Tatham for forty years was a class leader, or guide, having three classes, which combined generally consisted of at least sixty persons. She was a woman of great ability, with self-reliance, unyielding, but modified by great benevolence. Her weaknesses were the puritanical limitations of the times. She was too heavenly minded to train her daughters in the household duties to fit them for their future lives. They must have no company but what was strictly religious, and the pursuit of knowledge was little valued. Her memoir was published by the celebrated Rev. J. Beaumont, M.D., in a book of over 400 pages, and having a good portrait, in which is displayed a large collar of real lace. She died in 1837. A verse of a hymn commonly sung at the time reflects a narrowness of view which surely is more limited than the requirements of "God our Saviour who willeth that all men should be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth;''—
Nothing is worth a thought beneath
But how I may escape the death
That never, never dies.
How make mine own election sure,
And when I fail on earth secure
A mansion in the skies!"
JOHN PIGGIN, (1793-1880), Hucknall, was a butcher. "He was a remarkable man for the good that he wrought in the parish." So says the Hucknall Historian, Mr. Beardsmore. He was for many years Superintendent of a Sunday School with three hundred scholars, and devoted his life to their welfare. He would put his hand on a boy's head and talk of his responsibility and welfare in a way never to be forgotten. He was generous to the poor with his meat.
THOMAS COOPER, (1805-1882 (?)) the Chartist poet and writer, was born at Leicester, and apprenticed to a shoemaker at Gainsborough. He taught himself four languages, and at twenty-three was a school master and Methodist local preacher. He became active as a lecturer, and writer of social and political tracts, and was imprisoned in Stafford gaol two years on a charge of conspiracy and sedition. He became a sceptic in matters of religion, and wrote and published five or six books. The persecution ceased, and with it the scepticism, and he lectured on the evidences of Christianity. In 1872 he published an Autobiography. Instead of further particulars, I will here give from memory an illustration I heard him use in the Exchange Hall, Nottingham, more than fifty years ago. He was then the minister of a chapel, or room, at Lenton, was a good speaker, his attitude carrying conviction of sincerity, and his arguments and illustrations were forcible.
He was endeavouring to show that when the evils afflicting the community had been exposed, and the public conscience aroused, time was required' to devise a remedy, and patience in carrying it out. "I will," he said, "give you an illustration of what I mean. In a house I occupied I was much troubled with rats. I found they came into the house through a hole over the sink-stone. I thereupon set on the sink a tub full of water, and a small thin board resting on the hole, and so poised that a rat venturing on to the board would be tipped into the water. One evening I was sitting in the room reading, when I heard a splash, and knew that my trap had succeeded. I seized the lamp and a poker and rushed into the kitchen to kill the rat, who, alarmed by my energy, by a violent effort got out of the water and escaped. I had taken the steps necessary for its destruction, and had I had patience it would have quietly drowned, but by my impatience I defeated my own purpose. The evils abounding among the people distressed me, I took what I believed were the right steps to ensure their removal, but having done so I lacked patience, and it may be to some extent injured my cause.''
In a local album, on 26th September, 1882, he wrote the verse:—
"Happy .... to cry in death,
Behold, behold the Lamb!"
WILLIAM B. CARTER, (d. 1887, aged 85), a lace manufacturer of Hounds Gate, Nottingham, was an active worker in connection with Halifax Place Chapel. He became a local preacher in 1827, and so continued for sixty years. He was President of the Nottingham Sunday School Union in 1860, when it celebrated its Jubilee, and he wrote a "History" of its operations, occupying 192 pages. A man of great activity and earnestness, he for many years devoted his entire time to religious and social work.
MRS. ELIZABETH CHALMERS, (d. 1900) nee Large, married a Mr. Harrison who resided at Retford, and after nearly twenty years of happily wedded life he died. The Rev. James Chalmers (1841-1901) who was an ordained Missionary to the South Seas, sent in 1865 by the London Missionary Society, after some years service was transferred to New Guinea, where his wife, after much service and suffering, died. Several years later (1886) he revisited the old country, and sojourned with the Harrisons, at Retford. Shortly after Mr. Harrison died, and before Mr. Chalmers returned to his work in New Guinea an engagement had been made between himself and Mrs. Harrison. She having agreed to share his work and its dangers, the year following sailed for Australia, where he met her, and they were married (1888). She entered fully into the duties, privileges, and privations of missionary life in the New Guinea climate. When he, as pioneer and Superintendent of many stations, went long voyages and journeys, she carried on the work at the home stations, directing the native teachers. In 1894-5 they paid a visit to England, for the climate with its malarial fevers frequently recurring made change requisite. They returned to their work, and she in 1900 succumbed to the treacherous climate, and died on board the mission ship. He continued his missionary journeys and voyages, opening new stations, when on going ashore with twelve others they were all massacred, their heads cut off, and their bodies eaten by the cannibals.
"The Great-Heart of New Guinea," as he was called, must be classed with John Williams, William Carey, Robert Moffatt, David Livingstone, and others of equal rank.
New Guinea (Papua) the second largest island in the world, is now allocated to the Australian Commonwealth, the German part having been conquered in the Great War. (See "James Chalmers, His autobiography and letters," by R. Lovett, Religious Tract Society).
WILLIAM J. BAKER, (1853-1902) was a Lace Dresser in Nottingham. He had in 1885 a class of forty to fifty men, in connection with the Derby Road Chapel (of which he was a Deacon) who met on Sunday afternoons, and they decided to form a Sunday Morning Institute, in imitation of the schools under the care of Alderman White, at Birmingham. They assembled in the Mechanics' Lecture Hall, and later in the Social Guild; active helpers being Messrs. Humphrey, Cooper, Jowett, Atkin, Richardson, Johnson, Bolton, and Brown. In 1888 the use of the University College building was offered them by the Mayor, Alderman Lindley, and the membership rose from over 500 men to 650. The objects were Bible reading, thrift, and self-help, to help social movements, promote fellowship and brotherhood. The financial operations included a Savings Bank, a Sick and Annual, a Benevolent Fund, charitable objects.
On Mr. Baker's tomb in the General Cemetery is inscribed the motto:—
"No shadows yonder; all light and song."
DR. J. S. BOLTON, (d. 1923) became President of the class, and for many years did an exceedingly useful work. He took a special part in "Hope for the Inebriate" movement and published a pamphlet thereon. He was President of the Temperance Federation combining many societies engaged in that department of work. He devoted much time and benevolent effort among the poor. He had some peculiar views with which we are not concerned.
To the Men's Sunday Morning Institute must be given the credit of first aid to the Cripples Guild.
JAMES BACON, (1816 (?) -1903) was a hatter in Bottle Lane, Nottingham, and later in Bridlesmith Gate, where his name appears in one of Mr. T. Hammond's sketches. Outside his occupation he may be taken as an example of a man with very limited advantages devoting his life to the public good. At six years of age he began to wind cotton for a framework-knitter, and later was bound apprentice for seven years to a hatter. He went to East Street Sunday School, but was expelled for laughing, and drifted into doubtful company, and in evening hours became a proficient dancer at public house ball rooms. At eighteen the spiritual crisis of his life came, and was effectual. Now he devoted his spare time to self-education by reading and study, and became a Primitive Methodist Sunday School teacher, and then a local preacher, and he spoke thoughtfully, concisely, and fluently in the villages round Nottingham, in hie later years being thus occupied forty Sundays in a year. In 1884 a jubilee testimonial was presented to him, congratulating him on his fifty years experience an work. He died at eighty-seven.
In his old age he was fond of telling with glee of his early troubles and their overcoming. "My wife died over the seventh childbirth, and I was left with a house full of young children, whose support required me to work every hour. What was I to do? I must marry again, and that quickly, for someone to look after the children. But who could I get to be a martyr in bringing up another's children? I must try to find a woman who would not be likely to have any of her own after our marriage. Now in my class meeting were three women, sisters, of good mind, heart, and life, healthy and strong. The first had married, but had no children; the third likewise. If I married the middle one she, like her sisters, would probably have no children. I married her, and she gave birth to thirteen." A hearty laugh followed his little tale, in which he joined.
THOMAS DALLEY, (1827-1907) was born and lived at Stapleford, being occupied in a Lace manufacturing warehouse, and for twenty-five years in absolute control of the business. His father was a stem Puritan of the olden type, who would not let his son learn and repeat at Lady Warren's School the baptismal part of the Church catechism, and so he and a dozen other boys walked daily two-and-a-half miles to an excellent school at Trowell Moor, kept by Mr. Hall, an ideal man. The boys became a cricket club of themselves, a game that Thomas Dalley enjoyed all through life. His mother was a woman of high purpose, who had lived in Germany, and hence came a wider outlook than usual, and books of the best class in prose and poetry. He joined a Methodist Church at seventeen, and became a member of a young men's class for the study of theology, and in after years he was President of such a class, meeting weekly, and exercising themselves in the art of speaking, and thus they became preachers. At nineteen he was a local preacher, and so continued fifty-eight years, during which it was estimated that he had preached two thousand times, and travelled ten thousand miles in doing so, chiefly walking. Here is a specimen of his work of which he kept a record:—"A Sabbath day at Hucknall: walked from Stapleford (10 miles) preached twice; led a class; addressed the school; conducted prayer meeting. Walked home."
After fifty years of public service he and his lifelong friend John Harrison, the organist—a most worthy man—received equal honour by being each presented with a handsome armchair. His was an evening without clouds, with an excellent wife (nee Attenborough, of Hyson Green) with a hospitable home, with books, and flowers, and grand-children, his was the "light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."
From the Rev. F. H. Robinson's "Life of Thomas Dalley."
JOHN BUCK, (1841-1911) was a Shetland and Silk Shawl manufacturer, at Hucknall, which business he established and it prospered. He was, however, much more. In his early days he felt the pinch of poverty, for Stocking Makers earned only about ten shillings a week, paid late on Saturday nights, and much schooling was out of the question. He joined the militia, and later became a Baptist, a Sunday School teacher, and then Superintendent, in which work he continued with zeal and enjoyment forty-three years. He with others formed a Temperance Society, became a local preacher, and frequently gave lectures or talks on homely subjects, such as, "Odd Sticks," "Dig your own Garden," "They say: What do they say? Let them say." He had a rich vein of humour, seeing things in a queer way, and driving home commonsense truths. His services were in great request over a wide area. He served his church as Deacon, and the public as Overseer, and on the School and Burial Boards. ("Dispatch").
WILLIAM BOOTH, (1829-1912), Founder and General of the Salvation Army, was born at No. 12, Notintone Place, Sneinton. His father was a speculating builder, who having built small houses about the time of the great lace boom, when the slump set in (1825) was reduced to poverty. His mother was a splendid character, whose piety, energy, and self-reliance never forsook her. She lived for her children. At thirteen he was taken from school, and bound apprentice to a pawnbroker, in Goose Gate, Nottingham, for six years, without wages, and worked from early morning to late evening, and especially on Saturdays. At fifteen he began to attend at Wesley Chapel, Broad Street, which was then the most energetically worked, and by far the largest chapel in the town. (The Sunday School had in 1844, 547 teachers and scholars). Soon after joining, the spiritual crisis in his experience came, and his decision for God included a determination to work for the salvation of the poorest people by outdoor preaching and otherwise. In 1846 an American Evangelist, the Rev. James Caughey, held revival services in the chapel, which was nightly packed, and so continued for six weeks, during which young Booth received his inspiration for evangelistic work. At nineteen, when his apprenticeship was completed, he went to London, and got a situation which involved working in the shop until midnight on Saturdays, but he would not work beyond that hour, and was thereupon dismissed, but within a week was restored, and left in charge of the business. He still continued very active in street preaching, and when twenty-three (1852) he entered the Methodist ministry. In 1855 he married Catherine Mumford, who was a true helpmeet, a wise counsellor, and a tower of strength to him. In the ministry he constantly desired revival efforts and conversions. He wanted roving commissions to go to towns where required, and the denominational requirements of ordinary routine work hampered him, and therefore, in 1861, having resigned his position as a minister, he commenced to travel as a Revivalist, and four years later, 1865, began Mission Work in the East of London, which in 1878 developed into the Salvation Army. Mrs. Booth, whose first pamphlet was on "Female Ministry," continued at intervals publishing books and papers helpful to the work, and in 1879 the "War Cry" was established. Now began an effort to establish the Salvation Army in every part of the world. In 1887 the 1000th British Corps was formed, as well as the first Slum Settlement. 1890 was to the Army an important year, for then Mrs. Booth died, and a Funeral Service being held in Olympia, 36,000 persons were present.
"The Darkest England and the Way Out," was then published, and £100,000 was subscribed to carry out the scheme, but the £30,000 a year which the General wanted for the work was never reached. The Schemes actually carried out included operations:'— (a) For the Starving, with eight departments; (b) For the Drunkard; (c) For the Paupers; (d) For the Unemployed; (e) For the Homeless; (f) For the Criminals; (g) For the Daughters of Shame; (h) Slum Work; (i) For the Sick; (j) For the Lost; (k) Preventive and Protective Work for young girls; (1) Anti-Suicide Bureaux; (m) The Home League; (n) Land Schemes, including Emigration, Land and Farm Colonies, and Small Holdings; (o) Deep Sea Brigades; (p) Training Colleges; (q) Students' Homes; (r) Working Men's Associations; (s) Village Banks. The total number of the Social Institutions were nine hundred and fifty-four, but the General deplored many shortcomings and unfulfilled dreams. (See "General Booth," by G. S. Railton p. 197). Partial failures are common to every effort.
During the last twenty years of his life, in addition to all the vast operations of the Army at home, and all its affiliations, in nearly every year the General visited in the countries in Europe, or in Africa, or Asia, or America, or Australia, and many of them several times, inspecting the work, and cheering the workers, and each year the movement extended to additional countries.
The opposition and persecutions of the eighties were exchanged for the honours of the new century, in which he was received by President Roosevelt, King Edward VII., and Queen Alexandra; Oxford University made a D.C.L. The Cities of London and Nottingham gave him their Freedom. The Kings of Norway and Denmark, the Queen of Sweden, the Emperor of Japan, the present King and Queen of England, in succession received him. His eightieth birthday was celebrated in 1909 in the Royal Albert Hall. His motor car trips were like triumphal processions of hard work and honour. By an accident he lost the sight of one eye, an operation in 1912 was followed by a complete loss of sight, and on August 20th, he laid down his sword.
Now here is a man who with many drawbacks overcame them all, and made not only a name, but a great fact, for which millions of people throughout the world will thank God that William Booth was born. With poverty in early life, with a limited education, with a disagreeable occupation, with practically no time for recreation, with very straitened circumstances, with downright hard work, with opposition and persecution, he overcame all obstacles, and with the energy of a giant he worked in youth, in middle life, in old age, and accomplished a marvellous result. We may criticise his methods; we may object to the one man domination, but we must admire the tenacity of purpose, the power of inspiring a multitude of workers, and the results in many lands with the masses in the lowest circles. There is no doubt there was a strong faith in God, and there was a strong faith in William Booth—he was called to it; he could do it, it should be done. He was not a "saint" of the ancient type, the driving force was too strong for that: his wife was more saintly than he, but to him—cold indifference, a lack of dignity, opposition, persecution, made no difference. With a Board of Directors the work would have been hampered, plans discussed and reported on for further consideration and ultimate adoption, but with one man only to consider, decision could be immediate, and a telegram despatched for action.
One change, from personal observation, I must note. I heard him preach when a young man, tall, slim, with jet black hair. With fiery energy he urged the necessity of being born again by the Spirit of God, and this he through life insisted on, but then salvation was for deliverance from future damnation. Fifty years afterwards I heard him once more, and the message was the same, but salvation for service was the theme. He had grown, and the life corresponded with the message.
Some idea of the extent of the operations of The Salvation Army may be obtained by consideration of its Expenditure, and financial position, as revealed by a perusal of the Annual Accounts of its Central Funds audited by Messrs. Knox, Cropper & Co., Chartered Accountants.
The General Income and Expenditure Account for the year 1922 reached a total of £145,619; for General Purposes associated with the Foreign Work, the sum of £44,710 was expended; whilst Work in other lands (dealt with under the heading of the Foreign and Colonial Territories Fund) accounted for an expenditure of £211,666. The Balance Sheet reveals a total of £1,832,847.
THOMAS CECIL SMITH WOOLLEY, (1853-1913) of South Collingham, Land Agent, was the eighth child in a family of fourteen. He was educated at Newark Grammar School, Brighton College, and King's College, London. His recreations included boating, swimming, football; he was a good rider, fond of singing, music, and poetry. In 1873 he went into his father's office, and four years later became a partner, his work being the management of land estates, large and small, and situate in various parts of the country, involving much travelling, catching trains, and so living with Brad-shaw's Time Tables, a bicycle, and a mass of correspondence, estimates, valuations, tenancies, etc. He fitted up a cottage, and it became a museum. He joined the local Volunteers, and became Captain, Major, and on retiring, honorary Lieut.-Colonel. He took an active interest in education, and became a member of the County Education Committee. He made excavations for Roman remains at Brough (Crocolana) and collected many objects which are in Newark Museum. He aided and advised on Church architecture and restoration, and was on various Church Diocesan Committees, but the work to which he devoted his life was in an outlying and neglected part of the parish, Brough and Danethorpe. Here, with the concurrence of the Vicar, and a licence as Lay Reader from the Bishop, he held religious services and Sunday School in the kitchen of a farmhouse; in a barn; then in a Mission Church, which was built at a cost of £550, followed by Club Reading Room, and both buildings were well used for the usual services, Sunday and Night Schools, a Men's Bible Class, Choir practices, a Penny Bank, a Lending Library, a Pig Club, etc. He played with the lads, he visited the houses. He was assisted by his sister, and one of his clerks, and this work he continued thirty-seven years. Then came the end. He was cycling from a meeting on a very dark night, accidentally ran into a boy, was pitched on to his head, never recovered consciousness, and, to use the words of the Bishop, "without pain, without suffering, and without sorrow, he entered into that Presence which to him was so dear." (See "Cecil Woolley, a Memoir," by W. H. Mason).
JOHN ROGERS, (1827 (?) -1917) lived at No. 4, Tennyson Street, Nottingham, many years, and died in his ninetieth year. He had long been associated with the firm of Henry Ashwell & Co., Ltd., Hosiery Bleachers, Mrs. Ashwell being his sister. Outside business matters he was actively associated with the Derby Road Baptist Sunday Schools. He, for ten years, conducted an experimental higher grade Sunday School for middle class children in connection with the late Dr. Cox, in the Mansfield Road Baptist Chapel. He was President of the Nottingham Sunday School Union in 1882. His hobbies were the construction of organs and hymnology. He was fond of telling his experiences when as a youth he was apprenticed to the late William Dearden, printer and bookseller, and churchwarden of St. Mary's. At that time (1842) the tower of the church showed signs of falling, and he, the indoor apprentice of the churchwarden, had to watch, and report on the danger and the steps taken to prevent the feared mischief. In after life he was fond of travel on the continent, and, being extremely careful to show reverence in Roman Catholic churches, he was at Rheims shown an underground church of the second century. A well read man, of cultivated tastes, his "den," as he called his study, was filled with books of value. He considered that he was the twelfth or thirteenth generation from the Rev. John Rogers, who, as Thomas Matthew, translated the Bible, and was burnt as a martyr at Smithfield, in 1555.
Mr. Rogers' collection of old Bibles was, after his death, sold at Sotheby's, and nine of them fetched a total of £532 10s. Od. The so-called "Matthew" Bible was bought by the Quaritch firm for £205. A nearly perfect copy of the first issue of the "Authorised Bible," 1611, brought £160, and the "Bishops'" Bible of 1568, £64.
HENRIETTA CAREY who died on July 28th, 1920, was the grand-daughter of Alderman George Carey, who before the building of Wesley Chapel in Broad Street, Nottingham, lived in the mansion in Heathcote Street (then Beck Lane) and the site of the huge chapel was the "vista" to the house. One of his daughters Sophia, married Philip James Bailey, the author of "Festus." The eldest son of the Alderman was HENRY CAREY, who died in 1894 and who was one of the builders of the chapel referred to, and for a long generation was one of its main pillars, he having two classes of young men to whose welfare he devoted much time. General Booth was a member of his class. Henry Carey had two sons and five daughters. One of the former, William Henry Carey, was Sheriff of Nottingham in 1907 and his wife has long been actively connected with the Young Women's Christian Association. All the daughters of Henry Carey entered heartily into social work, but Henrietta Carey excelled. For nearly half a century she was fully occupied in social and religious work, not by fits and starts, but with the regularity of the clock, yet without its limitations, for method was life to her, and her name might well have been Duty. Her work was largely connected with two Societies, namely, "The Nottingham Town and County Social Guild," and the "Nottingham and Notts. Convalescent Homes," with both of which she continued to work until her death. In 1875-6 the former Society was founded by her sisters and herself, with Mrs. Bowman-Hart and others. Its object was the social betterment of the people, and much of the work undertaken in its earlier years has since been incorporated in the ordinary operations of the Corporation, the Board of Guardians, and other bodies. Charity Organization, Convalescent Homes, a Provident Society, a Wood-carving Class, a blanket loan association, rent collecting of cottage houses, a sanitary association joining an interest in the domestic and social welfare of the tenants, one branch of the work being the arranging of competitions for the cleanest homes, the prettiest window flower boxes, etc., by means of which many workmen's dwellings were transformed. Of the Convalescent Homes at Castle Donnington and at or near Skegness she was the controller for many years, and worked incessantly in connection with them.
"Life's race well run,
Life's work well done,
Life's crown well won,
Now cometh rest."
EMMA KNIGHT was the sister of Mr. William E. Knight, J.P. of Newark, and became the wife of the Rev. James E. Moulton, one of four distinguished sons of the Rev. James E. Moulton, a Wesleyan Minister: the first—William F. becoming Head Master of Leys School, Cambridge, and a famous Greek Testament scholar: the second—John F., Senior Wrangler at Cambridge, and later Lord Moulton, G.C.B., F.R.S.: the third—Richard G, Professor of Literary Interpretation in the University of Chicago: and the fourth—James E., became a notable missionary known as "Moulton of Tonga."
Miss Knight being the joint proprietor of a Ladies' School at Castle Donington, there met Mr. Moulton, and when he became a Wesleyan Minister, and was designated as a missionary to Fiji, but sent to Tonga, she in 1864 followed him, and they were married at Sydney. He founded a college of higher education, from the pupils of which all government officers were chosen, and he so trained a native choir that they rendered "The Messiah" with credit. He translated the Bible into the native tongue, and rendered other great services during forty-four years work, dying in 1909. His wife bore him three sons and three daughters, and one of the former wrote his father's biography. She died in 1920, aged eighty-two.
THOMAS SHEPHERD, (d. 1924, aged 87) shoemaker, for some sixty-five years of his life was devoted to the work now carried on at Palin Street Baptist Chapel, Hyson Green, as chorister, teacher, deacon, superintendent of the Infants Sunday School, and he was always a reliable and constant worker. He taught in the Infants' Department until he was eighty-three years of age. He received from the Sunday School Union the gold diploma for long service. One of his scholars was the present minister of the church, who preached his "Funeral Sermon" from the text, "He was a good man."
In business he was always dependable, and in disposition "sweet reasonableness" was his aim.