George Scott Railton - The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army

In October 1872 Railton travelled to London to commence his work for The Christian Mission, (renamed The Salvation Army in 1878 at a meeting at which Railton was present), and for some years he lived in the Booth household as William Booth's secretary. He became the acting editor of 'The Christian Mission Magazine' and in September 1873 was appointed General Secretary to The Christian Mission.

By 1880, Booth's son Bramwell Booth had matured and became his father's secretary. Railton, who since his youth had had a wish to be a missionary, persuaded Booth to send him to New York to begin the Army's work there. He was well suited to such work, being a skilled linguist, dedicated, and hard-working, and both he and his superiors felt more comfortable with him on the frontier than at headquarters. For example, at the celebration to mark the launch of the Salvation Army Assurance Society he sat on the platform barefoot and in sackcloth to register his disapproval of this worldly turn. With male officers being few in number, Railton took Captain Emma Westbrook and six other young women with the intention of training them for the work on the voyage to the United States.

On 10 March 1880 Railton arrived at Castle Garden, New York with his seven 'Hallelujah Lassies' and immediately set about preaching to the New Yorkers and joining with the unofficial work already begun by the Shirley family in Philadelphia. He also began the work in Newark, New Jersey, leaving two young women in charge there, while he himself set off for St. Louis, Missouri to begin preaching there, but here he was unsuccessful. Meanwhile, in New York the work had gone so well that by May there were sixteen officers, forty cadets, and four hundred and twelve soldiers. By the end of 1880 one thousand five hundred had been converted. In January 1881 Railton received orders from William Booth to return to England. Railton protested that he was needed in the United States but Booth insisted that he should return home.

In 1884 Railton was married to Marianne Deborah Lydia Ellen Parkyn, a Salvation Army Sergeant in Torquay in Devon. Her father was a Free Church minister who disapproved of The Salvation Army and who opposed the wedding. Eventually he gave his consent and the couple were married by William Booth at Exeter Hall on 17 January 1884. The couple settled at Margate and had children, but Railton was there only rarely.

On 1 January 1885, Commissioner and Mrs. Railton set sail for Natal in South Africa, arriving there on 8 March, with Railton's health declining. On 6 May they arrived at Pietermaritzburg where the idea of the Salvation Army's 'Red Shield Work' for men in the forces came into being. On 19 August 1885 the couple set sail for England.

In 1886 General Booth sent Railton to Germany, where his preaching met with considerable hostility, and little progress was made. However, by 1890, because Germany had a new Kaiser (Wilhelm II) and Otto von Bismarck was retired, it was believed that the situation would improve, and Commissioner Railton was officially appointed Territorial Commander. Later that year, he returned to England to conduct the funeral service of Catherine Booth, 'The Army Mother'. In 1893, as part of a tightening of restrictions by the German government, Railton was expelled from the country.