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The Booth boys |
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Farm for a future
Booth’s salvation work started at Hadleigh on the Essex coast. It was an estate of vast proportions. With an initial 800 acres in 1891, it eventually grew to 3,200 acres, plus a further 200 acres waste land, incorporating three farms. It boasted excellent trading and supply links with Battersea Wharf on the Thames, through which the colony traded their farm produce. 
Even piggeries were worked
© The Salvation Army |
In one year alone, 1894, there were 300 barge trips recorded from the London wharf, containing 9,000 tons of manure and ashes, 1,500 tons of coal and coke, lime, chalk, sand etc, with over a million colony-made bricks being sent back into London. By the end of 1891, cow-houses, sheepfolds, piggeries and stables were under construction, together with a dairy, a mill, and factories for farm produce, offices and stores. There were five dormitories to house the colonists with a dining room for 300, kitchen, pantries, wash-house and laundry – a far cry from the impoverished conditions that so many had been used to.
The farms were extensively equipped
© The Salvation Army |
The colonists were generally sent on from the Salvation Army shelters in London and other cities. Each boy or man was accompanied with a form showing his name, age, trade and other personal particulars about his conduct during his stay in the city hostel and a medical certificate showing his state of health.
Women were not included in General Booth’s scheme; if a man was married, and only a few that were taken in were, it was up to him to equip himself for a life of work through the training offered and call for his wife to join him after reaching his destination.
Following a short trial period, they would be given a weekly allowance of 1/- (5p) for the third class, 1/6 (7.5) for the second class and 2/6 (12 1/2p). They were encouraged to bank the allowance for their future travels.
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