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"the Hallelujah Band"


RichardB

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http://www.thomasham...ooth-1829-1912/

GENERAL WILLIAM BOOTH (1829-1912)

Founder of the world-wide religious and humanitarian organization, the Salvation Army, General William Booth together with his missionary family was a key player in the Revivalist Reform Movement of the 19th century.

Believing religion should alleviate the sufferings of the poor and convert sinners into ministers of salvation, Booth organized a new church based on fiery sermons,

military-styled ministry, and a grass roots campaign throughout the slums of the world.

Born in Nottinghamshire, England, in 1829 and baptized in the Church of England, William Booth embraced Methodism at the same time that he supported the Chartists,

a radical working class movement urging political, economic, and social equality. Inspired by the religious awakening sweeping England.

At sixteen he and a band of friends began to hold cottage meetings where they preached, sang and strove to lead souls to salvation by asking them to recommit themselves to Christ.

These meetings, together with works of charity among the local poor and sick, foreshadowed the Salvation Army, which would come into being some twenty years later.

In the intervening period between 1845-1865, Booth served as a Methodist minister; met and married the woman who was to inspire and share his ministry, Catherine Mumford; broke with the Wesleyan tradition; and undertook an evangelical mission in Staffordshire where, within seven weeks, Booth claimed 1700 souls who professed to have found salvation.

The extraordinary success of this ministry prompted William and Catherine Booth to travel throughout England organizing open air revival meetings,

whose most original feature was The Hallelujah Band, a motley crew of converted sinners whom the Booths enlisted to help convert others. As one contemporary described them (in words which are echoed in Vachel Lindsay's poem):

"they were a show company of converted reprobates… as motley a crew of reclaimed blackguards as ever mustered on a convict ship…poachers, drunkards, wife-beaters, prize-fighters, and gaol-birds of every degree of infamy…eagerly enlisted in the service of revival."

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Rev. T Whitehouse

The Rev T. Whitehouse who in 1875 wrote a small booklet titled: The Great Awakening In The Black Country And An Effort To Reach The Masses With A Brief Sketch Of The Hallelujah Band.

Snappy title !

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The Hallelujah Band

Another group was called Hallelujah Band they came originally from Sheffield and held services in the Co-op Hall in 1866 they were all working class and in some respects were a forerunner of the Salvation Army. Their meetings were always crowded and they went through the streets singing hymns and they were most certainly unpopular with the other religious bodies in Bacup.

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More on Teasdale

In 1881 he published his autobiography, The Life and Adventures of Harry Teasdale, the Converted Clown and Man-Monkey. It went into twenty editions and sold 40,000 copies, though only three are known to exist today.

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Not many years ago the Hallelujah Band spread itself far and wide, and then went out like a straw fire. - April 1882.

Source

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At Sheffield appeared a Hallelujah Band. It marched through the streets in red shirts and the Garabaldi was a dealer in white mice and pigeons.

[That's what it says ...]

Pages 51-52

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