Maud Elizabeth Charlesworth (September 13, 1865 – August 26, 1948) later changed her name to Maud Ballington Booth, was a

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

leader and co-founder of the Volunteers of America.

Early life and education

Maude Charlesworth was born in

Limpsfield Limpsfield is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs close to Oxted railway station and the A25 road, A25.Oxted Oxted is a town and civil parish in the Tandridge District, Tandridge district of Surrey, England. It is at the foot of the North Downs, south-east of Croydon, west of Sevenoaks, and north of East Grinstead. Oxted is a commuter town and Ox ...

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, the daughter of Rev. Samuel Charlesworth, an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

rector. One of three girls, she was a sister to bestselling romance

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

, Florence L. Barclay. When she was four, her father moved his family to

Limehouse Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains throu ...

in London. The work of both her parents there in social issues led to Maud’s interest for social welfare and social service.

Career

In 1882, Charlesworth became a companion of Miss Catherine Booth in organizing a branch of the Salvation Army in

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. In 1883, they went to

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, Switzerland, where they were both expelled after aggressive police interrogation. She stayed with the Booth family and worked in the London slums and elsewhere until her marriage to the second son of the founder of the Salvation Army, Ballington Booth in 1886, against her father's wishes. They had two children, Theodora and Charles. In 1887, she took command of the Salvation Army forces in the United States alongside her husband, Ballington Booth. She was also active and successful in slum mission work in New York City. In 1895, Booth became a naturalized American citizen. She lived in

Kew Gardens, Queens Kew Gardens is a neighborhood in the central area of the New York City borough of Queens. Kew Gardens is bounded to the north by the Union Turnpike and the Jackie Robinson Parkway, to the east by the Van Wyck Expressway and 131st Street, to ...

In 1896, Ballington and Maud left the Salvation Army after a dispute with General Booth, to co-found the Volunteers of America. Maud was also known for working to improve the conditions of prisons in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She later toured on the

Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) is an adult education and social movement in the United States that peaked in popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Cha ...

circuit, moving audiences with her vivid account of life in prisons and calls for reform. Among the other causes she embraced was the legalization of

euthanasia Euthanasia (from : + ) is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different Legality of euthanasia, euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select committee (United Kingdom), se ...

. In 1918, she went to England and France to visit American troops in

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Selected works

* ''Branded'' (1897) * ''Lights of Child-Land'' (1902) * ''After Prison —What?'' (1903) * ''Twilight Fairy Tales'' (1906) * "A Message from Mrs. Ballington Booth to the Volunteers of America" (1925)

Later years

Booth's 75th birthday in 1940 was observed with celebrations in over 100 cities across the United States. She attended the event at New York City's

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, which included messages from

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

and John J. Pershing on the occasion. Her husband died in 1940, and she died in 1948, at the age of 82, at her daughter's home in

Great Neck, New York Great Neck is a region contained within Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, New York (state), New York, on Long Island, which covers a peninsula on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore and includes nine incorporated villages, among th ...

References

External links

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Maud Charlesworth (Mrs. Ballington) Booth
From a scrapbook in the Carrie Chapman Catt Collection in the Rare Book and Special Collection Division at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Maud Ballington Booth, photograph; to speak in Geneva
From a scrapbook in the Carrie Chapman Catt Collection in the Rare Book and Special Collection Division at the

* Th
Maud Ballington Booth Papers
are housed at the University of Iowa Special Collections & University Archives. {{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Maud Ballington 1865 births 1948 deaths American Salvationists American activists People from Oxted English Salvationists English emigrants to the United States Burials at Ferncliff Cemetery 19th-century English writers 19th-century British women writers 20th-century English writers 20th-century British women writers People from Kew Gardens, Queens