jepta 2001 21 - European Pentecostal Theological Association

The Journal of the European Pentecostal Theological Association, Vol. XXI, 2001
Arthur Booth-Clibborn: Pentecostal Patriarch: James Robinson
Booth (1858-1955), the eldest and most naturally gifted daughter of her family, in
consolidating the work of the Army in both France and Switzerland where she
was known affectionately as La Mar chale (the Field-Marshall). William Booth
soon conferred on Clibborn the rank of Colonel and one of Arthur's main
responsibilities was to work on the production of the first French edition of War
Cry. The two were married in 1887 and the freshly styled Booth-Clibborns'
continued their work which often involved them travelling apart. They were a
well matched couple though their relationship was not without its tensions,
inherent in the fact that "Colonel" Arthur, with "the fierce pride of an Irish
ari~tocrat",~ was not the type of man to play second fiddle to his wife, La
Mar chale or not.' Both were strong-willed, single-minded and zealous soulwinners.
In a final tribute to her father, one daughter (Evangeline or Evelyn) described him
as "finely built and endowed with much physical strength ...( H)e for many years
gloried in the early struggles of the Salvation Army, welcoming pain,
persecution, and even physical injury, for the furtherance of Christ's Kingd~m".~
He was tall, handsome with a pleasant baritone singing voice that blended well in
duets with Kate's clear soprano singing voice. He was a poet, writer, composer
of hymns in French and translator of John Henry Newman into German. To his
wife he was "a mighty man of God, especially called and remarkably qualified'
with an the disturbing intensity implied in that description, overwhelming in his
enthusiasms and inflexible in matters of principle. Physically courageous, he
wore for years on his army uniform the silver medal awarded to him by the
President of France for saving, while on holiday, a man from drowning in the sea
off Boulogne. Such was the impact of their work in France that when they
transferred to the Netherlands, they were welcomed by Queen Wilhelmina;
occasionally Dutch cabinet ministers were seen at their meetings.
By the mid-1890s, the Salvation Army had left behind the first enthusiastic flush
I
General Booth insisted that his daughters on marriage retain the Booth name as part of their
new name.
From Some Notes on the life of Stanley Booth-Clibborn, p. 2, wrinen by himself and found in
the Booth-Clibborn Collection. The Clibborns were more Anglo-Irish gentry than aristocracy.
When Arthur joined the Salvation Army, "he gave to the General a considerable fortune, made
out of the Clibborn family's linen factories at Bessbrook" (p. 1).
' Ibid, 2, "We have come across many papers showing his hesitations before marriage on what
his status would be, and his literalist clinging to Pauline texts on the man as the head of the
woman. Catherine apparently dismissed these saying 'Paul got it wrong, and when we get to
heaven, I'll tell him"'!
' Catherine Booth-Clibborn, A Poet ofpraise: a Tribute to Arthur Booth-Clibborn, Marshall,
Morgan and Scott: London (1939) 33.
Tarolyn Scott, op. cit., 197. This parenthetic statement was written in her letter of resignation
from the Salvation Anny and addressed to her father.
of its incipient phase and had entered its period of organisation when the
processes of routinisation and formalisation became more evident. Kate was to
say later, "I was Territorial Commander of France, and I couldn't make a
corporal a sergeant without permission from London".' Routinisation, as
deadening as it was inevitable, was a process that was to lead three of the Booth
children out of the Army forever.' As early as 1891, Booth-Clibbom had written
to the General requesting liberty to preach what he called the full, plain Gospel of
the Sermon on the Mount, a plea that carried within it three themes that
challenged the Army's official stance - pacifism, divine healing and
premillennialism. The General refused any such freedom and frustration was
compounded in 1896 when the Booth-Clibboms were told to leave France, for
which Kate had an abiding vision and passion, and take command in the
Netherlands, a country with which she felt no particular bond. It was a testing
time for an avowed pacifist like Booth-Clibborn to be in the Netherlands in the
period between the two Anglo-South African (Boer) Wars. In 1898, conscription
was introduced in the Netherlands and with rumours of war rampant, Arthur took
to writing on pacifist themes but was prevented from publishing by .headquarters
in London. The Booth-Clibboms' disillusionment with the Army finally reached
a point when they ceased to dedicate their later-born children into the ranks. In
1900, defying the will of headquarters, they made representations to the Dutch
government on behalf of pacifists in prison. The influence of his Quaker background
continued to run deep. The "Hallelujah Quaker", as he was dubbed on his
first anival in France, stuck with his vow of 1881: "I stated that I could never
forgo any of the essential truths of Quakerism, and I entered the work on that
understanding".'
THE INFLUENCE OF DOWIE
If pacifism owed much to Booth-Clibborn's Quaker background, his interest in
divine healing and premillennialism was further stimulated by contact with John
Alexander Dowie, through the latter's magazine Leaves of Healing and then by
meeting him in London and Paris in 1900. Dowie arrived in England primarily to
recruit lace workers as key personnel for his new factory in Zion City. In a series
of well advertised meetings in London, riots and disorder, instigated in many
cases by medical students, followed his preaching and the laying of hands on
those seeking healing. The London press was largely unimpressed and the
Financial News considered his healings fake: "there is no more fruitful ground
I Carolyn Scott, op. cit., 198.
' Ibid, 179. The three were Catherine, Herbert and Ballington. The last set up the Volunteers in
America in 1896. It was organised on lines similar to that of the Salvation Army. Ballington
and his wife, Maud, resigned from the Army in a disagreement over the General's autocratic
leadership.
' Carolyn Scott, op. cit.. 54.