International Heritage Centre blog

The Navy and the Navvy: Wales 150th anniversary 

In November 1874, John Allen, an evangelist in the Christian Mission travelled to Cardiff to open the first branch of the Mission in Wales. The Mission had been founded a decade earlier by William and Catherine Booth in east London. It would go on to change its name to The Salvation Army in 1878.

In 2024 we have been celebrating the 150th anniversary of the beginning of The Salvation Army in Wales. The anniversary year has been called Dyma Gariad meaning ‘Here Is Love’ celebrating ‘God’s story, our story, your story’. This culminated in an event at the Welsh Senedd in November 2024 but there have been events throughout the year, many of them supported by the archives held at the International Heritage Centre. In this blog we look back over this anniversary year.

To prepare for the anniversary year Major Mel Jones worked through various archival sources, including back issues of The War Cry newspaper, to compile 150 stories, one for each year of Army work in Wales. These were posted on the Twitter page of Byddin yr lachawdwriaeth- The Salvation Army Wales Division throughout the year. We also looked into previous Dispositions of Forces to compile a comprehensive list of Salvation Army corps in Wales over the years. 

The anniversary celebrations in Wales were coordinated by Captain Kathryn Stowers, the Ecumenical Officer for Wales, and the Welsh Divisional Commander, Lt-Colonel Jonathan Roberts. The first event in 2024 itself was the St David's Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast at the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd, in March. Darren Millar MS, invited The Salvation Army to the breakfast in the Pierhead and an ecumenical event the evening before. Steven Spencer, our Director attended the event, where the Salvation Army’s Territorial Leaders presented the oldest known copy of the Welsh War Cry- Y Gad Lef from 1889- to the National Library of Wales. This inspired us to look more at the history of Y Gad Lef, which was published between 1887 and 1892 in Caernarfon and again from 1905 to 1908 in Cardiff. The Heritage Centre only held 5 copies (now donated to the NLW) so we set out to find how many more issues were in Welsh libraires. Even with significant holdings at the university libraries in Bangor and Cardiff and at the NLW, we still only know of 160 of around 220 issues originally published. The traditional of the use of the Welsh language by the Salvation Army was continued in June with the publication of a bi-lingual Welsh War Cry, Bloedd Y Gad.

In July, we highlighted one of the least known aspects of Salvation Army history: The Salvation Navy. William and Catherine Booth were supported by the wealthy Welsh industrialist and evangelical Christian, John Cory. In 1885 he gave the Booths a yacht, which was launched as the flagship of the Salvation Navy. The following year a second yacht launched an evangelical campaign along the south Wales coast. Our Director travelled to Cardiff to appear on BBC Wales talking about the Salvation Navy, which was also picked up by the wider BBC. While in Cardiff he visited the Glamorgan Archives to research the location of the Gospel Hall that John Cory had given to the Booths in 1874 and where John Allen, known as the Converted Navvy, had first preached. The Salvation Army in Cardiff had moved to the Stuart Hall in the Hayes by 1880 and the location of the Gospel Hall on Bute Street was unknown. Using historical street directories and digitised maps, Steven was able to find the exact site of the Gospel Hall - now a vacant plot at the top of Bute Street close to the railway. 

The Corps at Cardiff Canton celebrated the anniversary through the medium of wool and made a knitted craft display depicting the Christian journey in Wales (including the Salvation Navy). The intricate, detailed display features scenes starting with stories from the Bible including Creation, Noah’s Ark, the Birth of Jesus, His Crucifixion and Resurrection. The next part of the display focuses on the story of the Salvation Army in Wales with scenes showing mission tents, small chapel halls and groups of Salvationist’s in open air ministry. This was displayed at the Royal Welsh Show in late July, where the Salvation Army led a worship service. Earlier in the month the Salvation Army’s national celebration, Together 24, was held in Newport.

The knitted display was again on show, alongwith a substantial Salvation Army presence, at August’s National Eisteddfod Ynysangharad. A special episode on the BBC’s Songs of Praise broadcast on 4 August focused on the Salvation Army in Merthyr Tydfil and featured Major Kathryn Stowers, the Ecumenical Officer for Wales. Kathryn, who coordinated the anniversary events across Wales, was made a Canon of Newport Cathedral in September by the Bishop of Monmouth.

On Friday 15 November 2024, the 150th anniversary of the first meeting held in the Gospel Hall on Bute Street, a small celebration was held on the site by the Divisional Commander and other Salvationists, including John Allen’s great-granddaughter, Sheila Davies who is a soldier at Merthyr Tydfil corps.

On 19 November the main event was a reception held by the Territorial Leaders at the Senedd in Cardiff Bay, again at the invitation of Darren Millar MS. Attended by Salvationists from across the UK, as well as representatives from the Senedd, religious leaders and other civic bodies across Wales, it included delegates from varied aspects of The Salvation Army’s work- Anti-Trafficking and Modern Slavery, Homelessness Services Unit, Employment Plus, as well as the Heritage Centre. And the Cardiff Canton knitted diorama was also on display.

Our Director was also invited to record a special episode of the All Terrain podcast, which focussed on aspects of Salvation Army history in Wales - from the Welsh Revival to Aberfan. This podcast will be made available on 27 December.

Steven

December 2024