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If your ancestors were Salvationists, were they OFFICERS or SOLDIERS?
OFFICERS are full-time workers for The Salvation Army and usually move around frequently to their various appointments. In the early years, officers sometimes stayed in a corps appointment for only three or six months, and to stay for more than a year was unusual. OFFICERS may also serve in different countries, and in various types of work, such as corps, headquarters, social services, Assurance Society, etc.
Some Officers' Career Cards (summary of appointments and promotions) have survived, but many, especially from the early years, have not. Many records were lost when the International and National Headquarters in London (101 Queen Victoria Street) were destroyed during the Second World War. When Career Cards have not survived, officers' appointments and promotions may be listed in THE WAR CRY, or THE OFFICER magazine. Also, brief announcements, reports or tributes are usually included in Salvation Army periodicals when officers marry, retire, or are promoted to Glory. We have almost complete sets of Salvation Army periodicals published in Britain (as well as a few from overseas), but these are not generally indexed, so searching can take a long time. Corps reports in THE WAR CRY (1879-1986) and lists of officers' appointments in THE OFFICER magazine (1893-1913) are gradually being indexed, but indexing is a slow process and the indexes are far from complete.
SOLDIERS do not usually work full-time for The Salvation Army, but belong to local corps. They may be commissioned as bandsmen, songsters, local officers, young people's workers, etc. Records of SOLDIERS are usually kept by the local corps, not at headquarters, but Soldiers' Rolls only record the name and address of the Soldier, and the date of enrolment and (where appropriate) removal. They do not give dates of birth, or names of parents, or any other useful genealogical information.
Some corps Soldiers' Rolls and corps history books have survived, but many have not, particularly if the corps has now closed. Corps history books were not introduced officially until 1907, so much of the early history was only recorded in THE WAR CRY and other periodicals. When Soldiers are promoted to Glory, announcements or short tributes may be published in Salvation Army periodicals, but it can take a long time to search through the unindexed volumes if a date of death is not known.
It is important to find out as much basic genealogical information about your Salvationist ancestors as you can from the Registrar General's records of births, marriages and deaths, before exploring Salvation Army sources. Salvation Army records can seldom be used for compiling the outline of a family tree, but Salvation Army periodicals can sometimes provide additional background information, when the basic facts are already known.
We are open to visiting researchers by appointment: Tues, Weds &Thurs / 9.30-3.30 (Telephone: 020 7737 3327) For visiting researchers, we charge £5 for ½ day (up to 3 hours), or £10 for a full day (up to 6 hours), and for research undertaken by our staff, we charge £5 for an initial search (whether we find any information or not) and £5 for each additional hour’s research (up to a maximum of 5 hours).
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