General of The Salvation Army


General is the title of the international leader and Chief Executive Officer of the Salvation Army, a Christian denomination with extensive charitable social services that gives quasi-military rank to its ministers. The General is elected by the High Council of The Salvation Army and serves a term of five years, which may be extended to seven years. Brian Peddle, the current general, assumed the position in August 2018 upon the retirement of Andre Cox. The organisation's founder, William Booth, was the first and longest-serving general. There have been 21 generals as of 2018.

History and procedures for election

Usage of the term "general" began with the founder of The Salvation Army, William Booth. His wife, Catherine Booth, the organisation's co-founder, became known as the "Mother" of The Salvation Army. General Booth served as general until his death in 1912; Booth selected his son, Bramwell Booth as his successor. It was William Booth's intention to have each general choose his successor, but the Salvation Army Act of 1931 passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom requires that each general is selected by the High Council of The Salvation Army. Every general since Bramwell Booth has been selected by the High Council.. In accordance with the Salvation Army Act of 1931, a general must "retire" at age 68 and may serve as long as seven years. The general is elected by the High Council when his predecessor retires or dies. William Booth was the only general to die in office. The High Council is composed of the Chief of the Staff, all active commissioners, except the spouse of the incumbent general, and all territorial commanders. The High Council may also remove a general from office for violations of his "covenant to God", disability, or the inability to fulfill his duties, though this has never happened.
The officer of the Salvation Army who is elected general is the worldwide spiritual leader of the Salvation Army and the chief executive officer of the organization. The general has a role that is similar to the Pope's role within the Catholic Church. Since The Salvation Army maintains a hierarchical, quasi-military structure, all appointments and regulations are issued under the general's authority.
Three women have been elected General of the Salvation Army: Evangeline Booth, William Booths's daughter, in 1934, Eva Burrows in 1986, and Linda Bond in 2011.
On January 31, 2011, after 10 days of meetings which began on January 21, 2011, the 17th High Council elected Linda Bond as the 19th General of The Salvation Army. Bond was the third woman to hold the post and the fourth Canadian. This election was handled by the largest High Council in history and was especially significant due to the number of women delegates outnumbering the number of men delegates.
On 3 August 2013 the then-Commissioner Andre Cox was elected by the High Council of 2013 as the 20th General of The Salvation Army. The High Council of 2018 selected Brian Peddle as Cox's successor in May 2018; he took office in August 2018.

List of Living Retired Generals

As of May 2020, there are five retired generals living. The most recent general to die was Bramwell Tillsley in November 2019.
The general serves as the Chief executive officer of The Salvation Army at the international level, but the organization is divided into many subunits controlled by other individuals. For instance, Commissioner David Hudson, appointed by Cox, serves as the CEO of The Salvation Army of the United States.

Generals of The Salvation Army

Timeline

Below is a timeline of Salvation Army Generals' terms in office.

ImageSize = width:1600 height:auto barincrement:12
PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:130 left:20
AlignBars = late
DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:1865 till:2020
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1865
Colors =
id:GEN value:red legend:Term
Legend = columns:3 left:150 top:40 columnwidth:150
TextData =
pos: textcolor:black fontsize:M
text:"General:"
BarData =
barset:PM
PlotData=
width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift: anchor:till
barset:PM
from: 1865 till: 1912 color:GEN text:"W. Booth" fontsize:10
from: 1912 till: 1929 color:GEN text:"B. Booth" fontsize:10
from: 1929 till: 1934 color:GEN text:"Higgins" fontsize:10
from: 1934 till: 1939 color:GEN text:"E. Booth" fontsize:10
from: 1939 till: 1946 color:GEN text:"Carpenter" fontsize:10
from: 1946 till: 1954 color:GEN text:"Orsborn" fontsize:10
from: 1954 till: 1963 color:GEN text:"Kitching" fontsize:10
from: 1963 till: 1969 color:GEN text:"Coutts" fontsize:10
from: 1969 till: 1974 color:GEN text:"Wickberg" fontsize:10
from: 1974 till: 1977 color:GEN text:"Wiseman" fontsize:10
from: 1977 till: 1981 color:GEN text:"Brown" fontsize:10
from: 1981 till: 1986 color:GEN text:"Wahlstrom" fontsize:10
from: 1986 till: 1993 color:GEN text:"Burrows" fontsize:10
from: 1993 till: 1994 color:GEN text:"Tillsley" fontsize:10
from: 1994 till: 1999 color:GEN text:"Rader" fontsize:10
from: 1999 till: 2002 color:GEN text:"Gowans" fontsize:10
from: 2003 till: 2006 color:GEN text:"Larsson" fontsize:10
from: 2006 till: 2011 color:GEN text:"Clifton" fontsize:10
from: 2011 till: 2013 color:GEN text:"Bond" fontsize:10
from: 2013 till: 2018 color:GEN text:"Cox" fontsize:10
from: 2018 till: 2020 color:GEN text:"Peddle" fontsize:10