William Booth meets Catherine (1852)
In 1851 Catherine heard a sermon by William Booth that she thought was excellent. Two weeks later a mutual friend invited her and her mother to his house for tea and among the other guests was William Booth. (There is a biography of his life on this website, so I shall not concentrate on him here).
10th April 1852 was William’s birthday and the day he left the occupation of pawnbroker to take up ministry and it was Good Friday. By chance he met his benefactor, Mr Rabbits who persuaded him to go to a meeting of Reformers in Cowper Street, a meeting that Catherine was at as well. William drove her home afterwards and on that journey a mutual love sprang up between them that was to last until Catherine died. Despite their love for one another, there was no engagement until there had been much prayer and discussion as William’s position was tenuous to say the least. Finally, after their doubts and concerns were put behind them and they were sure that it was the will of God, they got engaged on May 15th 1852.
Additional Information
A school was in this building in 1869, but I do not know if it was built especially for the school or if was the actual building where they met.