Museum-goers in London are spoiled for choice. There are museum covering every subject from ancient Egypt to modern football clubs, from gardening to steam power and from canals or Docklands history to contemporary design. It can be rather fun to sometimes visit some of the more obscure displays, to find out something new and get a different perspective on our city. And it’s a good place to pick up new geeky tidbits of local history.
Salvation Army Museum
Think about our local area and you’d probably come up with the Horniman Museum (a great place to expand the mind) or Dulwich Picture Gallery (England’s first public art gallery).
But did you know there’s a museum all about the history of the Christian movement called the Salvation Army in the area? It’s right by Denmark Hill train station, in the huge William Booth College building.
Tidbit: the building was designed by renowned architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott – you can see from looking at the front that it’s by the same chap who had a hand in the power stations at Battersea and Bankside (now Tate Modern) and Cambridge University Library.
The Salvation Army Museum is housed on the third floor of the building. I’ve got to say, it wasn’t very busy when I visited last week.
Salvation Army Armbands
And I can’t say I ended up taking much away with me in terms of new insights into the Salvation Army as an institution – to be honest, my cultural reference to the SA is mostly based on the tuba-playing Harold Bishop from Neighbours.
The displays started out more like a historical text book on the walls, telling the history of the founding of the movement – there were some rather charming objects on display, including armbands from around the world with Salvation Army in different languages.
The display was keen to explain the aims of the Salvationist movement and how their work is carried out.
But beyond this, the narrative of the exhibition didn’t tell me much about the church itself. After visiting I’ve no idea what the SA stands for spiritually, or what it means to be a member – just that they like music and helping people. There’s nothing to do with what the faith really involves – just how it’s acted out.
In fact, the museum hardly ever refers to the SA as a church – they are a church, but they don’t seem to like this word as that has very immediate connotations and associations.
Much of the display is devoted to describing what the SA does today and how far the movement has reached around the globe so far. It’s all very impressive, but by the end it had all begun to seem to sound like a sales pitch – all rather self-congratulatory, and not really about anything at all.
So I was left wondering who this museum was for? Who is it aimed at?
It seems that if you were already a member of the Salvation Army the level of information would probably have been covered already. So it’s not for SAs themselves.
Perhaps it is aimed at people who are waiting to be ‘saved’ by the evangelical mission? With little about the tenets of the faith, it didn’t seem to be that persuasive.
Or maybe it’s for attracting press attention and sponsorship?
Whoever it’s aimed at, it’s on the third floor of an incredibly austere building in Denmark Hill, with no signage outside, so it’s hardly surprising that there’s little passing trade.
While the quality of the presentation and display was rather strong, my visit there just left me wondering, rather than answering any of my questions.
If you’d like to go and see it for yourselves, it’s free to enter.
Tuesday – Friday 9.30am-4.00pm
William Booth College, Champion Park, London, SE5 8BQ.
Images: thanks with CCL to sarflondondunc and Ooklnet.com.
2 Comments
Hi Steve,
What a shame that your visit ended up so negative. The Church Army is an organisation started in 1882 and is part of the Church of England.
The Salvation Army was begun in 1865 in the East End. It is a Christian organisation but not affiliated to any particular ‘branch’ of the christian faith.
One of my close friends when I was junior school age was the daughter of two SA officers. There were three children. They had been posted to Manchester by the time I began senior school, and from there they were posted to Australia.
Many years later after I married and moved away the officer couple returned to London and lived in the flats where Shapa lives. The mother went to see my parents to find out how I was and what I was doing.
They were wonderful people and I will never forget them. They truely lived their faith. Yes they help people, in their own words by trying to give them a ‘hand up’ rather than a ‘hand out’ Salvation Army Officers are like Ministers in other churches.
I am surprised that the Heritage Centre does not say that it is a Christian organisation.
Hi Beryl,
I wouldn’t say it was a negative experience. I just felt it could have explained the prospect of the Salvation Army a little clearer. From the text on the walls it seemed like something was missing – can’t quite put my finger on it, but I ended up coming away with most of my questions about the SA still unanswered. That’s why I was a bit confused about who the museum is aimed at. If you’re interested in the SA, it’s certainly worth a visit. You might even find mention of your friend and their parents in the archive there!