1883-10-16yy

“Last night was the most memorable one in the history of the Hamilton Corps of the Salvation Army. The first anniversary of the arrival of the Army in Hamilton was celebrated in grand style.”

Hamilton Times.   October 16, 1883.

It had been a year of many Salvation Army meetings in Hamilton, but the one held on October 16, 1883 in the Drill Hall on James Street North was one of the most colorful and energetic of them all. As the Hamilton Times put it, “every ‘death and glory boy’ and ‘hallelujah lass’ in the city felt proud last night to wear the uniform or the badge that distinguished them as Salvationists.”¹

¹ “Salvation Celebration : The Hamilton Corps of the Salvation Army Have a Big Blow Out : Celebrating Their  First Anniversary”

Hamilton Times.   October 16, 1883.

Before the actual meeting began, the Salvation Army had an event between 5 and 8 o’clock in which tables filled with food and refreshments were set out, free for all who choose to attend. Over 800 people took advantage of the invitation, while many who wished to attend could not be accommodated.

Shortly after 8 p.m., the actual celebration began:

“A ring platform was constructed on the south side of the shed for the accommodation of the members of the Army. It was crowded; over two hundred soldiers and lasses having seats on it.

“Most of the hallelujah lasses were attired in their picturesque costume – dark dresses trimmed with red braid, blood-red tight-fitting jackets, and bonnets tied tightly under their chins.

“Many of them had tambourines which they jingled and pounded energetically in time to the music of the many songs that were sung, and those that could not muster tambourines at least had handkerchiefs to wave.

“The male soldiers were quite as enthusiastic as the lasses, and gave vent to their enthusiasm in the usual ejaculations expressive of strong religious emotion.¹

There were many characters in the Salvation Army at the anniversary. The most notable was an officer who expressed his excitement in a most energetic way:

“One soldier – an officer, indeed : ‘Happy Bill’ of London – displayed his feelings by dancing and writhing his body in surprising contortions, waving his red pocket-handkerchief, clapping his hands and shouting. He was a conspicuous figure in the celebration and was always bobbing up serenely when least expected.

“Happy Bill had shouted and sung himself hoarse, and his voice could not be heard many yards away; but he made up for his want of voice by eloquent, if violent, gesticulation. He was attired in a striped shirt and blue trousers – unlike the rest of the soldiers, who were mostly dressed in dark blue.”¹

          Besides the eminently noticeable Captain Cooper, known as ‘Happy Bill,’ there were other Salvation Army soldiers in attendance with colorful nicknames :

Captain Freer, of Lindsay was ‘the Sledge Hammer’; Captain Ludgate of the Hamilton Corps was ‘Happy Jack’; and Lieutenant Nellie Keizer, of Toronto was ‘Shouting Nellie,’

          Music and reacting to the music was a major component of the celebration:

“When all the soldiers and lasses sang their rousing choruses, the effect was very fine, each throat being used liberally, ‘for all it was worth,’ all the members of the chorus keeping time by the waving of hands and handkerchiefs, the pounding of tambourines and the swaying of their arms and bodies.

“Viewed from the outskirts of the crowd, the scene was picturesque in the extreme and quite unique.”¹

The key speaker at the centennial celebration was Major Moore, described as “a squarely built, English-looking man, with an iron grey beard and a pleasant, benignant manner.”¹

Major Moore focused on the joy and musicality that the members of the Salvation Army brought to the cities, including Hamilton, that they had entered:

“He advised his hearers to read the last two Psalms; in them, King David told what kind of religion was the best. Old King David evidently thought it was right to praise God with the timbrel (or tambourine) and dances with stringed instruments and every other kind of music., and so did the Salvation Army. They believed in having a good time.

“ ‘This jolly religion,’ said the Major, ‘is no new thing. Everyone that has the peace of God in his heart will feel jolly. No matter what men may say of us, if we are in the right, God will stand by us. Why, when I left England less than ten years ago, there were only seven musicians who belonged to the Army, now there are five thousand. (Shouts and cries of Hallelujah!).

“ ‘All these musicians are playing for the glory of God. There are in Great Britain tonight, five hundred army corps, embracing considerably over a million men and women enrolled in the Salvation Army. This is in Great Britain alone.

“ ‘But the Army is too good a thing to be kept in Great Britain. It has invaded nearly every civilized country in the world, and even in India, the idols of the heathen are coming down before the conquering tread.

“ ‘Oh, the religion of the army is good,’ said the gallant Major, enthusiastically, - ‘and it gets gooder and gooder.’ ” ¹

It was estimated that there were between three and four thousand people in the Drill Shed for the big meeting, “most of whom watched and listened to the proceedings with evident interest.

“There were some, however, who went there for the sole purpose of creating a disturbance, and they succeeded in annoying, by their rowdyism and mischief making, the respectable people on the outskirts of the crowd.”¹