Childhood and Poverty William Booth was born in Nottingham, England, on April 10, 1829, and was left, at thirteen, the only son of a widowed and impoverished mother.

His father had been one of those builders of houses who so rapidly rose in those days to wealth, but who, largely employing borrowed capital, often found themselves in any time of general scarcity reduced to poverty.
I glory in the fact that The General's ancestry has never been traced, so far as I know, beyond his grandfather.

I will venture to say, however, that his forefathers fought with desperation against somebody at least a thousand years ago.

Fighting is an inveterate habit of ours in England, and another renowned general has just been recommending all young men to learn to shoot.

The constant joy and pride with which our General always spoke of his mother is a tribute to her excellence, as well as the best possible record of his own earliest days.