Mary Moss

Mary Moss (1791 – 3 January 1875) was the mother of William Booth and the second wife of Samuel Booth.

Early life

Mary Moss was born in Somercotes to a rich farmer. While she was still a child, her mother died. When her father remarried, she was sent to live with extended relatives. In Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Mary met Samuel Booth, who soon proposed to her. She refused, possibly because he was sixteen years older than she was, but he was indignant and pursued her until she changed her mind.

Married life

The marriage of Samuel and Mary Booth produced two boys and three girls: Henry, Ann, William, Emma, and Mary. Henry died as a young child. William was destined to be the founder of The Salvation Army. Emma was an invalid throughout her entire life and, after forty years, she died without ever marrying. Mary eventually became Mary Newell, and she lived until she was 69.

Samuel had been a gentleman and quite well-to-do when he and Mary had married, however business turned sour and they slowly became poor. Much of the rest of Mary Booth's married life was spent anxiously anticipating the changes in her husband's fortune, which only went from bad to worse. She worked to raise her children, but she did not grow close to them or seek their education. When Samuel's rheumatism worsened, she nursed him until he died.

William was eventually to say of her:

I loved my mother. From infancy to manhood I lived in her. Home was not home to me without her. I do not remember any single act of wilful disobedience to her wishes. When my father died I was so passionately attached to my mother that I can recollect that, deeply though I felt his loss, my grief was all but forbidden by the thought that it was not my mother who had been taken from me.

Later life

At her husband's death, Mary and her children were forced to move out of her house and to work to support her children. She took up work in a poor area in Nottingham at a small shop.

Mary's son, William, became a pawnbroker's assistant and sent as much money as he could to support his mother and sisters. When he became an evangelist, Mary first opposed the idea completely. It was many years before she yielded to her son's convictions and became a Christian herself.

At the age of 76, Mary Booth had a five-month attack of rheumatic fever. Soon after, her side went limp and she fell down a staircase. This resulted in a broken leg that never healed. Consequently, she was restricted to bed for the last seven years of her life.