This is one of two statues on the Mile End Road that commemorate the father of the Salvation Army, William Booth. The Salvation Army and Booth had their roots in the east end of London and the first branch of the organisation was just yards away from the statue on the Mile End Road. It was in 1864 that Booth strolled through the squalor of the street and couldn’t stand for one moment longer the sight of children dying in the streets and homeless people. He decided he must do something, so he stood outside the Blind Beggar Pub and gave a speech that would launch the ‘army’ as we know it today.
