At birth she was dedicated by her grandfather, General William Booth, and from her infancy she was involved in the demands which Salvation Army service made upon her parents, being taken with them to their various appointments whenever their busy schedules required it.

Her mother, Florence Eleanor Soper, disapproved of outside influences acting on the tender minds of her children and taught them all herself for two hours every morning.

[1] Her own involvement in Army service began in the Corps at High Barnet, playing in the band and singing trios with her sisters in the open-air meetings.

In her late teens she became aware of the call to officership but her natural shyness made her reluctant to respond; however, eventually realising that God's power would help her, she added her father's Christian name to her surname and entered the Salvation Army Training College at Clapton in 1903, aged 19.

In 1904 she joined her grandfather, General Booth, as he travelled in a motorcade around the country, preaching from his car in village and town centres.

This brought her a certain fame, and, because of her engaging personality, during the 1970s and 1980s she made frequent appearances on radio and television programmes, being interviewed by, among others, Malcolm Muggeridge, Russell Harty and Roy Plomley on Desert Island Discs in 1979.