James Dowdle

James John Dowdle (20 December 1840–21 July 1900) was a Commissioner in the Salvation Army known as the "Fiery Fiddler" and the "Saved Railway Guard".

A big and mischievous youth who "loved a scrap",[5] he left school aged 12 to train as a wheelwright under an uncle, but did not find the work to his taste.

When the 51st Corps of the Salvation Army was formed at Plymouth in July 1878 Captain (later Major) Dowdle, together with his wife and his "Hallelujah Fiddle", held the first meeting in the Central Hall in Phoenix Lane late in August 1878.

In Plymouth forty men arrived at a meeting carrying brimming chamber pots and stormed the hall to drench Dowdle with urine.

The two had been touring the world for the past year and a half visiting Salvation Army centres where they lead revival meetings.

Once a crowd had gathered he would harangue them for ten minutes before plucking his "Hallelujah Fiddle" from under his arm to play and sing a Salvationist hymn.

But, on seeing her, no longer limping but now walking upright and unaided, her heart full of joy and her crutches being carried by a woman behind her, he dropped his stick and marvelled.

[21] Diagnosed with heart disease in Melbourne in Australia as a result of his great exertions there, in 1896 he and his wife returned to London[2] where they resided at 37 Mayola Road in Clapham.

Commissioner James Dowdle died in the hospital at the Salvation Army Farm Colony at Hadleigh in Essex in July 1900.