John Lawley

[1] Later they moved to Bradford in search of work and where "Johnny" was employed in a mill firstly as bobbin ligger and later as an engine cleaner.

The young Lawley wanted to wear a dress that would declare to all that he belonged to God, so he obtained a missioner-frock coat, black necktie, a wide brimmed hat, and an umbrella which he used to wave in processions.

[4] When sent to Jarrow with another Salvationist the two met such fierce hostility that a superintendent of the police, two sergeants, and seven constables were unable to keep order.

Just then a newly converted desperado fought her way to him, hauled him up by the collar, and holding him thus, with flaming eyes and clenched fist, dared the mob to touch him".

[5] Lieutenant-Commissioner Unsworth later recalled Captain Lawley at this time: 'The common people heard him gladly and loved him much.

I remember him in the old days, forty long years ago, in the canny North, among the miners and iron workers.

His laugh, his shout, his friendly manner, reached the hearts of many of those rough, hard-drinking men in Jarrow, in Sunderland, and all along the banks of the Tyne and Wear.

[2] In all, Lawley commanded eight Corps: Mountain Ash, Hayle, West Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees, Sunderland, Nottingham, Bristol Circus, and Plymouth.

Lawley replied, 'Yes, General, by the grace of God I will live to be a fisher of men - but '- he added, with a sudden consciousness of the strain which the call would entail, 'my voice and throat are very bad just now.'

From that day, except when illness forbade, for twenty-two years - until the Founder lay down his sword - Lawley was ever at his side in his world-wide labours for souls.

In the early 1900s he accompanied Booth on several motorcades around Britain and went with him on various overseas tours including visits to Europe and Asia, South Africa, Japan, Australia, Canada and the USA.

[10] En route to Australia in 1905 they stopped at Palestine where they visited various sites connected with the life of Jesus, including Bethany and the Tomb of Lazarus.

Lawley and his family moved to Watford in Hertfordshire where he remained active in Salvation Army matters.

His memorial service that evening at the Clapton Congress Hall was led by General Bramwell Booth who said of Lawley, "He sang his way through this life and he will sing his way through Eternity.

"[2] His biography Commissioner Lawley by Mrs Colonel Minnie Lindasy Rowell Carpenter, was published in 1924.