The Authoritative Life of General William Booth

George Railton was born in Scotland in 1849. He was the son of Wesleyan missionaries. When at age15 George was broke and homeless his brother found him a job in London. He was lonely and found the shipping business unfulfilling. In 1872 he began his association with the Salvation Army and William Booth. Booth was apprenticed to a pawnbroker at age eleven. He began reading and educated himself so that he could become a minister. Booth wanted to be an evangelist and when the Methodist church kept assigning him to pastoral work he left and began his own ministry. This led to the founding of the Salvation Army.