To help further with finding jobs The Salvation Army also set up the world’s first free labour exchanges. Just weeks later the law was changed, raising the age of consent from thirteen to sixteen years. With their help W T Stead, editor of the Pall Mall Gazette investigated these claims and published his findings in his newspaper as a series of sensational articles – ‘The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon’ - in July 1885. Through this, the practice of trafficking girls for ‘immoral purposes’, both in the UK and overseas came to the attention of The Salvation Army. Florence, as pioneer leader of The Salvation Army’s Women’s Social Services, had gained an insight into the lives of young female sex workers.
In 1885 Josephine Butler, a campaigner for women’s rights, wrote to Florence Booth concerning the sale of young girls into sex work. In 1884, the work moved to a house in Hanbury Street, Whitechapel, which became the first Salvation Army rescue home. She took them home, fed and clothed them. The Salvation Army’s formal social work in the UK traces its origins back to the 1880s when Elizabeth Cottrill, a soldier of Whitechapel Corps, took an interest in girls from the streets who had been converted. It continues to grow and develop in a range of areas including homelessness, addiction services and anti human trafficking. In line with this, The Salvation Army began its social work in Britain in 1884.
William Booth strongly believed that people needed to be helped practically, with food and employment, before they could be saved spiritually.
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