BOOTH’S GRANDSON

Waikato Times, Volume 114, Issue 19125, 9 December 1933, Page 12 (Supplement)

BOOTH’S GRANDSON

Might Have Led the Salvation Army, But Lives in Poverty for Art’s Sake.

In an attlo studio above a Hampstead publio-house, fhe grandson and great-grandson of the famous General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Amy, are living In poverty, says a London writer. The grandson, Augustine Booth, is trying to make ends meet on 27s a week. 25s of which goes as rent for his studio

Mr Booth is an artist, and he believes that one day he will become well known, but in his time he has been dancer, commercial traveller, and agricultural labourer. When a newspaper man visited him recently, Augustine Booth was working on a portrait' of a flamboyant modern girl.

“ One day the world will realise the genius which is in this picture,” declared Mr Booth. “ But,” he added, " at present we are just hungry.” Meantime 13-month-old Edward Charles Booth, great-grandson of the General, was oovering himself with paint from a box of tubes 'he had discovered lying in a corner. Living In Extreme Poverty. All around there were signs of extreme poverty in the sparsely-furn-ished room. Canvases completed and half-finished lay piled in every cor ner. The artist himself, with the head and shoulders of the late General Booth, dominated the room. “ I am,” he said, brushing a shook of greying hair from his eyes, 11 the reactionary of the Booth family. “ By the time I was 14 1 had lived in 11 different countries. In each of these countries my mother, who was William Booth’s daughter and sister of Bramwell Booth, was head of the Salvation Army. I myself was regarded as the heir apparent. “ I lived in the atmosphere Of the headquarters of an army in the field. I was surrounded by the rush and bustle of arriving and departing officers. There was a background of blaring bands and tinkling tambourines.

** It was expected that one day I would hold high office in the Sah’ation Army.

“ To-day I am living in this attic studio. I earn 27s a week by acting as a kind of guide to visitors to a well-known art gallery. Work Shows Genius.

“ After the rent is paid I am left with two shillings to feed myself, my son, and my wife. I try to pick up odd shillings 'here and there. Sometimes I sell a picture. Then there is

a feast Indeed. “ But I do not despair. Every great artist has passed through just such a time as this. My friends tell me my work shows genius. “ But do yOu know r how the expenses of t'he birth of General Booth’s great-grandson were paid? I was down to my last coppers. The hospital had to be paid. I worked hard on one particular picture, and then I went from door to door. " Everywhere .1 was refused. At las't I found a man who gave me £5 for the picture.'That was the amount I owed the hospital. I handed it over —and so the fourth generation of the Army Booths came into the world. “ That is not the first time I have paid debts by painting pictures, but it is Impossible nowadays to obtain food in exchange for a work of art. “ But I am not grumbling. I live for the day. I know that one day the name of Augustine Booth will be famous. Danced at Night Club. “ I have had a varied career. I have been a dancer at a night club. I have given exhibitions of dancing at fashionable restaurants on the Mediterranean coast.

At the beginning of the war I was a medical student. I went to the front In 1914 with the Red Cross, and was suspected and detained as a German spy. I cleared myself, and returned to work for the Red Cross. •• In civilian life I have been a commercial traveller, an agricultural labourer. a writer, a speaker in Hyde Park, and now I have reached heart’s desire. ‘I am an artist. My wife is standing four-square beside me. My son Edward Charles Is a fine lad. "I have never forgotten how my grandfather won through against adversity and hardship. It seems to me that history is repeating Itself —at least, so far as and starvation are concerned.

“ Do you know that this gown I am wearing,” said Mr Booth, lifting up the tails of a brilliant red cloak, “ is the dressing-go-wn which the Genrai wore most of his life?” Swaggered Down Stairs.

** And now," added Mr Booth, " I am just going out to see if I can sell another picture to provide some food for Edward Charles.”

With a magnificent thss of his leonine head, Augustine Booth, descendant of General Booth, picked up a canvas and swaggered down the attic stairs.