London Fictions |
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Although a modern-day visitor to Whitechapel Road and the surrounding streets would find it impossible to recognise the warren of slums depicted in Harkness’s novel, references to General Booth and his Salvation Army still abound.
His bust and his statue are placed not far from the Blind Beggar pub, outside which Booth addressed a mission meeting in 1865. His preaching there led to a series of meetings which were the beginning of the East London Christian Mission as an organisation, which would become the Salvation Army.
A little way down Whitechapel Road, the Salvation Army’s Lifehouse still bears Booth’s name. The wonderful Salvation Army ‘Whitechapel Walkabout’ - www.salvationarmy.org.uk/uki/Whitechapel_Walkabout - marks many key locations of the Salvation Army’s history, including the site of the first Christian Mission and the dancing academy on New Road where the first indoor Christian Mission meeting was held. |
The area is still a diverse one, and Whitechapel’s modern-day faith activism takes many different forms. The current Christian Mission is located only around the corner from the meeting house it acquired in 1867. Not far from it on Whitechapel Road is the East London Mosque, and the London Muslim Centre represents an active community presence.
As in Harkness’s day, Whitechapel remains a site of local community activism, which is still driven by active residents, but, fortunately, there is now a much stronger sense of working with and within, rather than on behalf of, the people in the community. |