An unsung hero – Australia’s first General
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From the floor of a printing shop to guiding The Salvation Army through one of its most difficult periods of the 20th Century, General George Carpenter may well be one of the Army’s most unheralded world leaders. Salvos Online profiles the first Australian to become General of the Army*.
BY DAVID WOODBURY
As the insanity of World War Two plunged the planet into a great abyss, The Salvation Army needed a steady hand on the tiller. That hand was the hand of Australian-born George Lyndon Carpenter.
The history of The Salvation Army is littered with stories of people who, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, have carved out a ministry for God and the Army from humble and insignificant beginnings. Perhaps none has been more remarkable than George Carpenter, the fifth General of The Salvation Army.
It may well be that George Carpenter is one of the unsung heroes of our movement. From the floor of a printing shop to lead The Salvation Army through one of its most difficult times; from a rebellious larrikin to a senior officer unfairly censured by General Bramwell Booth, George Carpenter’s character was refined and tried by the fire of adversity and conflict, yet he emerged as gold.
Born in the Hunter Valley region of NSW on 20 June 1872, the grandson of English immigrants from Bristol and son of Tristan and Hannah Carpenter, George’s initial urge was to become a teacher. However, as a young man, he took up a position as an apprentice compositor with the Gloucester Gazette (later to become the Raymond Terrace Examiner). His early experience at the Raymond Terrace Examiner and then on the Blue Mountains Express provided him with a good foundation for his life’s work.
One autumn Sunday, George was persuaded by his mother to attend a service led by Joseph Walker at the local Methodist chapel. Following a personal word from the preacher, George knelt at the communion rail and said “Yes” to God.
Shortly after being elected as the fifth General of The Salvation Army, George Carpenter was to tell a newspaper reporter of that experience: “My whole life was changed, and from that evening I decided to devote my life to spiritual matters. I joined the local Salvation Army and immediately took an active part in its work.”
By 1892, George had heard God’s call to be an officer in The Salvation Army and filled in the necessary forms. A letter of acceptance soon arrived from Commissioner Henry Howard, and George informed Army headquarters in Melbourne that he would arrive at the end of May to commence his training.
Life with purpose
On 27 May 1892, George Lyndon Carpenter arrived at The Salvation Army Training Home in Punt Rd, Richmond, Victoria, and with 35 other male cadets, commenced his training. Following six weeks of intensive training, Probationary Lieutenant Carpenter was appointed to special duties in the property department at Territorial Headquarters in Melbourne.
Among his many duties was the management of the officers’ hostel at Marchmont in Melbourne. The people skills learnt here were to stand him in good stead for the path God had chosen for him.
In 1896, with the rank of Ensign, George was appointed as assistant to the editor of The War Cry. Here he was to meet Captain Minnie Rowell, and although he did not recognise it at the time, she would become his lifelong partner. On 21 June 1899, Commandant Herbert Booth conducted the wedding of Adjutant George Carpenter and Ensign Minnie Rowell in the City Temple in Bourke St, Melbourne. Various appointments followed, with a time as vice-principal at the new Federal Training Home in Melbourne. In 1911, following instructions from International Headquarters in London, Majors George and Minnie Carpenter sailed for London.
George Carpenter never forgot his humble beginnings and the transformation God had made in his life. Later in life, while territorial commander in Canada, he was to write to an old friend back in Australia: “We were none of us any better than we ought to have been in those days, and I am glad there came a time when I saw a higher and better way of life – a life with a purpose in it, and in which one can make a contribution to the moral and spiritual well-being of his day and generation.”
Difficult days
At International Headquarters, George was appointed to the editorial department and became news editor of The War Cry. Various editorial appointments brought him into close contact with then-Commissioner Bramwell Booth and, following the death of the Army’s founder and first General, William Booth, on 20 August 1912, George and Minnie Carpenter were valuable to him and even more so to the Army.
The Carpenter family now numbered five, with son George Raymond and daughters Renie and Stella. These were to become difficult days for George and Minnie Carpenter.
On 21 October 1921, they lost their daughter Renie. By the mid-1920s, there was growing unrest with General Bramwell Booth’s management of The Salvation Army and an anonymous pamphlet, The Blast of the Trumpet, criticising his leadership came to his attention. He demanded to know from George Carpenter, who was the author of the document, to which George replied: “General, it’s not so much who wrote it, but is there any truth to it?”
Aspects of the pamphlet were discussed, and the General asked for George Carpenter’s views. It became clear that Carpenter’s assessment was unacceptable to the General. A great deal of correspondence ensued between the General and George Carpenter, with the result that, at the General’s bidding, the Chief of the Staff, Commissioner Edward J Higgins, dispatched the Carpenters back to Australia, George to hold the position in the editorial department, which he had held some 20 years previously.
Lesser men than George Carpenter may well have had their spirits broken by such unjust treatment. On his last day at International Headquarters, during the daily midday prayer meeting, George responded to some of the consternation over his new appointment by saying: “I have long felt that a man’s opportunity is no bigger than the man.” They were words that were to prove not only the man’s character but also be prophetic for the days ahead.
In January 1929, a High Council of The Salvation Army was called by the Chief of the Staff, Commissioner Edward Higgins. General Bramwell Booth, who had been ill for some time, had been asked to retire, a request he’d refused. As a result, the High Council terminated the active service of General Booth, and Commissioner Higgins was elected the third General of The Salvation Army on 13 February 1929.
With the change in international leadership came changes in the appointments of George and Minnie Carpenter. On 15 April 1929, George Carpenter was appointed as Chief Secretary of the Australia Eastern Territory, a post he held until 1933 when he was promoted to commissioner and appointed to lead The Salvation Army in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Upon his arrival in South America, George Carpenter discovered the territory was in serious debt. George and Minnie Carpenter approached the dilemma as they had many times in their lives – on their knees to God in prayer. Soon afterwards, a phone call early one morning from an excited officer informed the commissioner of a considerable legacy that had been left to the Army. It was to become just one of the many financial contributions that came in response to their faithful prayers.
A cable from General Evangeline Booth, who had succeeded General Higgins as the international leader of The Salvation Army, arrived for the Carpenters in May 1937. It read: “DESIRE TO APPOINT YOU TO CANADA – WISH TO KNOW YOUR VIEW.” Commissioner Carpenter replied by cable: “SURPRISED HUMBLED DARE NOT REFUSE WILL GO IN THE STRENGTH OF THE LORD.”
While financial challenges in Canada differed from those in South America, George Carpenter soon discovered that the Great Depression, which had swept the world, had left a severe strain on resources there. However, he soon realised that what was needed was not so much financial resources as human resources.
As he moved about the country, he laid the claims of God through officership before young people. To his delight, a number responded, resulting in a training session in 1938 of 50 cadets. With the imminent retirement of General Evangeline Booth a High Council was convened in London in August 1939, to which George Carpenter was summoned.
Searching through the list of officers with whom he had cultivated friendships over the years, George Carpenter looked for a man of vision, courage and faith who would lead the Army in the critical days ahead. Although there was a strong feeling that he would be nominated, he neither sought it nor expected it, but would consider it should it occur.
Rock in the storm
On 15 August 1939, with the storm clouds of war gathering over the world, the High Council of The Salvation Army met to elect a new leader. Commissioner Carpenter led from the first ballot and on 24 August 1939, was confirmed as the General-elect. Later, he was to say of that occasion: “Were I not clearly conscious of the Divine overruling in the deliberations of the recent High Council, I might well have hesitated to accept such a charge.” George Carpenter acknowledged that he anticipated the days ahead would be dark and difficult. “It is possible that we are on the edge of testings and trials in the world. We must be steadfast in courage and faith.”
For George Carpenter, his time as General coincided with what was perhaps the most traumatic and disturbing period the international Salvation Army has faced, as World War Two raged around his global organisation. His term began at a headquarters sandbagged against air attacks and ended with an Army whose officers and soldiers were decimated by almost six years of conflict.
To compound Carpenter’s leadership hardships, in May 1941, International Headquarters was completely destroyed by fire following an air raid, with the consequent disruption of every department of the Army. Many documents and records were either destroyed or so badly damaged that they became increasingly difficult to administer effectively.
With war restricting his ability to travel the world as Salvation Army leader, George Carpenter used his literary skills to not only reach but also encourage his people. His regular column, ‘From My Desk’, made its way into every War Cry that could be accessed during those difficult years.
On 20 June 1945, General George Lyndon Carpenter was due to retire and vacate the office of General as required by Salvation Army regulation. However, wartime restrictions had made it impossible to assemble a High Council in time. Following correspondence between the Chief of the Staff and Salvation Army leaders around the world, it was decided to extend General Carpenter’s term in office until June 1946.
George and Minnie Carpenter retired to the Sydney suburb of Earlwood. Sadly, the General’s retirement was brief; he took ill and was promoted to glory on 9 April 1948, aged 75. A funeral service was held at Sydney Congress Hall before his body was interred at Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney.
His successor, General Albert Orsborn, was later to pay tribute to Carpenter’s life: “My outstanding impression of our fifth General was of translucent honesty and simplicity ... He was not of the world, but he lived in it, and always made shrewd appraisals of men and events.”
The London Times, in its obituary, recalled: “He gave them what he promised on the day of his election – ‘an example in simplicity, an example in faith, an example in sacrifice, an example in courage’,” while the Sydney Morning Herald paid its own tribute to his life and ministry: “General Carpenter has been described as one of the greatest and most saintly sons of Australia.”
*The have been two Generals from Australia. General Eva Burrows was our other world leader, serving from 1986 to 1993.
