The Unley Corps bandmaster who ‘collected’ Generals
- deansimpson7
- Jun 13
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 16
BY BARRY GITTINS
Consider these famous Salvation Army names: William Booth (1865-1912) and Bramwell Booth (1912-1929). Edward Higgins (1929-1934) and Evangeline Booth (1934-1939). George Carpenter (1939-1946), Albert Orsborn (1946-1954) and Wilfred Kitching (1954-1963). Frederick Coutts (1963-1969), Erik Wickberg (1969-1974) and Clarence Wiseman (1974-1977).
Yes, they are the first 10 Generals of The Salvation Army, and the years during which they led.
But what common threads may be found to tie them together?
While ‘gifts’, ‘passion’, ‘duty’, ‘calling’ and ‘faith’ may be words and aspects that come to mind, the most esoteric thread to weave these 10 people into the one story is embodied in the long life and service of retired bandmaster William Baldock, MBE of Unley, South Australia, who’d met them all.
And that was William’s claim to Salvo fame – meeting the first 10 of the Army’s world leaders. (There have now been 22 Generals).
This achievement was trumpeted in the 14 June 1975 issue of The Musician, 50 years ago.
The first General William would have met was no other than General Booth, perhaps on the founder’s visit to Adelaide in 1905. Young William would have been 13 or 14.
He then proceeded to meet another nine Generals up to 1975 when he shook hands with Clarence Wiseman at the Adelaide Congress. We don’t know if William also ‘collected’ Clarence’s immediate successors – Arnold Brown (1977-1981) and Jarl Wahlström (1981-1986) – before he passed away, but if he did, it would have taken William’s tally up to an even dozen.
We do know that William Baldock met his Maker in 1982 at the age of 91. It was in The Musician’s 19 June 1982 issue, seven years after the front cover photo, that we learnt a bit about William through his Promotion to Glory report.
William Baldock was born on 1 April 1891, the eldest of 10 children, in Littlehampton, a village in the Adelaide Hills. Until 13, he attended the Mount Barker Corps before moving with his family to Unley.
At just 18 years old, William became the bandmaster of the Unley Corps, leading (according to The Musician) “the small and not particularly efficient brass combination.” The report continued, “With persistence, determination and enthusiasm, he [William] slowly developed a combination that came to be recognised as one of the foremost Salvation Army bands in Australia”, achieving this over 50 years of service. William’s life of service was described as “a blending of spiritual appreciation, intense emotional feeling and natural leadership abilities.”
He even received an MBE from the Queen in 1960 for leading those groups of musicians!
For the bulk of the years 1911-1947, he also led the songster brigade, which “was also kept at a high standard”; he also served as the divisional bandmaster and divisional songster leader.
Through those long years, spent training, conducting, exhorting, guiding and navigating the intersection between music, faith and people’s lives, William met all those Generals, all busy popping in and out of history.
As his baton went up and down, his hands shaped and cut, swayed and danced, serving as a metaphor for the life of The Salvation Army.
Which begs the question: What got him through all those practices, performances, meetings, messages, altar calls, concerts, congresses, headaches, logistics and relationships? The Musician suggests it was a one-word motivation – love.
“The bandmaster’s involvement in the corps necessarily decreased in recent years due to failing health,’ the promotion to glory report noted, “but his love for the Lord never waned”.
Perhaps that, too – William’s love for God – was something he had in common with the 10 Generals we know he’d met.
