and at the City of London School, where he was bullied.

Known to his family as 'Willie', as a youth he suffered poor health and had a slight hearing loss. In 1870, aged just 14, Bramwell Booth started to help in the management of his father's Christian Mission and in the cheap food kitchens set up in its early days. He had intended to study medicine and had a fear of public speaking, but despite these obstacles he became William Booth's amanuensis, adviser