James Barker
A country lad, James Barker moved to London from Ipswich in order to improve his employment opportunities as a compositor in the printing business. Whilst travelling in the upper deck of a London Bus he was attracted to The Salvation Army during an open-air meeting and was converted at the Bethnal Green Corps.His conviction led him to become a Salvation Army Officer, and he was instrumental in producing the first War Cry publication in England in December 1879.
The Salvation Army officially commenced its work in Australia in 1881 with the arrival of Captain and Mrs Sutherland (although it dates its actual commencement back to 1880 when Gore and Saunders held their first meeting in Adelaide Botanic Gardens).
James Barker was chosen to be sent to Australia to expand The Salvation Army's work throughout the colonies. Accompanied by his brand-new wife Alice (they were married the day before sailing for Australia) the Barkers headed for the Antipodes.
Due to labour problems on the Adelaide wharf, the ship was forwarded to Melbourne where the Barkers disembarked not knowing a single soul. However, word of their coming preceded them and amongst those welcoming them was74-year old Dr John Singleton, the founder of several Christian-oriented welfare agencies.
Singleton saw in James Barker of The Salvation Army a successor for his work. He introduced Barker to visitations of prisoners in the Melbourne Goal. Later Barker and other Salvation Army Officers were given permission by the authorities to hold religious meetings and interview the prisoners privately. Barker recognised the need for institutionalised work to assist the prisoners on their release from gaol. Consequently, in Melbourne, in December 1883, a Prison-Gate Brigade Home was opened in Carlton; it was The Salvation Army's first institution anywhere in the world.
Before long Alice and James Barker had the oversight ofPrison-Gate Homes in Melbourne, Sydney, Ballarat, Auckland and Castlemaine, andalso Rescue Homes (for women) in Melbourne Geelong, Ballarat, Sydney, Brisbane,Christchurch, Wellington and Dunedin.
The Army in Australasia expanded rapidly under theBarkers. Fifteen months after they arrived in Melbourne by mistake, the Barkersconducted the first Salvation Army Anniversary Campaign in the MelbourneExhibition Building (then Australia's biggest auditorium) attend by a capacitycrowd.
The Social Wing of The Salvation Army also grew rapidlyunder the Barker's enthusiastic leadership. So much so that they were recalledto International Headquarters in London in the mid-1890's to build up the Army'sSocial Wing there.
Barker dreamed of the day when he would obtain the sameaccess to English prisons as he had in Australia. In 1901 he finally achievedit, but, on his first such visit he became ill, and some little time latersuccumbed to diabetes and was promoted to Glory in May 1901.
Alice Barker continued her work until "promoted to Glory" during the influenza epidemic of 1918.
