Eva Burrows

Evangeline Evelyn Burrows was born on September 15, 1929 in Tigles Hill, Newcastle, Australia, the eighth and second youngest children of Ella and Robert Burrows. Her parents were both Salvation Army officers. Their way of life was simple: God came first, then other people, and lastly you yourself. So Eva, as she was called, spent a childhood in a very clearly defined environment.

As a teenager Eva had a crisis. She no longer wore her uniform and became indifferent to The Salvation Army. She went to school with enthusiasm and had a reputation for never being found without a book in her hand. In her final year she even became head girl of the school. Reminiscing she said, "It was an important thing for me. As far as I can remember, I've always organized a group and told people what to do."

Eva went to Queensland University in Brisbane on a scholarship, where she obtained a Bachelor of Art in English and History. In a study group at the university, she met young people, her own age, who also shared their interests in the Bible. This brought her back to faith and, at a youth service, she gave her life to God again. She confessed: "When Christ called me, I gave him my life, my future, everything."

In 1950, after graduating with a bachelor's degree, she went to London for a youth congress, where she was invited to attend the officers' school at the William Booth Memorial College in Denmark Hill, London, and after to continue her studies in London. In 1951, Burrows was appointed a Salvation Army officer. The following year she returned to Australia, from where she was sent to Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) for her first mission as a teacher.

On her first vacation after five years of service, Burrows completed her Masters Degree in Education in Sydney, with a dissertation on education in Africa. Retuning to Africa and under her leadership, the "Usher Institute" became a renowned training centre for young girls in Zimbabwe.

As a result, Eva Burrows was given various important tasks, all of which she mastered, effortlessly. She was a vice director for five years and later head of the "International College for Officers" ICO in London after which she was appointed head of Women's Welfare Work in England. Eva Burrows was then appointed Territorial Commander of Sri Lanka and in 1977, only 47 years old, she first took part in a High Council at which the new General was elected. She left Sri Lanka in 1979 and became Territorial Commander of Scotland, then Territorial Commander of South Australia.

In April 1986 a High Council was convened again to elect General Jarl Wahlström's successor. Burrows was ready and registered herself on the electoral list. On May 2, 1986, she was elected General of The Salvation Army. She was only 56 years old and, after Evangeline Booth (1934-1939), only the second woman in this position. Although she was only elected in the fourth round with a wafer-thin majority of 24 to 22 votes, she executed her duties as General so well that the members of the High Council extended her mandate for a further two years until 1993.

Eva Burrows then returned to Melbourne, Australia where she retired, but still had a busy agenda and was in great demand as a speaker on a wide variety of occasions.

Throughout her life she had worked to balance inequalities in society as, for her, social engagement went hand in hand with political engagement. And theory should be followed by action. When she felt that politics was taking too little care of the poor, she once invited Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to accompany her for an evening to see the situation of the homeless in London! Incidentally, the Prime Minister did not respond to this invitation ...

Eva Burrows died at the age of 85 on March 20, 2015. Her ashes were scattered on the area where the new officers' school for Australia, which now bears her name, was built. At the International Salvation Army Congress "Boundless" in London in the same summer of 2015, Eva Burrows was posthumously awarded the "Order of the Founder", the highest honour for service in the Salvation Army.
 

Biographies about Eva Burrows:

Henry Gariepy: General of God's Army - the Authorized Biography of General Eva Burrows, 1993

Wendy Green: Getting Things done – Eva Burrows, 1988