Salvation Army

The training of men officers began experimentally in Manchester under Ballington Booth in 1879, and in the following year started on a regular basis in two small Training Homes in Hackney: for women, at Gore Road, and for men, at Devonshire House, Mare Street. In November 1881, the former London Orphan Asylum, Clapton was acquired for use as the National Training Barracks and Congress Hall. This served as the principal centre for training officers until the new William Booth Memorial Training College was opened at Denmark Hill in 1929, though during the late 1880s and 1890s, some of the training of cadets took place in regional depots or garrisons, in addition to training at Clapton. The training centres were known at various times as the Training Home, Training Garrison, or Training College, and by 1904 the centre at Clapton had become the International Training College, though later it was known as the International Training Garrison (c 1917-1929). For a few years in the early 1920s additional accommodation at the Mildmay Conference Centre was used for men cadets. At Denmark Hill, the college was generally known as the International Training College (ITC), or the William Booth Memorial Training College until 2000, when the name was changed to the William Booth College.