The Salvation Army in Wickford - early history

The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army now meets at the Citadel in Jersey Gardens.  Between 1894 and 1902 meetings took place in the club room of the Quart Pot.  A famous event connected with this group was the so-called riot of the 1890s.  Apparently the noise made by their band playing on the green outside the Swan Inn so annoyed local people that they took to beating saucepans and bins in order to drown out the noise made by the band. The Army’s Wickford corps opened its own meeting place in October 1925.

A local character known to many in Wickford in the 1940s and early fifties was Brigadier Richard Bartlett of the Salvation Army. He could be seen walking along the High Street accompanied by a sheepdog and a goose.  If he stopped for a chat the goose would tweak his trousers and the dog’s tail to get them moving again.

More about Brigadier Bartlett:

Richard Bartlett, The Salvation Army in Wickford

Richard Bartlett, Remembering Major Bartlett and his companion