| Title | Martha Chippindale MBE |
| Date | Undated |
| Location | Yeadon |
| Photo ID | A169 |
| Comment | See below… |
The Salvation Army was founded in 1865 by William Booth and his wife Catherine, a Protestant religion. Charity and the care of others are strong ethics of the Salvation Army, Booth organised his followers on pseudo military lines believing that an army was needed to fight for good. Salvationism arrived in Yeadon in 1883, led by Major Cadman and his “Hallelujah soldiers”.
The lively meetings accompanied by music were popular and a success in drawing in new followers. One convert was 16 year old Martha Chippindale, a weaver at Murgatroyd’s Moorfield Mill. A Yeadon branch of the Army was formed and Martha joined them, leaving her work at the mill.
When her father died, Martha decided to devote her life to the Salvation Army and went to London to train as an officer, becoming a Brigadier.
She was awarded an MBE for the work she had done during the First World War in the East End of London, caring for servicemen in hostels and clubs.
In 1926 Martha came back to Yeadon for a holiday and died suddenly aged 59. All the mills closed on the day of her funeral, such was the high regard she had been held in by Yeadon people.
I600 – Martha Chippindale MBE, c1900.
Martha Chippindale MBE – c1900
The photographer was Ernest E Slater, the image is an original glass slide. Martha is seen in her Salvation Army uniform, she rose to the rank of Brigadier and was awarded an MBE for her service in WWI. Her life began in Yeadon and she became a mill girl before moving away with the Salvation Army but her connection to the area remained. She died suddenly in Yeadon in 1926 aged 59 years.
U989 – Martha Chippindale MBE, c1900.
Martha Chippindale MBE – c1900
Martha and an unnamed friend.
Donated by Rev Keneth Chippindale, her great great nephew.
X430 – Martha Chippindale MBE, 1918.
Martha Chippindale MBE – 1918
June 1918: Order of the British Empire.
Local Recipients:
In continuation of the King’s Birthday Honours List, we publish another section of awards of the Order of the British Empire for services in connection with the war:
To Be Members of the Order:
Miss Lucy Mary Montagu Atkinson, Quartermaster, Devizes Auxiliary Hospital.
John William Owen Baines Esq. Director of Flour and Bread Section, Ministry of Food.
Samuel Henry Gilmore Barnett Esq. Works Manager at National Shell Factory.
Miss Elizabeth Bowles, Commandant, Lydney Auxiliary Hospital, Gloucestershire.
Major John Carr, Recruiting Area Commander Bristol City, Ministry of National Service.
George Russell Chapman Esq. Secretary, Hut Week Department, YMCA.
Miss Martha Chippindale, Major, Salvation Army, Secretary of the Naval and Military League.
George Arthur Collins Esq. Local Manager of Avonmouth Docks.
Miss Mabel Agnes Daubeny, Local War Pensions Committee, Clifton.
Owen Davis Esq. Commandant of Voluntary Aid Detachments, Dinas Powys and St Pagans, in charge of Transport, of Wounded, Glamorganshire.Arthur Robert Dawson Esq. Collector of Customs and Excise, Port of Cardiff.
Mrs Ethel Mary Devereux, Commandant, Tewkesbury Auxiliary Hospital, Gloucestershire.
Mrs Elizabeth Mary Evens, Commandant, Fore House Auxiliary Hospital, Leigh Woods, Somersetshire.
Image courtesy of the British Newspaper Archives, research by Edwy Harling.
U990 – Martha Chippindale MBE, c1920s.
Martha Chippindale MBE – c1920s
Martha & her friend (far right) with the grandfather & father of the donor Rev. Kenneth Chippindale. Probably taken in a friends garden at Yeadon or at Rawdon where the donors father lived.
Y056 – Martha Chippindale MBE, 1926.
Martha Chippindale MBE – 1926
April 1926: Salvation Army Memorial Service.
In connection with the Naval and Military League of the Salvation Army, a well attended Memorial Service to the late Brigadier Martha Chippindale was held at No.2 Hall, Kingston Road, last evening.
Commandant Harrison conducted the service and with other speakers, paid a tribute to the long and valued service of the late Brigadier who was greatly esteemed.
The Portsmouth no. 2 band, under Bandmaster A Ford rendered suitable music and the songsters under Songster Leader Ford (Sen.) assisted with vocal music.
Image courtesy of the British Newspaper Archives, research by Edwy Harling. This extract is from the Portsmouth Evening News.
X411 – Martha Chippindale MBE, 1942.
Martha Chippindale MBE – 1942
There has just come into my hands a new sixpenny booklet entitled “Salute To A Mill-girl”, a lively biography of Martha Chippindale, who, at 10 was a half timer in the mill near her home in Yeadon and who, when she died in 1926 was a Brigadier of the Salvation Army, a Member of the Order of the British Empire, the friend to thousands of men and women who had served in the Forces and the heroine of the entire Army in which she had risen to such a high rank.
X420 – Martha Chippindale MBE, 1942.
Martha Chippindale MBE – 1942
Her biographer, Brigadier Frederick Coutts of the Salvation Army, tells how Martha was working at the mill when to the unexciting world of Yeadon came a detachment of the Salvation Army, She was amazed to see an out-size poster announcing
the Salvation Army then in its infancy and helped to make it the great and powerful organisation it has now become.
The King’s Congratulation. Martha Chippindale acquired such a knowledge of King’s Regulations that she became a veritable encyclopedia.
When the last war broke out (WWI) she was at the height of her powers.
Knowledge of her great work during those four years was recognised when King George V, decorated her with her MBE and had a special word of congratulation for the first Salvation Army woman officer to be so honoured.
Martha Chippindale insisted at Easter 1926 upon going home to Yeadon.
She was well when she left London but a day or so after her arrival she died.
She was buried with her bonnet and shawl upon her coffin and buglers came from Pontefract Barracks to sound the Last Post”.
Image courtesy of the British Newspaper Archives, research by Edwy Harling.
G400 – Martha Chippindale MBE, Undated.
Martha Chippindale MBE – Undated
Two articles which were published in the Wharfedale Observer about Martha Chippindale, she featured in the 1st WW display which Aireborough Historical Society staged for National Heritage Day.
G401 – Martha Chippindale MBE, Undated.
Martha Chippindale MBE – Undated
As above.
Y38 – Martha Chippindale MBE, Undated.
Martha Chippindale MBE – Undated
Funeral.
Previous Comments:
Rev Kenneth Chippindale
My cousin has sent me an extract from your records and I have looked up this page on Google.
I am a great nephew of Martha, but as you will see from my name, there is and always has been a problem with the spelling.
In fact the family name is spelt “Chippindale” and not “Chippendale”, but even in official documents, other than birth or death certificates, it is misspelt. Martha’s brother, Alfred Chippindale was a shopkeeper (from the front room of his house at 40, Football, Yeadon, and then a Hay, Straw and Corn merchant, from there and High Street, Yeadon. His publicity material have the correct spelling on them. This latter venture was established in 1887, with the tel.no. Rawdon 99 .
05 January 2021.
AdminJack609
Dear Rev Chippindale, thank you for kindly pointing out the correct spelling of ‘Chippindale’ on the above article, and also for the further information you have provided. I have updated this page accordingly. Thank you for taking the time to contact us. Kind regards, Jack Brayshaw, AHS.
06 January 2021.
Consolidated by Jack Brayshaw. 01 November 2021.
Last updated: 29 December 2023 – Photo ID: U989, U990. 26 August 2023 – Photo ID: Y36 replaced by I600. 21 June 2022 – Photo ID: X411, X420, X430, Y056, Previous Comments x 2.
