The Timbrel

The first recorded use of a timbrel in The Salvation Army was at Mansfield, Nottingham in March 1881. Captain Charles Rothwell, seeing a tambourine in a pawnbrokers shop, lost no time in purchasing it for Mrs. Rothwell to play in the processions.This, it was reported, 'filled the devil with disgust, the newspapers with comments, the barracks with people and helped sinners into the fountain.'

When Mother Shepherd, accompanied by her two youngest daughters Polly and Sally, took charge of West Bromwich Corps in June 1881, soldiers and people alike took no notice of them. Sally, noticing her mothers distress, and having heard William Booth state that he would even wear a red coat for Jesus, turned her red lined white coat inside out and headed their small procession beating a tambourine with immediate effect.

The use of the timbrel spread quickly. In the War Cry of 7th October 1882, George Scott-Railton noted that 1600 had been sold in the space of six weeks and warned the Army's timbrelists that they should not beat their tambourines without at the same time singing!