Early life

Mary Ann Davis was born in Bromley in 1849.

Calling

She was a member of the Christian Mission that later reorganised into the Salvation Army. In 1875 she was appointed by ‘General Booth’ as the very first female preacher of the Christian Mission and one of the first 28 to be paid and put in charge of a station – hers was at Barking. 

Family life

She married Captain William Ridsdel in 1878 at Stockton and they worked successfully together at Cardiff, Bradford and Plymouth, Nottingham and Kent before being transferred to Bristol.

Tragically, soon after their arrival Annie started to show signs of ‘consumption’. It developed rapidly and she died on 28^th March 1890 leaving her husband and four children – two of whom were no more than 8 months old. 

Funeral

Salvation Army founder General William Booth conducted her funeral himself.  The procession started in Redland and travelled down through Stokes Croft, the Horsefair, Union Street, Wine Street, High Street and Victoria Street then up the Wells Road to the top gate here at Arnos Vale Cemetery. Large crowds gathered to watch the procession and bands go by four abreast and about ½ a mile long. At the graveside, the General (who tragically knew that this would be a kind of rehearsal of his own loss soon as his wife was terminally ill at home) lead the singing of hymns including Annie’s favourite ‘When I survey the wondrous Cross’. He recalled that when she had been appointed,

“Some thought that female officers would not be equal to the work of the Army but Annie did better then some men and God gave her a long list of victories”.

He added that he would stand up for women as long as he lived and if the men oppressed them when he had gone, he would come back as a ghost!

Tragically, shortly after Annie’s death one of her twins, Stanley, died and he is buried with her. William Ridsdel served with the Salvation Army until he retired in 1914 with the rank of Commissioner. He died in 1931 aged 85.   

Legacy

As one of the Salvation Army’s first paid Officers and its very first female officer, she lived to see it grow from 28 to over 8600 officers and from just 23 to nearly 2800 stations and 775 outposts.