William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, died at his home in north London.

The Methodist minister had been ill for some time and after an unsuccessful operation on his left eye for Cataracts his health deteriorated rapidly.

He died aged 83 at his house in Lancaster Avenue in Hadley Wood, near Enfield.

In 1865 William Booth founded The Salvation Army, originally called the Christian Mission, in the East End of London.

After changing its name in 1878 and with the mission now organised along military lines, Booth was given the title General, a rank he held till his death.

The day after his funeral service at the Olympia in west London, at which at least 35,000 attended, he was buried with his wife at the Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington in north London.