Copyright
© 2000
Team C001515

1930

Overview:

A woman who sacrificed for the well being of others: Eva Burrows was one of the most active members of The Salvation Army throughout the middle of the century, contributing positively to all of the countries she worked in.

Eva Burrows This woman was one of the most active members of The Salvation Army the world has ever seen.

Country: Australia

Type of hero: Environmental, Cultural and Development Rights

Attributes: Hard working, compassionate and perservering.

Biography:

Born in an Australian mining town, Eva Burrows was one of nine children. She was disenchanted with “The Army” in her teens but rejoined when at the University of Queensland. There she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and History. She then entered the William Booth Memorial Training College where she completed graduate degree in education.

Her first appointment as a Salvation Army worker was in Zimbabwe (then known as Rhodesia) as an education officer. The Howard Institute in Rhodesia included an education centre, a hospital, an outpatient clinic, primary and secondary schools and a teacher-training college. She returned to England in 1969.

Mid in the 1970’s she became head of the women’s social services in Great Britain and Ireland. This had possibly the greatest impact on the rest of her life. She was involved in the development of refuges for battered women and became increasingly aware of the desolation and poverty felt in many cities.

After a stint in Sri Lanka where she confronted the need to learn new languages as well as a vastly different climate, she spent time in Scotland. There she focused on problems of alcoholism experienced by many women in Glasgow.

In 1982, she returned to an appointment in Australia. Appalled at the unemployment she found there, together with its social consequences, she approached the problem imaginatively by providing factory-based experiences where job-skills could be acquired and the self-confidence of these young people returned.

Citations & References:

Links:
http://www.wic.org/wow/burrows.htm
http://www.wic.org/bio/eburrows.htm
http://www.victorshepherd.on.ca/Heritage/eva.htm

Go back to Great Heroes of the Twentieth Century