This headline in the Tiverton Gazette in early September 1925 announced the impending visit of the ‘well known evangelist’ to the town. He was to hold a ‘mission’ in the town from the 6th-14th of the month. This was to follow a successful tour of Cornwall. At one of his meetings, he invited the large congregation to join in singing a refrain, being not satisfied he got them to sing it ‘over and over again’. He was also quoted as having said ’some of you sing as if you would make an undertaker weep’.

For the following weeks, readers were invited to buy a recording of the ‘singing evangelist’.

Rodney ‘Gipsy’ Smith was born in 1860 in a  gipsy tent in Wanstead Parish in Epping Forest. His birthplace is marked with a large commemorative stone today. He had no formal education as a child but taught himself to read and write as a young person. He was an early member of the Salvation Army although he eventually became a Methodist minister.  His work took him all over the world, preaching to large and enthusiastic audiences. His first trip to the USA was in 1889, followed by Australia in 1894 and South Africa in 1904 – all very long voyages in those days. The year before he came to Tiverton he held a ‘mission’ at the Royal Albert Hall which attracted 10,000 every night for 8 days. He returned to Australia and New Zealand in 1926 and made many return trips to the States. He died on board the ‘Queen Mary’ in 1947 on what was thought to be his 45th crossing of the Atlantic.

His autobiography is available on the Internet Archive (link below).

‘I’m God’s messenger from the gipsy tent. And it’s the message which is important not the messenger’.

Written by Museum Volunteer, Sue B

References

Wikipedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/gipsy_smith  accessed 1 August 2025

https://www.azquotes.com/   Rodney ‘Gipsy’ Smith  accessed 1 August 2025

Internet Archive  https://archive.org/  accessed 1 August 2025  for autobiography search ‘Gipsy Smith’