George Scott Railton (6 July 1849 – 19 July 1913) was a Scottish-born Christian missioner who was the first Commissioner of The Salvation Army. Early life Born in the manse of St. John's Methodist Church at Arbroath in Scotland, he was the son of Methodist missionaries Lancelot Railton and his wife, Margaret Scott. Railton was educated at Woodhouse Grove School in Leeds, which was established to provide an education for the sons of itinerant ministers of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. His father and mother both died on 8 November 1864 at Peel, Isle of Man, probably of cholera. The death of his parents left the 15-year-old Railton homeless and unemployed. His older brother, the Rev. Launcelot Railton, a Methodist minister, found him work in London with a shipping company, but not finding it to his liking Railton decided to go to Morocco in 1869 as a Christian missionary. However, this being unsuccessful and finding himself stranded in Morocco, he had to work his passage back to Britain as a steward. In 1870 he began to work in Stockton-on-Tees for an uncle who owned a shipping business, but preached the Gospel at every available opportunity. In the same year William Booth went to Matlock to recuperate and where he met the Rev. Launcelot Railton, who told Booth of his younger brother George's attempt to convert the Moroccans, adding that George was just the sort of person that Booth's Christian Mission was looking for. Two years later, in 1872, Booth received a letter from George Scott Railton, who had read a copy of The Christian Mission's second report, 'How to Reach the Masses with the Gospel', and had been so moved by it that he offered himself to the cause. The Salvation Army In October 1872 Railton travelled to London to commence his work for The Christian Mission, (renamed The Salvation Army in 1878 at a meeting at which Railton was present), and for some years he lived in the Booth household as William Booth's secretary. He became the acting editor of 'The Christian Mission Magazine' and in September 1873 was appointed General Secretary to The Christian Mission. By 1880, Booth's son Bramwell Booth had matured and became his father's secretary. Railton, who since his youth had had a wish to be a missionary, persuaded Booth to send him to New York to begin the Army's work there. He was well suited