thumb|260px|right|Members of the Salvation Army being pursued by the Skeleton Army with its distinctive [[skull and crossbones (military)|skull and crossbones banner c. 1882]]
The Skeleton Army was a diffuse group from Weston-super-Mare, active particularly in Southern England, that opposed and disrupted The Salvation Army's marches against alcohol in the late 19th century and best known for an attack in Bethnal Green in London. Clashes between the two groups led to the deaths of several Salvationists and injuries to many others.
Origins
thumb|left|The "Skeleton", a Skeleton Army [[gazette]]
The earliest reference to an organised opposition to The Salvation Army was in August 1880 in Whitechapel, when The Unconverted Salvation Army was founded with its flag and motto of "Be just and fear not".
In 1881, Skeleton Armies were raised in Whitechapel, Exeter and Weston-super-Mare, and the name was quickly taken up elsewhere as other groups were formed in the south of England; there are no records of Skeleton Armies north of London. Membership was predominantly lower to middle working-class.
In 'Blood on the Flag', Major Nigel Bovey identifies 21 towns and cities that are north of London -- three in Scotland -- in which the Skeleton Army opposed The Salvation Army.
The "Skeletons" recognised each other by various insignia used to distinguish themselves. Skeletons used banners with skulls and crossbones; sometimes there were two coffins and a statement like, "Blood and Thunder" (mocking the Salvation Army's war cry "Blood and Fire") or the three Bs: "Beef", "Beer" and "Bacca" – again mocking the Salvation Army's three S's – "Soup", "Soap" and "Salvation". Banners also had pictures of monkeys, rats and the devil. Skeletons further published so-called "gazettes" considered libellous as well as obscene and blasphemous. contemporary press reports show that it first appeared in Exeter in October 1881.
Of an attack in Bethnal Green in November 1882 the Bethnal Green Eastern Post stated:
<blockquote>A genuine rabble of 'roughs' pure and unadulterated has been infesting the district for several weeks past. These vagabonds style themselves the 'Skeleton Army'.... The 'skeletons' have their collectors and their collecting sheets and one of them was thrust into my hands... it contained a number shopkeepers' names... I found that publicans, beer sellers and butchers are subscribing to this imposture... the collector told me that the object of the Skeleton Army was to put down the Salvationists by following them about everywhere, by beating a drum and burlesquing their songs, to render the conduct of their processions and services impossible... Amongst the Skeleton rabble there is a large percentage of the most consummate loafers and unmitigated blackguards London can produce...worthy of the disreputable class of publicans who hate the London School Board, education and temperance and who, seeing the beginning of the end of their immoral traffic, and prepared for the most desperate enterprise.
For example, when in April 1884 the owner of an alcohol shop in Worthing objected to Salvation Army criticism concerning the selling of alcoholic beverages, 4,000 "Skeletons" joined in that town in direct opposition to the Salvationists. Black, sticky tar was painted onto the wall of the alley which the entrance to the Salvation Army barracks shared with the alcohol shop. This damaged Salvation Army uniforms as they marched through it. Also eggs filled with blue paint were thrown at the "Sally Army". Many in Worthing approved of these confrontational activities, but the Salvation Army continued unabated.
On Sunday, 17 August 1884, the police, the Salvation Army and the Skeletons confronted each other in Worthing. For an hour the police kept the peace, then the Skeletons rioted. The area was filled with screaming men, brick dust and broken glass. The Salvationists returned to their "barracks" and the Skeletons tried to burn it down. The landlord of the barracks, George Head, a Salvation Army supporter, defended his property and the people there with a revolver, wounding several Skeletons. Head was later brought before the magistrates on a charge of feloniously and maliciously wounding a young man named Olliver. In 1889, at least 669 Salvation Army members were assaulted, including 251 women. When a new Salvation Army Corps was opened in Potton in Bedfordshire on 1 June 1890, large contingents of the Skeleton Army made fun of the local Salvationists. The War Cry reported:
<blockquote>... the skeletons did all the shouting and we had only the opportunity of blessing them by showing unruffled love in answer to the disturbance in our proceedings"...."The skeleton flag was out with its coffin, skull and cross-bones as well as the whole Skeleton force, uniformed, beating a drum, playing flutes, whirling rattles and screaming through trumpets. One of their chosen leaders was carried shoulder high, ringing a bell and attired in an untrimmed coal-scuttle bonnet. I noticed that the publicans looked pleased to see this array and several waved their hats. But we were good friends of the skeletons, twelve of whom sat at our tea table... Their leaders were very courteous and sincerely desirous of keeping their somewhat rabble followers within bounds. Almost implicit obedience was given them. Their skeleton War Cry was freely sold, but doesn't quite beat the original.</blockquote>
In 'Blood on the Flag', Major Nigel Bovey states that there is no contemporary evidence for a Salvationist being killed directly by a member of the Skeleton Army. He records that Captain Sarah Jane Broadhurst was hit during an attack by the Skeletons in Shoreham on Sunday 12 October 1884. The captain died on 6 February 1892, some eight years later.
A two-person off-Broadway musical created by Neil Leduke was written in 2019 by John Copeland and Len Ballantine about Charles Jeffries' dramatic transformation.