W. Stanley Cottrill

Who was W. Stanley Cottrill?

Commissioner Walter Stanley Cottrill was the 15th Chief of the Staff of The Salvation Army.

Born in South Africa, Commissioner Cottrill spent most of his youth overseas, completing his schooling in New Zealand. It was from the Woodford Corps, Essex, that he entered the International Training College in 1937 and was commissioned the next year as Assistant Cadet Sergeant-Major, followed by British Territory corps appointments.

Within a few months of his marriage to Captain Kathleen Ward in 1940, they set sail for Muckden in Manchukuo but, because of political unrest, found themselves transferred to the Boys' home in Singapore in 1941. Early in 1942, invading forces reached Malaysia. With other officers of the command, Captain Cottrill was interned in the prisoner of war camp on Changi, Singapore, and Mrs Cottrill, with their small son, was evacuated to Australia. For the next three and a half years, they were to have no contact with each other. They came to regard even the experiences of these difficult years as a high privilege.

Following Captain Cottrill's release in September 1945, he returned to Malaysia with Mrs Cottrill to probation and prison work, the command of the Singapore Central Corps and Manager of the Boys' Home. In 1952 they transferred to Rhodesia as divisional officers, and in 1958 Major Cottrill became Principal of the Howard Institute.