It has been popular with Salvation Army Corps around the world to hold “Sidney Cox Music Night” celebrations and festivals. The inspiration for this particular program likely came from John Spencer and his wife, Lilly who were soldiers at the Northampton Central Corps in England. Lilly Spencer was a 2nd cousin of Sidney’s.
Of course, Northampton was the birthplace of Sidney Cox in 1887. However, his family were parishioners of The Church of England, not adherents to The Salvation Army. It was not until 1907 that Sidney Cox joined The Salvation Army as a young man in Canada.
Briefly, John Spencer was married to Sidney’s 2nd cousin, Lilly Smith Spencer. They met briefly in 1960 when Sidney and Violet Cox visited Northampton. Later, Spencer and Sidney developed a correspondence relationship via reel-to-reel tape described in the section of this website, “The John Spencer Tapes From England.” They were both fascinated by and interested in utilization of this audio technology. They would send tapes back and forth to each other across the Atlantic containing recorded messages.
Perhaps coincidentally, John and Lilly were lifetime Salvationists, although this certainly would not have been unusual at that time in England. The Salvation Army was a very popular “denomination.” John likely inspired the production of this musical program in honor of his distant relative, Sidney Cox, the iconic Salvation Army figure in the United States.
This is a wonderful music program performed by extremely talented singers and instrumentalists, as only the Salvationists can do it. Spencer recorded excerpts from the service and sent the tape to Sidney. Sidney labeled the tape box “A Valuable Recording.”
J. Douglas Cox, grandson of Sidney and Violet Cox. January 2009.
Northampton Citadel Music Program
God’s Love Is Wonderful
Celebration March (Camp Fellowship/Joy In Following)
He Sought Me
This One Thing I Know
You Can Tell Out The Sweet Story
I Want To Tell You What The Lord Has Done
Rivers of Living Water
