Gipsy Smith: His Life and Work by Himself

This autobiography of Gipsy Smith (1860-1947) tells the fascinating story of how God’s amazing grace reached down into the life of a poor, uneducated gipsy boy and sent him singing and preaching all over Britain and America until he became a household name in many parts and influenced the lives of millions for Christ. He was born and raised in a gipsy tent to parents who made a living selling baskets, tinware and clothes pegs. His father was in and out of jail for various offences, but was gloriously converted during an evangelistic meeting. His mother died when he was only five years old.

Converted at the age of sixteen, Gipsy taught himself to read and write and began to practice preaching. His beautiful singing voice earned him the nickname “the singing gipsy boy,” as he sang hymns to the people he met. At age seventeen he became an evangelist with the Christian Mission (which became the Salvation Army) and began to attract large crowds. Leaving the Salvation Army in 1882, he became an itinerant evangelist working with a variety of organizations. It is said that he never had a meeting without conversions. He was a born orator. One of the Boston papers described him as “the greatest of his kind on earth, a spiritual phenomenon, an intellectual prodigy and a musical and oratorical paragon.”

His autobiography is full of anedotes and stories from his preaching experiences in many different places. It’s a book you won’t want to put down until you’re finished!

Read Chapter 8: The Dawning of the Light (his conversion story).