Eva Burrows

General Eva Evelyn Burrows AC OF
Eva Burrows at The Salvation Army's Australia Southern Territory Training College
13th General of The Salvation Army
In office 1986–1993
Preceded by	Jarl Wahlström
Succeeded by	Bramwell Tillsley
Personal details
Born	(1929-09-15)15 September 1929 Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Died	20 March 2015(2015-03-20) (aged 85) Melbourne, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Residence	Melbourne
Alma mater	University of Queensland
Occupation	Salvation Army Officer

General Eva Evelyn Burrows, AC, OF (15 September 1929 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian Salvation Army Officer and was, from 1986 to 1993, the 13th General of the Salvation Army. She served as an Officer of the Salvation Army from 1951 to her retirement in 1993. In 1993 Henry Gariepy released her biography, General of God's Army the Authorized Biography of General Eva Burrows.

Burrows was born on 15 September 1929 in Newcastle. Her parents, Robert Burrows and Ella, were both Salvation Army Officers. The couple had nine children: Dorothy, Joyce, Beverly, Walter, Robert, Bramwell, Elizabeth, Eva and Margaret. With her parents' itinerant life-style Burrows primary schooling was interrupted, she completed her secondary education at Brisbane State High School, where she was selected as a prefect and Head Girl. From the age of seventeen, Burrows attended the University of Queensland and received her Bachelor of Arts in May 1950 with majors in English and History.

In 1950 Burrows entered The Salvation Army's International Training College in London. She was commissioned as a Salvation Army Officer in 1951. After studying at London University to be a teacher she served at the Howard Institute in Rhodesia from 1952 to 1967, was Principal of the Usher Institute from 1966 to 1970, and served at the International College for Officers, at The Cedars, Sydenham Hill London, from 1970 to 1975, first as Assistant Principal, then as Principal.

She became the leader of the Salvation Army's Social Services for Women in Great Britain in 1975, and leader of the Salvation Army's work in Sri Lanka in 1977. In 1980 she became leader of the Salvation Army's work in Scotland, followed in 1982 as leader of the Salvation Army's work in the Australian Southern Territory. In 1986 she was elected General of the Salvation Army by the slimmest margin in the history of the High Council (22 to 24 on the fourth ballot, a margin of one person's vote). In 1986, at 56, General Burrows became the organization’s youngest commander. The Australian-born Eva Burrows was the only woman candidate of seven and was elected by the army’s high council to replace the retiring General Karl Wahlstrom. During her seven years as the leader of the Salvation Army – the highest ecclesiastical position held by any woman in the world – she proved highly effective, directing operations in some 90 countries and reawakening the army’s founding spirit of evangelism by leading it back into Eastern Europe after the fall of communism. At the end of her term as General, she was extended a further two years because of her excellent record and achievements.