Hoyland

Coordinates: 53°29′55″N 1°26′26″W / 53.498504°N 1.440571°W / 53.498504; -1.440571

Hoyland is a town near Barnsley in Northern England. The town developed from the hamlets of Upper Hoyland, Hoyland, and Hoyland Common.

The town has also been known as Nether Hoyland. That name was given to it to prevent confusion with High Hoyland. When the urban district council was formed the name they used was Hoyland Nether Urban District Council. This was also applied to the area run by Hoyland UDC. However, most locals have always known it simply as Hoyland.

Hoyland is part of the metropolitan borough of Barnsley in the metropolitan county of South Yorkshire, but it lies within the historic boundaries of West Riding of Yorkshire. In 2001 it had a population of 15,497.

Hoyland Nether Urban District Council

Hoyland Nether UDC was formed in 1894. Its jurisdiction covered Elsecar, Hoyland Common, Platts Common and Skiers Hall (until 1938, when boundary changes took place Alderthwaite and part of Harley) were administered by Hoyland. This land was exchanged with Rotherham RDC for some land in Brampton Bierlow, which included the site of Elsecar Main colliery, as well as Hoyland itself. It lasted until 1974 at which point it was merged into Barnsley MBC. The town hall is still standing and is used for offices and the local Jobcentre.

Robert G. Hoyland

Robert G. Hoyland is a scholar and historian, specializing in the medieval history of the Middle East. He is a former student of historian Patricia Crone and was a Leverhulme Fellow at Pembroke College, Oxford. He is currently Professor of Late Antique and Early Islamic Middle Eastern History at New York University's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, having previously been Professor of Islamic history at the Oriental Institute of the University of Oxford and a Professor of history at the University of St. Andrews and UCLA.

His research interests include: relations between Muslims, Jews and Christians in the pre-modern Midde East; the links between identity, religion and ethnicity (in particular, the forging of an Arab identity) in the pre-Islamic and early Islamic period; the transmission of knowledge from the Ancient world to the Islamic world and the reforging of that knowledge by Muslim scholars; the change in material culture from the Ancient world to the Islamic world and the emergence of an Islamic style of art and architecture; and the use of Arabic inscriptions for understanding Islamic history and culture.

The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army is a Christian denominational church and an international charitable organization structured in a quasi-military fashion. The organization reports a worldwide membership of over 1.5 million, consisting of soldiers, officers and adherents known as Salvationists. Its founders Catherine and William Booth sought to bring salvation to the poor, destitute and hungry by meeting both their "physical and spiritual needs". It is present in 127 countries, running charity shops, operating shelters for the homeless, and providing personal hygiene products and disaster relief and humanitarian aid to developing countries.

The theology of the Salvation Army is derived from that of Methodism although it is distinctive in institution and practice. The Army's doctrine is typical of evangelical Protestant denominations. The Army's purposes are "the advancement of the Christian religion… of education, the relief of poverty, and other charitable objects beneficial to society or the community of mankind as a whole."