Ada Florence Kinton immigrated to Canada to teach art, but found her calling as a member of the Salvation Army, for whom she did considerable writing and editorial work.

Ada Florence Kinton, who went by Florence, was born on 1 April 1859 in Battersea, London, England, to John Louis Kinton (c1825-1882) and Sarah Curtis Mackie (c1824-1868). She grew up in a middle-class Methodist family; her father taught literature at a Wesleyan training college.

When Florence was twenty-three, she obtained an art-masters certificate. When her father died in 1882, she travelled to the Muskoka region of Ontario, where her brothers Louis Edward (b. 1853) and Mackie (c1862-1936) had emigrated. She returned to England in 1883 and began teaching art at a ladies' boarding school. That winter, she was introduced to the founder of the Salvation Army, General William Booth (1829-1912). She began attending meetings, and eventually, prompted both by growing evangelical feelings and a desire to further her art career, she resigned from her teaching position at the boarding school. She enrolled in postgraduate courses at the South Kensington School of Art, where she was encouraged to establish an art school in Canada. In 1886, she immigrated to Kingston, ON, where she taught art before moving to Toronto.

In 1889, she made a drastic change, joining the Toronto Salvation Army as an officer. In an account published in 1892, she described her sudden desire to rid herself of the "worldly pleasures of middle-class superfluity": "I took my scissors and with ruthless fingers ripped off the superfluity of ornaments—bright bows, and lace and trimming. Thenceforth I must dress in all simplicity."

From 1889 to 1891, she served in many of the social-work institutions run by the Army in downtown Toronto, including the Drunkards Home, the Children's Shelter, and the Rescue Home for women. She became a Captain in the Army by 1891, but never rose any higher in the ranks. During the early 1890s, Florence held the post of Associate Editor of the Army's paper, the , which involved writing brief pieces and contributing some accompanying drawings. Despite her talent for both writing and illustration, in 1893 she accepted the position of "private secretary" to the wife of the new commandant for Canada, Herbert Henry Booth (1862-1926). This post also included responsibility for the Booth's three children. At this point, Florence ceased to write or produce artwork, and virtually gave up any personal ambitions. She followed the Booths to Australia in 1896, where she contracted tuberculosis. Despite her illness, she did not leave the family until a sister of Mrs. Booth came to replace her in 1902. Florence returned to Huntsville, ON, but rejoined the Booths, first in Evanston, IL, and then in New York. Despite her sister's urgings for Florence to join the Army's New York headquarters, she refused. Her health took a turn for the worse in 1903, and she returned to Huntsville where her sister nursed her during her final days. She died on 27 May 1905.

After her death, her sister Sara Amelia Kinton (b. 1850), published and edited Florence's illustrations and writing as (1907). The only other published work by Florence, besides articles published in the Salvation Army periodicals, is (1900), a collection of her poetry.

For a more detailed biography, see her entry in the .