Introduction

When the children returned to Hardington school in January 1912, they found themselves with a new head teacher, the formidable Miss Salome Wallace, an impressive figure and a strict disciplinarian.

Early life

Salome was born in Islington on 14 February 1872.[1] She was named “Salome” after her maternal grandmother and “Valentine” because she was born on Valentine’s Day.

Her father, Mark Wallace, was a Metropolitan Policeman who joined the police after spending time in India.[2] Her mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of Josiah Angove, a Cornish mine agent.[3]

In April 1891, Salome lived at 14 Aberdeen Park, Islington, with her parents and her siblings Thomas and Elizabeth. She worked as a School Board Teacher.[4]

In May 1895, her father retired from the police and took on the running of a boarding house at Brighton.[5] In about 1902, he gave it, and he and his wife separated.[6] Her father returned to London, and her mother and sister joined Salome.[7]

From then onwards, the three women stayed together, with Salome taking positions as head teacher and her sister as assistant teacher in various places in the West Country. Before coming to Hardington, they had lived at Halstock for a few years.[8]

Life in Hardington

Salome was an accomplished singer and sang solos at two services in Hardington Church in 1913.[9]

She played a significant role in Hardington’s response to the First World War. In September 1914, she painted watercolour flags of the Allied nations for a recruitment meeting, a symbolic act that rallied the community to support the war effort.[10] In November 1914, she organised a working party on behalf of comforts for soldiers and sailors.[11] In 1919, she was secretary of the village war memorial fund, and she organised a peace pageant for the schoolchildren.[12]

The Exmoor and Minehead years

Her stay at Hardington lasted just under ten years. By June 1921, she lived with her mother and sister at Timberscombe, near Dunster. She and her sister taught in the village school.[13]

Her mother died in 1930, and around this time, she and her sister retired to Minehead, where they lived at “St Valentine,” Millbridge Road, with two other female retired teachers.[14]

Salome died on 5 January 1947 at the age of 74 and was buried at Timberscombe.[15] Her sister died in 1959 at the age of 86.[16]

References

[1] 1939 Register; Civil Registration Birth Indexes; RG11, piece 270, folio 55, page 48.

[2] Police pension registers; Salome’s brother was born in India.

[3] RG9. Piece 1584, folio 147, page 4.

[4] RG12, piece 174, folio 122, page 5.

[5] Police pension registers; RG13, piece 926, folio 127, page 8.

[6] Voters’ lists for Brighton.

[7] RG14, 7333.

[8] RG14, 12451.

[9] Western Chronicle, 16 May 1913, p.5 and 20 June 1913, p.8.

[10] Western Chronicle, 11 September 1914, p.5

[11] Western Chronicle, 6 November 1914, p.6.

[12] Western Chronicle, 4 July 1919, p.5 and 25 July 1919, p.10.

[13] RG15, piece 11185, schedule 56.

[14] Memorial inscription at Timberscombe; 1939 Register.

[15] National Probate Calendar; memorial inscription at Timberscombe.

[16] National Probate Calendar; civil registration death indexes.