| Order number: |
MMS/Special Series/Biographical/West Indies/Box 1214
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| Summary: |
Corrected typescript (30 pages) entitled 'This is My Life' by William Solomon, with photocopy of same but with additional annotations. Overview of contents as follow:
Born in Badseley, Shropshire, on 27 August 1878, the son of an Excise Officer. Describes childhood and family (eventually becoming Methodists). Maternal grandfather John Randall, 'the Grand Old Man of Salop', archaeologist and geologist. Moves to Birmingham when two years old. Educated in part at King Edward VI Grammar School. Moves to Bury, Lancashire, when 14 and educated at Bury High School. Teaches and becomes a local preacher until qualifies as a lay minister and moves for a year to Cirencester, Gloucestershire.
Experience of procedure to become a Wesleyan minister. Attends Richmond College for two years instead of three due to a shortage of missionaries in the field. Discusses staff and fellow pupils. Informed will work in Haiti but actually is the Dominican Republic. Gives brief overview of its history. Describes journey to mission (leaving England in October 1904).
Illustrates what a typical week's work consists of in missions of Samana and Sanchez. In 1908 granted personal leave to return to England to marry. He and his wife Miriam return to Dominican Republic and start a family. Sons Leslie and Sydney born. Wife and son become ill and return to England. Sydney dies in 1911. Solomon returns to England. Work in Home circuits - Kidsgrove, Staffordshire; Measham, Leicestershire.
Asked to return to Dominican Republic in 1920 due to a shortage of missionaries. Impact of American occupation. Begins work preaching, etc, in Spanish. Indicates 'medical' care able to offer and education provided for local children. Describes some of his congregation and local people he knows. Very brief biography of early missionary (1820s) 'Father James'. Leaves with his family in 1925. Reminisces about supply work in Haiti in 1908 with description of country's history, people, etc. Relationship with American Free Methodists in Dominican Republic.
Work in Home circuits - St Mawes, Cornwall; Holsworthy and Tiverton, Devon; Marlborough [Wiltshire]; Towcester [Northants]; Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire; Maldon, Essex. After 44 years of service becomes a supernumerary in Blackwell, Worcestershire and then Tottenham & Stoke Newington, North London. Health issues in later life, including death of his wife, Miriam, on 30 May 1955.
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| Main author: |
Solomon; William (1878-1972); ordained missionary |
| Extent: |
2 items
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| Admin history: |
William Solomon was born in Badseley, Shropshire, on 27 August 1878. He was educated at the King Edward VI Grammar School in Birmingham and then at Bury High School. After a period as a teacher he became a local preacher and then entered the ministry in 1902. After two years training at Richmond College he undertook overseas service in the WMMS Haiti & Santo Domingo District on the island of Hispaniola. He was stationed at the missions of Samana and Sanchez in Santo Domingo [Dominican Republic] for eight years before his return to England (after the death of his son).
On his return to England he served in a number of East Midland districts before, due to a shortage of missionaries, he was asked to return to the Caribbean. In 1920, with his wife Miriam and their three sons and a daughter, he began work again in his former mission. However, after five years he and his family returned to England where they initially settled at St Mawes in Cornwall. Shortly afterwards Solomon was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. After further postings in the South-west and the East Midlands he became a supernumerary in 1948 in Blackwell, Worcestershire. In 1952 he relocated to the Tottenham & Stoke Newington circuit in London where he served as chaplain to the Hillside Old People's Home in Islington until his 90th year. Solomon died on 10th July 1972. |
William Solomon was born in Badseley, Shropshire, on 27 August 1878. He was educated at the King Edward VI Grammar School in Birmingham and then at Bury High School. After a period as a teacher he became a local preacher and then entered the ministry in 1902. After two years training at Richmond College he undertook overseas service in the WMMS Haiti & Santo Domingo District on the island of Hispaniola. He was stationed at the missions of Samana and Sanchez in Santo Domingo [Dominican Republic] for eight years before his return to Engla ... View more |
| Acquisition: |
Presented by Ms Gaby Hardwicke on behalf of the Estate of Dorothy Margaret Solomon, 19 June 2008
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| Access status: |
Open
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| Copyright: |
Copyright held by Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes |
| User restrictions: |
For permission to publish, please contact Archives & Special Collections, SOAS Library in the first instance |
| Language: |
English
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| Related material: |
Also within the records of the (Wesleyan) Methodist Missionary Society is the official correspondence for William Solomon (MMS/West Indies/Correspondence/FBN 43). Furthermore, the synod minutes will detail his work, and that of his colleagues, in the West Indies districts (MMS/West Indies/Synod Minutes/FBN 9-13). |
| Format: |
Archive
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