Kathleen Montgomery Wallace (1890 – 1958) – British writer and poet

Kathleen was born Kathleen Montgomery Coates in Cambridge on 11th September 1890.  Her father, William Montgomery Coates (1857 – 1912), was a Fellow, a Bursar and a Lecturer in Maths at Queen’s College, Cambridge University.  Her mother was Susan Coates, nee Webb.  William and Susan were married in Dublin in 1899.  The couple had three children – twin daughters, Aileen Montgomery (1890‒1891) and Kathleen Montgomery (1890‒1958), and a son, Basil Montgomery (1893‒1915). Aileen died when she was just fourteen months old, which must surely have had been traumatic for little Kathleen as well as for her parents. The family lived in Cambridge and also had a home in Norfolk.

Educated at Perse High School for Girls, Cambridge, Kathleen went on to Girton College in 1909, where she read Modern Languages. She specialised in French, taking the MML Tripos Part I in 1912 and Part II in 1914. Kathleen, along with Margaret Postgate (Cole), Monica Mary Curtis and two other Girton graduates, contributed poems to a volume of poetry entitled “Bits of Things”, which was published in January 1914.

Kathleen’s brother, Basil, was educated at The Perse School and Oundle before going on to Queens’ College, Cambridge, where he joined the Officers’ Training Corps (OTC).  He volunteered for the Army in 1914 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant into the Rifle Brigade from the University OTC.  Basil’s Regiment – the 10th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own) - was posted to France in the early summer of 1915.  He served at the front in the Ypres Salient and was killed by a sniper on 7th September 1915, while on patrol south of Ypres.  Basil has no known grave and is remembered on the Ploegsteert Memorial in Belgium - Panel 10.

In March 1917, Kathleen married Canadian soldier Major James Hill Wallace (1882 - 1953) in Fulham, London. James was a Canadian soldier from North Gower, Ontario, who was attached to the Canadian Mounted Rifles. By the Armistice in November 1918, James was serving as Chief Supervisor of the Canadian YMCA and was awarded an OBE for his war service.

In 1918, Kathleen published a collection of poems entitled “Lost City Verses” (Heffer, Cambridge, 1918), in which many of the poems reflect her grief at the loss of her brother.  Kathleen also had poems published in two WW1 poetry anthologies. 

After the War, Kathleen and her husband spent two years in Ontario, before going to China for several years. They returned to live in England in 1927.  The couple had four sons.

Kathleen’s experiences in China were the inspiration for a series of novels published between 1930 and 1938, of which the most successful was “Ancestral Tablet” (1938). As well as poetry and novels, Katherine wrote fictional biographies and children’s stories.

James died on 30th November 1953 and Kathleen died on 29th March 1958 at St. George’s Hospital in London.  

Here is one of Kathleen's poems "Died of Wounds" from  “Lost City Verses” (Heffer, Cambridge, 1918)

Because you are dead, so many words they say,

If you could hear them, how they crowd, they crowd;

“Dying for England – but you must be proud” –

And “Greater love, honour, a debt to pay”,

And “Cry, dear”, someone says; and someone, “Pray!”

What do they mean, their words that throng so loud?

This, dearest; that for us there will not be

Laughter and joy of living dwindling cold,

Ashes of words that dropped in flame, first told;

Stale tenderness, made foolish suddenly.

This only, heart’s desire, for you and me,

We who lived love, will not see love grow old.

We who had morning time and crest o’the wave

Will have no twilight chill after the gleam,

Nor for any ebb-tide with a sluggish stream;

No, nor clutch wisdom as a thing to save.

We keep for ever (and yet they call me brave)

Untouched, unbroken, unrebuilt, our dream.

Sources:

Catherine W. Reilly.- “English Poetry of the First World War: A Bibliography” (St. Martin’s Press, new York, 1978) pp. 6, 11 and  326.

Michael Copp.- “Cambridge Poets of The Great War: An Anthology” (Associated University Presses, 2001) pp. 52 and 247.

http://mrcweb.org.uk/mrc2015/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Kathleen-Wallace-obituary.pdf

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=TNA/R39/6531/6531A/020/28

https://www.oundleschool.org.uk/Basil-Montgomery-Coates-7-September-1915?returnUrl=/World-War-I-

https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl?start=1890&end=1890&sq=4&eq=4&type=Births&vol=3b&pgno=427&db=bmd_1595843552&jsexec=1&mono=0&v=MTU5NzMzMDM4NDplOGEwZDBlM2QwMzdlMzcyYmJlNjNjM2M0Y2I4NTJkYWM0YTVlY2Y3&searchdef=surname%3DCoates%26type%3DBirths%26eq%3D4%26db%3Dbmd_1595843552%26sq%3D1%26end%3D1901%26start%3D1890%26given%3DKathleen%2520M&action=Find

http://millroadcemetery.org.uk/coates-aileen-montgomery/

http://mrcweb.org.uk/mrc2015/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Kathleen-Wallace-War-Poems.pdf https://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/queens-during-the-great-war

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Kathleen-Montgomery/s?rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3AKathleen+Montgomery

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBOR%2FGOVPROBATE%2F1958%2FW008902-WALLACE-1958&parentid=GBOR%2FGOVPROBATE%2FC%2F1958-1958%2F00224269

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBOR%2FGOVPROBATE%2F1954%2FW006873-WALLACE-1954&parentid=GBOR%2FGOVPROBATE%2FC%2F1954-1954%2F00199459

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBOR%2FLONDON-GAZETTE%2F1918%2F2_229&parentid=GBOR%2FLON-GAZ-IX%2F0585747

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBM%2FDR%2FVOL2%2F0072&parentid=GBM%2FDR%2F8300

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBM%2FCWGC%2FROLLOFHONOUR%2F000188527

https://behindtheirlines.blogspot.com/2019/05/unreturning.html