WHY DID HARRY BIRD CALL HIMSELF 'WALLACE' FROM 1914 TO 1921?
We are coming to the conclusion that he was a conscientious objector to World War One. He fled London with his young family in 1914 gradually moving along the south coast eventually settling in Torquay around 1920. He reverted back to Harry Bird in 1923.
1914 Electrical Engineer - William Wallace - Pinner
1916 Mechanical Engineer 'Munitions' - William Wallace - Brighton
1918 Electrician - William Wallace - Hambledon Hants
1919 Electrician journeyman - William Wallace - Cannington Bridgewater
1921 Conductor on Motorbus - Harry Wallace Bird -Torquay
1923 Booking Clerk Motor Garage - Harry Bird - Torquay
Perhaps because he was a Vegetarian and the family used the Reform Diet. The people who followed this regime including Gandhi and George Bernard Shaw called themselves 'Wallaceites' after Mrs C Leigh Hunt Wallace a pioneer in Food Reform. Joseph Wallace had a Reform Bakery in London near to Harry's own shop. Dorothy throughout the first World War whilst she was giving birth to Harry's children was known as Mrs Wallace
link to Family in WW1 sectionHe was also a Theosophist and their headquarters in India inspired him for the name of his first hotel in Torquay Devon
"A sprawling area of beautiful trees and shrubs in the heart of the bustling Chennai city, The Theosophical Society, in ADYAR, is a place one should not miss. Famous for its legendary Banyan tree (more than 5000 years old), underwhich JK (Jiddu Krishnamurthy) had given his world famous discourses."