Craighead’s first principal in its diocesan era
1892–1930
Mathematics teacher, school principal
Anglican education leader
A sundial and the remembered name of Salmond House once connected generations of Craighead pupils with a principal who spent less than four years in Timaru.
Violet Monica Salmond was born in London in 1892. She graduated from the University of London and gained a teaching diploma from Bedford Training College. Her early career included teaching at a boys’ school in Ireland during the First World War and later work at the Church of England College in Edgbaston, Birmingham, where she was a senior mathematics teacher.
Craighead had been established by the Shand sisters in 1911. When it entered a new period of diocesan governance, Violet was appointed principal in November 1926 and arrived in New Zealand early in 1927. She was therefore the first principal appointed for Craighead’s diocesan era, rather than the founder or first head of the school itself.
Contemporary accounts describe her as an able administrator and an accomplished sportswoman, with experience in hockey and tennis. She also contributed to Anglican life beyond the classroom, offering to supervise St John’s Sunday School and ensuring Craighead pupils participated regularly in worship at St Mary’s. These reports were written in tribute after her death, so their praise should be read as commemoration, but they provide specific evidence of activities she undertook.
On 28 August 1930, Violet entered St George’s Hospital in Christchurch for a tonsil operation. Cocaine intended for topical use was mistakenly injected instead of a different local anaesthetic. She died later that day, aged 37. The inquest was reopened amid public concern, and the coroner recommended that surgeons personally fill or supervise syringes containing potentially lethal drugs.
Her funeral at St Mary’s in Timaru was attended by pupils, former pupils and members of the community. The size of the gathering does not tell us exactly how she changed the school, but it shows that her short period of leadership had become meaningful to those around her.
Violet’s story should not be remembered only because a medical error ended it. She brought professional training, mathematics teaching, sport, church service and international experience into a South Canterbury girls’ school at an important point in its development.
Read the existing WuHoo story: Craighead’s First Diocesan Principal: The Life and Loss of Violet Salmond
Sources
Dominion, 1 September 1930: Obituary of Violet Monica Salmond
Supports her London university education, teaching diploma, Edgbaston appointment, sporting background and arrival in New Zealand.
Star, 1 September 1930: Funeral and memorial service
Records the funeral, church work and contemporary assessments of her leadership.
Otago Daily Times, 13 September 1930: Reopened inquest
Provides contemporary evidence about the reopened investigation into the medical error.