Frank Saldo

Frank Saldo (10 July 1882 – 1 June 1939) (born as Frank Harold Woollaston) was an early bodybuilder, and with his brothers Monte Saldo and Edwin Woollaston was a member of the strongman act The Montague Brothers in the early twentieth century.

Early years Born in Holloway in London, the son of George Frederick Woollaston (1828–1896), a shoe manufacturer, Methodist preacher and faith healer, and Adelaide Mary (née Green) (1849–1923), like his older brother Monte, Frank Saldo developed an interest in Physical Culture at a young age and with his brother travelled in the stage act of Eugen Sandow in the late 1890s.

The Entr'acte said of this routine, "An absolutely original athletic act is given by the Montague Brothers. Their performance is entitled 'The Sculptor's Dream' and provides the most original setting we have ever seen, being athletic and at the same time effective when it comes to feats of strength pure and simple. Their work is simply amazing."

Later years Frank Saldo left the act to concentrate on writing lyrics, going on to work successfully with the pianist Courtlandt Palmer, among others. Saldo wrote the lyrics for a song for Dame Nellie Melba before moving to the United States for a period where he had a successful career as a lyricist. He wrote the lyrics for the musical Victoria Amoris, which was performed in New York. Later he also travelled extensively in Europe.

During the First World War Saldo served in the Royal Army Medical Corps and was based at Frensham Hill Military Hospital. He was not sent to the front owing to health reasons caused by gastric problems. Leaving the army in 1919 with the rank of Sergeant, from 1920 until his death in 1939 Saldo was employed as a lecturer in physical training at Goldsmiths College, part of the University of London. Here he was President of the Homers and Diggers Society, and was Treasurer of the college's Dramatic Society. In 1922 he was awarded a qualification in hygiene and won a travelling scholarship to Scandinavia where he visited physical training institutes and schools. At about this time he became a Member of the Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene.

He married Gertrude Ethel (née Timmins) (1885–1965) in 1914. Their daughter Marion Ethel Francis Palmer (née Woollaston) (1916–2006) became a medical doctor and married a Member of Parliament.

Frank Saldo died in the Middlesex Hospital in June 1939 aged 57 following a stroke.