Salome Anne Thornton was born in July 1874 in Paddington London to parents William Thornton and his wife Mary Ann. William was a Leicestershire man but Mary Ann was from Whitley, Warwickshire. When Salome was baptised on 13 September in Paddington, her father's occupation was given as a post office clerk. In 1881 Salome was living with her parents in Hanwell Middlesex, her father now being described as a travelling salesman in the census. By 1901, however, he was the workhouse master of a very large workhouse called The Bartons, in Fordingbridge, Hampshire; his wife and daughter were his assistants. By the 1911 census the family had returned to William's Leicestershire roots and lived in Evington Road Leicester. William was now retired as workhouse master, and neither Salome nor her mother had a job description.
Never married, Salome passed away aged 63 on 15 November 1937 while living at Rose Cottage in Stoneleigh. One of the executors of her will was William Wells, the retired schoolmaster. She had played a huge role in the life of the parish, and particularly of the church, and "supported the funds of almost every organisation in the village" according to the vicar, speaking at her funeral.