usually well researched and he characteristically spent long hours studying censuses and other government publications for the precise facts and figures that he believed should inform his opinions. Consequently, he was typically always able to back up his opinions with great quantities of evidence as well as with a clear application of logic. This earned him considerable respect, even from his political opponents. An example is the cautious and guarded homage which writer Stanley Little, a political opponent, later paid to Saul Solomon in his 1887 work on the Cape's political leadership. His progressive views on equal rights extended to gender relations (for his marriage ceremony he asked that his wife should not have to vow to "obey" him), religion (he never officially renounced his Judaism, but he abhorred sectarian attitudes and attended churches as often as synagogues) and class (he asked his employees and household servants to simply call him "Saul"). Marriage, children, and later life In 1873 he met Georgiana Margaret Thomson, the inaugural headteacher of a girls' school in Cape Colony, now known as Good Hope Seminary High School. Their views tallied on many matters, not least girls' education: he owned a first edition of Mary Wollstonecraft's polemic A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Despite his being almost twice her age, they married. The wedding, which took place on 21 March 1874 at his home, was to have had an alteration to the standard Anglican marriage vows: neither wife nor husband wished her to promise to obey him. However, the two clergymen officiating told the couple that this would render the ceremony without authority, so the words were included. One historian describes their marriage as "idyllic". The couple had six children. He lived at Clarensville House in Sea Point, Cape Town for most of his life. He and Georgiana enjoyed welcoming guests as varied as Cetewayo, King of the Zulus, and the future British Emperors, Princes Edward and George. In 1881 the eldest daughter drowned – as did the governess who tried to rescue the child.<ref>Enthusiams"" by Mark Girouard, 2011</ref> Solomon's health declined and he withdrew from public life, even handing his business over to his nephews. Saul retired from public life, and the family moved to Bedford in England in 1888, where their sons attended Bedford School. Saul died in 1892, leaving Georgiana with four children to raise. He retired from public life completely in