William Thomas Ewart Wallace was born on 29 June 1867, and educated at St George's Cathedral College, Cape Town. He joined the British South African Company in 1889, and served in various military units. He was Captain in the 4th 'The King's' (Liverpool) Regiment in South Africa, 1899-1902, and Superintendent of an R.E. Telegraph Construction Party in Southern Nigeria, 1903-1905. He was seconded as Assistant Postmaster-General in Uganda in 1912. Wallace was transferred to the Gold Coast as Deputy Postmaster-General the following year, a post he held until his retirement through ill health in 1928. During the First World War he served in Togoland and in the Ministry of Munitions in London, 1916-1917. Later he lived in South Africa. He was a Fellow of the R.C.I., 1910-1932.