Portraits at the Council

In November 1922 Ada became Mayor of Bermondsey and Alfred was elected MP. To mark this month’s anniversary, Southwark Council is displaying the portraits of the Salters in the atrium of their council offices in Tooley Street, SE1. (Text below.)

Celebrating the Salter Centenary 2022

In November 1922, Ada Salter became Mayor of Bermondsey, the first woman mayor in London, and her husband Dr Alfred Salter was elected MP.

Ada and Alfred were legendary figures here. She was a social worker, he was a brilliant doctor. Together they devoted their lives to improving conditions for ordinary people, inspiring what was called the ‘Bermondsey Revolution’.

Alfred introduced innovatory health care, with free treatment for the poorest, creating an ‘NHS before the NHS’. Ada was a ‘green before the Greens’, planting thousands of trees, installing playgrounds and building ideal homes for working families. Sadly, in the disease-ridden slums, their only child Joyce died from scarlet fever aged 8.

How visionary the Salters were – on environment, housing and public health – is evident in the face of the current climate crisis, worldwide homelessness and global pandemic.

The centenary year has inspired numerous activities in their memory: talks, walks, bike rides, concerts, art exhibitions, films, plays, planting trees and hedges, producing school lessons and children’s books, a street mural, etc.

In the autumn Southwark Park Art Gallery hosted a Salter centenary exhibition, and local artist Nigel Moyce painted these three portraits of the family, based on old photos. He has donated them to the community to help spread the Salter story and promote their values in today’s world.

The happy artist at Tooley Street!