| | by admin | | posted on 11th January 2023 in Quakers in 100 Objects | | views 2358 | |
Ada Salter (1866 - 1942) was a social reformer environmentalist, pacifist and Quaker who became the first female Labour mayor.
Salter was born in Northamptonshire to Methodist parents who gave her a strong sense of conviction during her childhood. As a young adult she went to the Girls' Club in Bermondsey in 1897 to help the young women of south-east London. Many of the women at the club worked in factories, and conditions were tough.
Ada was employed as a Sister of the People, run by a group of Christian Socialists in London. It was in Bermondsey that she met her future husband, Alfred (1873–1945), a medical doctor who believed in helping the poor. In 1900 they married, became members of the Society of Friends and went on to have a daughter named Joyce.
Salter became heavily involved in local politics and became president of the Women's Liberal Party in Bermondsey and Rotherhithe. In 1906 she left the Liberal Party when it failed to honour its promise to give women the vote.
She joined the Independent Labour Party and over the next 15 years expanded her campaigning for improved living standards for London's working class and for women's rights.
Salter was appointed Mayor of Bermondsey in 1922, making her the first woman mayor in London and the first Labour woman mayor in Britain. Upon being elected she chose not to wear the mayoral robes and held a Quakerly period of stillness before council meetings.
As mayor, Salter established a 'Beautification Committee' and within a short period the streets were lined with trees. Some trees were paid for by the Gas Company after Ada told them the planting would help detect gas leaks – a claim that stretched the truth.
By the 1930s she had organised the planting of 7,000 trees, including the Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima). Native to China, the species was chosen for its ability to thrive in difficult urban environments.
Buildings gained window boxes and open spaces were filled with flowers. Across the borough Salter organised music concerts, art competitions, games, sports and children's playgrounds.
In 1934, when Labour took council control of London, Salter was able to spread her green socialist ideals beyond Bermondsey and across the capital. The Green Belt she championed was secured by law in 1938.
With World War II beginning in 1939, Salter was devastated by a return to global violence, as she had been during the First World War (1914–1918).
During the First World War Salter campaigned for peace and was a founding member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She also worked with Alfred for the No Conscription Fellowship. During the Second World War the Salters were bombed out of their home on Storks Road after refusing to leave Bermondsey.
Ada died aged 76 in 1942, cared for by her sisters. She had a Quaker funeral and a memorial service at her parish church. The Friends' Quarterly Examiner wrote, “socialism in action; that is what she was”.
A garden overlooking a lake, designed and supervised by Ada herself, opened in Southwark Park in 1936. Locals soon called it the 'Ada Salter Garden' and in 1943 the name was formally recognised.
An annual lecture in honour of both Ada and Alfred is given by the Quaker Socialist Society, successor to the Socialist Quaker Society to which the couple belonged.
The Salter statues are a local attraction in Rotherhithe. Initially there was only a bronze statue of Alfred, erected in 1991, but after it was stolen by metal thieves in November 2011 a campaign succeeded in erecting statues to Ada and Alfred, as well as their daughter Joyce and the family cat.
Ada's statue is only the fifteenth public statue in London dedicated to a woman.
In March 2023, Dame Judy Dench unveiled a blue plaque at 149 Lower Road in Rotherhithe, where the Salters lived during Ada's pivotal years.
Lincoln Festival of History
(May Bank Holiday)
Local History Festival
(throughout May)
Heritage Open Days
(June–September)