Alfred Salter
Alfred Salter (16 June 1873 – 24 August 1945)
Early life
Salter was born in
In 1898 he became a resident at the
In the year of his marriage he established his medical practice in Bermondsey, and the couple worked together in trying to alleviate the effects of poverty in the largely working class area.[4] He chose to offer services free to those who could not pay.[5] This work was to lead the establishment of a pioneering comprehensive health service in the area. (See the background to the formation of the NHS.)
Politics
Salter decided that by entering politics he could effect changes to the squalid environment in
In October 1909 George Cooper MP died. Cooper had been elected as a Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP), and although Salter had succeeded him on the county council, he had since become aligned with the Independent Labour Party (ILP). On 8 October, Alfred Salter was officially announced as the party's candidate at the by-election.[6] The poll was held on 28 October, and Salter received 1,435 votes, finishing third of the three candidates. Crucially, his intervention probably led to the loss of the seat by the Liberals, with the Conservative candidate John Dumphreys securing a majority of 987 votes.[8]
In March 1910 the triennial election of the London County Council was held. Salter was chosen to defend the Bermondsey seat as a Labour candidate against both the Progressives and the Conservative-backed Municipal Reform Party.[9] He was heavily defeated, coming at the bottom of the poll of five candidates.[10] He contested the same seat in 1913, but was again unsuccessful.[11]
All elections were postponed for the duration of the
"Dr Salter, the Labour candidate, is one of the highly educated idealists who are to be found in the ranks of that party. After a brilliant academic career, he decided to devote himself to work among the poor in Bermondsey, and there he has laboured for many years both as a doctor professionally and as a member of local administrative bodies. Personally, nobody has a word to say against him, but his views are of a very extreme kind. His attitude during the war was that of a pacifist, though he would not, it is said, admit the accuracy of this popular term."[12]
The new constituency was won by the Liberal candidate Harold Glanville, who had been the sitting MP for Bermondsey.
In 1919 municipal elections resumed. In March both Alfred and his wife Ada were Labour Party candidates in the London County Council elections, standing in the neighbouring electoral divisions of Bermondsey West and Rotherhithe. Neither was elected.[13] In November Ada was elected to Bermondsey Borough Council. She held the seat in 1922, and in the same year was elected as the first female mayor of the borough.[14]
Member of Parliament
In the
Personal beliefs
According to Fenner Brockway, the anti-war activist, Salter in his youth was known as the "Settlement firebrand – militant
Salter was a strong supporter of the
Memorials to Alfred Salter
in 1990 a plaque to mark Dr Salter's birthplace was unveiled in Greenwich. The Alfred Salter Primary School was opened in 1995 to meet the growing demand for school places in
In 1991 a statue ensemble of Alfred and his daughter, Joyce, entitled Dr Salter's Daydream, sculpted by Diane Gorvin, was unveiled on the river-front. The statue of Alfred was stolen, presumably for the value of its bronze, in November 2011.[24] The Salter Statues Campaign group raised £60,000, which Southwark Council matched, to pay for replacement statues, including Ada this time, and these were unveiled on 30 November 2014.
A Salter Memorial Lecture is promoted by the Quaker Socialist Society each year as a
Bibliography
- Brockway, Archibald Fenner (1949). Bermondsey Story: The Life of Alfred Salter. Allen & Unwin.
- Howell, David (23 September 2004). "Salter, Alfred". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. .
- Taylor, Graham (1 January 2016). Ada Salter: Pioneer of Ethical Socialism. ISBN 978-1910448014.
- White, Jerry (3 January 2008). London in the Twentieth Century. ISBN 978-1845951269.
References
- ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Obituary". The Times. 25 August 1945. p. 6.
- ^ Kingston Times (08 Ap, 1933)
- ^ a b c "Alfred Salter: Health, welfare and socialism". Infed: the encyclopaedia of informal education. Archived from the original on 19 June 2010. Retrieved 7 November 2009.
- ^ a b c "Bermondsey History". Discover Southwark. London Borough of Southwark. Archived from the original on 20 August 2009. Retrieved 7 November 2009.
- ^ a b "Election Intelligence. Southwark (Bermondsey Division)". The Times. 9 October 1909. p. 10.
- ^ "The London County Council Election, Great Municipal Reform Victory". The Times. 4 March 1907. p. 6.
- ^ "Election Intelligence. Bermondsey, Unionist Gain". The Times. 29 October 1909. p. 8.
- ^ "The London County Council Election. List Of Labour Candidates". The Times. 16 February 1910. p. 6.
- ^ "London County Council Election. An Equality Of Parties". The Times. 7 March 1910. p. 7.
- ^ "London Elections. Victory Of Municipal Reform. An Increased Majority". The Times. 7 March 1913. p. 9.
- ^ "A Confused Situation. Local Men In West Bermondsey". The Times. 10 December 1918. p. 10.
- ^ "L.C.C. Election Results. Public Indifference, Many Labour Successes". The Times. 8 March 1919. p. 14.
- ^ "New Mayors. Four Women Chosen., Elections In London And Country". The Times. 10 November 1922. p. 7.
- ^ a b "The General Election. First Returns, Polling In The Boroughs, Liberal Gains". The Times. 7 December 1923. p. 6.
- ^ "The General Election. First Returns, Polling In The Boroughs". The Times. 30 October 1924. p. 6.
- ISBN 0-9526203-0-8. p. 14
- PMID 7643673.
- ^ ISBN 0198218826. p. 280.
- ^ Taylor, Graham: Ada Salter (2016, pp. 207-210)
- ^ alfredsalter.com
- ^ "Recent News". Russiadockwood.ukfriends.com. Archived from the original on 29 April 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
- ^ "Pioneering reformer is remembered at Bermondsey". The Tube. 13 December 2002. Archived from the original on 20 June 2003. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
- ^ "Plea issued for safe return of Salter statue – Southwark Council". Southwark.gov.uk. 2 December 2011. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
- ^ "News Release – Quakers consider human rights, earth and economics". Quakers in Britain. Archived from the original on 23 December 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2012.