Alfred Salter

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Dr Alfred Salter (1873-1945) studied medicine at Guy's Hospital in England, and on qualifying, set up a medical practice at the Methodist Bermondsey Settlement which had been established Rev. John Scott Lidgett.

While working at the Settlement, Alfred Salter decided that by entering politics he could effect changes to the squalid environment in Bermondsey far more quickly and profoundly than he could outside the political arena. He was elected to Bermondsey Council in 1903 and in 1922 he stood for Parliament for the Independent Labour Party and was elected Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Bermondsey West. In 1910 his wife, Ada, had become the first female London Councillor and in 1922 she became Mayor of Bermondsey. Alfred Salter lost his parliamentry seat to Roderick Morris Kedward a Liberal in 1923, but won in back in 1924. He held the seat until his death, being re-elected in the general elections of 1929, 1931, and 1935.

The major source of employment in Bermondsey during the 20th century until the 1970s was the Port of London. Until the docks were nationalised after World War II, most of the men working in the docks were employed on a casual daily bases. For most of them the casual nature of the work made it difficult to make a decent living. Alfred Salter and his wife Ada, made a profound difference in the area by working to aviate the worst vestiges of poverty.

Alfred Salter was a committed Christian and pacifist (being involved with the Quakers for a number of years). During World War II despite his constituency being heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe during the Blitz, he along with fellow labour MP Richard Stokes and Bishop George Bell in the House of Lords were in a small minority in Parliament opposing the strategic bombing of the Royal Air Force Bomber Command on moral grounds. He also was a strong advocate of Guild Socialism and of associationalism.

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Southwark Park Rose Garden "was the idea of Dr. Alfred Salter MP for West Bermondsey and along with his wife a great local social reformer, who, apparently, would complain to his wife that there was no place of great beauty in Southwark Park for mothers and the elderly to sit. It wasn't until the Labour party took control of the L.C.C. in the mid 1930's and his wife, Ada, became a member of the L.C.C. beautification Committee she finally got to have the garden built."

[edit] References

exploring social action: alfred salter - health, welfare and socialism a webpage on the encyclopaedia of informal education
Bermondsey History "Alfred Salter was a doctor who got to know Bermondsey whilst a student at Guy’s. ..."