Ada's Garden and the Ada Salter statue: Celebration of the pioneering work of Ada Salter

Ada Salter

I am currently writing a post about Alfred and Ada Salter.  Although they achieved a considerable amount independently, the Salters were  very much a partnership but here I want to look very briefly at Ada and how she has been recognized and celebrated locally in recent  years. The Salters were social activists in Bermondsey in the first half of the 20th Century, when the Rotherhithe docks were still thriving and many of the dock workers were working class people who struggled financially in often very insalubrious conditions.  Unlike Michael Caine, Jessica Mitford and Princess Margaret, whose names are often bandied around when Rotherhithe is mentioned in connection with famous residents, Alfred and Ada Salter actually contributed to Rotherhithe and its people.  They helped its residents to combat the effects of poverty by both working to improve conditions on the ground, and helping to innovate social care in British politics.

Alfred Salter is probably the best known of the duo, but recently there has been much more recognition for the work of Ada Salter in her own right.  Salter Road, which connects Lower Road to Rotherhithe Street and Redriff Road, was named for them when it was constructed in the mid 1980s, a Rotherhithe primary school was named after Alfred Salter, and a foot bridge in Southwark Park was also named for him.  A trio of statues by the Angel public house on the Thames Path included Alfred, Joyce and the family's pet cat, but excluded Ada.

Ada's Garden naming ceremony.
Photograph by Steve Cornish

Recently, however, an awareness of Ada's contributions has emerged.  The statues of Alfred, Joyce and the cat, which were stolen several years ago, were replaced after a massive fund-raising campaign, and Ada was a very welcome addition to the group.  A new book has recently been published:   "Ada Salter: Pioneer of Ethical Socialism" by Graham Taylor, which recognizes her importance in early 20th century political and social reform.  And only this month, an undisturbed wildlife zone full of mature trees that sits between houses on Lower Road and the Tesco car park was given an official name:  Ada's Garden. The sign replaces one that was removed over a year ago by British Land, the developer of the shopping centre, which had explained how the wildlife area helped “support and safeguard the diversity of plant and animal life.”   Ada was an early environmentalist, a  follower of Ruskin and believed strongly in the value of nature to people and the importance of urban gardens.  She would have been delighted to be associated with this small corner of greenery that is sandwiched between buildings, roads and a railway.  It epitomizes her ideas of nature and urban life being more integrated for the benefit of all, completely consistent with the programme of beautification that she introduced when she became Mayor of Bermondsey in 1920, planting over 7000 trees throughout the borough, many in her newly established playgrounds.  Ada's Garden, home to a wide variety of insect and bird life, including dunnocks, blue tits, wrens, robins, wood pigeons and blackbirds, is a tiny oasis for wildlife on the edge of the urban chaos of the busy shopping centre.

Statue of Ada Salter, next to the
Angel public house.

Ada Brown (1866 - 1942) was born to a well-to-do family in Raunds in Northamptonshire. Her parents were Wesleyan Methodists, so she was brought up with principles of serving and only seeking leadership roles in order to serve the greater good.  Importantly, they also believed in free will and the ability to influence the future, requiring profound moral integrity in order to influence that future.  In 1896 Ada left Raunds with the intention of doing social work in London, joining the West London Mission to work with people of the slums of Soho and St Pancras.  Her main achievement was to establish social clubs for impoverished girls in those areas, places.  A year later she moved to Bermondsey to work at the Bermondsey Settlement.   The Bermondsey Settlement was run by a well known Methodist minister and Liberal politician, the Reverend John Scott Lidgett.  The Bermondsey Settlement location acted as a base for dedicated Methodists in  a very deprived area. They and other like-minded philanthropists created various societies and medical missions in the area, and Ada continued to establish the social clubs that had been so successful in north London.   Ada met Alfred Salter in Bermondsey.

Ada planting a tree in a newly
established playground

Alfred Salter (1873 - 1945)  was born in South Street, Greenwich.  Although he himself grew up to be agnostic his parents belonged to the Plymouth Brethren, so from early childhood Alfred was surrounded with ideals of charitable activities and the support of the poor.  Like Ada, his childhood experiences had a lot to do with his later directions and achievements.  Although he began his career in medical research, he began to work in Bermondsey to provide medical expertise to the impoverished.  Epidemic diseases were very poorly understood at the time, and were rife.  In the days before the NHS here was no state operated free medical support it fell to philanthropists and social reformers to attempt to provide support for those who were most vulnerable to disease and least capable of coping.  Conditions in Bermondsey were particularly bad. 

It was at the Bermondsey Settlement that Ada and Alfred met. Although up until meeting Ada, Alfred had had no particular religious affiliation, in 1900 he became a Quaker, and he and Ada were married in the same year.  In 1902 their only child Joyce was born.  Adhering to Quaker principles, they decided to live in the areas in which they worked on behalf of the poor, and when Joyce became old enough she attended the local school on Keeting Road.

It soon became evident to the Salters that their own work would only touch the tip of the iceberg, and that to really help the poor political change would be necessary.  Alfred joined the Liberal Party in 1903 and was elected to Bermondsey Borough Council in 1906.   Two years later he became a member of the London County Council. In 1907 women won the right to stand in elections, and Ada was elected as the first female Councillor in Bermondsey.  She and Alfred were founders of the first branch of the young Independent Labour Party (ILP) in Bermondsey. In 1906 she co-founded the  Women's Labour League with Margaret MacDonald.  In 1909 Ada stood as their sole candidate in the elections for the borough council.  She was successful and became the first woman elected to a borough council in London.   In 1911 the whole working population of Bermondsey went on strike for better employment conditions.  Ada organized free meals for the women and children.  She did this again in the General Strike of 1926.  A Quaker and a pacifist, she was deeply disturbed by the First World War and campaigned extensively for peace, establishing the Wonen's International League for Peace and Freedom.  Ada became London’s first female Lord Mayor in 1920 but refused to wear the robes and chain of office, the symbols of status and power that were irrelevant to her work and contrary to hear beliefs. 

Ada Salter

The Salters experienced the impacts of poverty and disease personally.  Their only child Joyce died from scarlet in 1910.  Living in the heart of Bermondsey, the Salters were as vulnerable to disease as the people whom they were there to help. 

This brief summary misses out many important details about Ada's life, but the full post about both of the Salters will expand upon this small introduction to a remarkable person, environmentalist, social reformer and political activist.  It is wonderful to see her being recognized by history and by local residents.  I wonder what she would have thought about Southwark Councillor Mark Williams and his idea of "regeneration" as the replacement of playgrounds and mature nature areas with the sterile blocks and towering monoliths of the Canada Water Masterplan. Ada's Garden, for example, is under imminent threat from the Council who want to eliminate it to put a leisure centre where the wildlife area is located, in spite of 46 acres of land already ear-marked for development where it could easily be incorporated.

The Peter Hills Charity School statues now restored

It was great to have the opportunity to have a look at the Peter Hills Charity School statues now that they are fully restored before they go back up on the building. 

70 St Marychurch Street, the former Peter Hills School in Rotherhithe village is one of the few 18th Century buildings left standing in Rotherhithe.  Now converted for use as offices, it was established in 1742 as a charity school, having moved here from another building in the immediate area.  The school itself was established in 1614 and was founded by benefactors Peter Hills and Robert Bell.  Peter Hills was a seafarer, Master Mariner and Brother of Trinity House.  When he died in 1614, he left a sum of money to enable the establishment and ongoing maintenance of a school.

The two statues, showing a boy and a girl representing students at the school, have long been favourites in the Rotherhithe community and are always a key destination on guided tours of the area.  In the last few years they have become very run down, with paint peeling, giving them a very sorry appearance so it was great news that arrangements were being made to have them restored.  Thanks to Deputy Mayor Kath Wittham for securing the grant to enable this to go ahead.  It was such a good idea, too, to make the statues available at London Bubble for visitors to see them at first hand before and after the restoration work.

The statues before restoration, on display at the London Bubble
Copyright WORG, with my sincere thanks.

I was not able to attend the day when the statues were available in their pre-restored state so HUGE thanks to the lovely Secretary of the What's On In Rotherhithe Group (WORG) for permitting me to use one of the photographs that she took on the day.  The "after" shots are mine from earlier today.

The restoration was carried out by Hall Conservation, who are based near the Thames Barrier and have worked on some very impressive projects (see their website at www.hallconservation.com).

As Astrid Hall from Hall Conservation explained, as part of the restoration work they carried out an analysis of the previous treatment of the statues and cleared all the top layers down to the original surface so that they could determine the original colour scheme and replicate it.  The microscopic analysis of the paint shows that there were 26 layers of paint in total.  Astrid showed me on a photograph of the boy statue before its restoration, and the build up of the layers had smoothed out the surface, completely disguising the features of the face.  Now that the statues have been restored, the features are wonderfully clear.  They also found that each of the statues was made out of a single piece of limestone.

The paintwork has been restored to its original colours.  They are very bright and full of life.  At first glance it seems almost too bright, but that's only because they are right there in front of you.  When they are up on their plinths on the facade of the charity school they will far less dramatic and of course they will weather slightly.  I think that they look splendid, and I look forward to seeing them when they are returned to their original position on Tuesday 22nd March.

At the moment that building is looking very down in the mouth with its windows boarded up thanks to vandalism and theft, but that too is being worked on.  As a grade 2 listed building, planning permission is more difficult to obtain but the plan is that Hall Conservation will make a sympathetic grille that will protect the windows and offer it the security that it needs.
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The statues before they were removed from
70 Marychurch Street. Photo by Chris Lordan.

London i-Tree Eco Project, April 2014

Sent to me for redistribution to anyone interested.  I do wish that not everything had an i- in front of it these days, but it looks like a very good project.

Peter Hills School

At number 70 St Marychurch Street, the former Peter Hills School in Rotherhithe village is one of the few 18th Century buildings left standing in Rotherhithe, and is therefore of particular importance to the area's heritage.  Now converted for use as offices, it was established in 1742 as a charity school, having moved here from nearby.  The school itself was established in 1614.

The school was founded by its benefactors Peter Hills and Robert Bell.  Peter Hills, a seafarer, Master Mariner and Brother of Trinity House.  When he died in 1614, he left a sum of money to enable the establishment and ongoing maintenance of a school.  Robert Bell is a more mysterious figure, although he was a friend of the St Mary's Rector, Thomas Gataker, who was undoubtedly a supporter of the project.  

The school was established initially to supply education for 8 sons of impoverished seamen.  Reverend Beck, writing in 1907, describes it as follows: "The schoolmaster had a house of residence and a small yearly endowment that he might in it teach eight boys, sons of Mariners of Redriff.  The sum left by Peter Hills was small, Six pounds per annum, secured as a Rent-charge upon Messuages belonging to him.  One moiety of this sum was to be paid to the Schoolmaster, the other moiety to the Churchwardens for the Poor."  The arrangement continued for a remarkable 280 years until 1900 when the parish and the school were incorporated into the Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey, who refused to continue with the arrangement.  The school was located in a building at the east end of the church.  In its first incarnation it was known as the Free School.

In the early 1700s the initial investment in the school was no longer sufficient and additional funds were raised which allowed the school to be hugely expanded, providing education for 65 boys and 50 girls.  An amicable fund set up in 1739 supplied funding to provide for an additional 12 boys.  In 1742 it became known as the Charity School. 

A board survives in St Mary's Rotherhithe that records those who donated money to the school to keep it running when finances ran low, and this way of funding the church was maintained until the early 20th Century.

Following the demolition of the building in 1795 a house was purchased by the vestry from one Richard Vidlar to replace it. This is the building shown on this page, and dates to the early 1700s.  The newly housed school opened in 1797.  The two lovely figures of the schoolchildren that decorate the first floor are made of Portland Stone.  Thankfully, the building is Grade II listed, and been since 1949.  It is described as follows by English Heritage as follows:

The statues were added to the building when the school
was established here in 1797. 
Photograph by Chris Lordan

House, later a school, now an office. c1700. Red brick with stone dressings, parapet with stone coping. 3 storeys and 3 bays. Front with stone quoins and plinth has 6-panel door with decorative fanlight to right, set into timber doorcase with panelled reveals, sunk panelled pilaster jambs supporting entablature with cornice, projecting door-hood long since removed. 1st-floor centre window has stone plaque beneath flanked by scroll corbels supporting figures of boy and girl in period costume of c1700. Ground-floor windows have brick aprons, others brick panels below. Flat, gauged-brick arches to ground- and 1st-floor windows; cambered, gauged-brick arches with keystones to 2nd-floor windows. All are sash windows with glazing bars in flush frames. Blank, brown brick return to right. Rear elevation rebuilt. INTERIOR: retains original panelling and staircase with barleysugar balusters and carved brackets. The plaque indicates that the free school founded in 1613 and instituted in 1742 moved here in 1797.

In 1836 the girls moved out of the building and were educated instead at the new St Mary's School in Lower Road.  An extension of the Peter Hills building in the property's garden enabled up to 150 boys to be educated there by the late 1800s.  By 1901, the Reverend Beck was able to write that "this admirable institution survives to the present day, being incorporated with later foundations of a like character, and it is now a flourishing school of 200 boys doing a most valuable work for the rising generation of our parish."

As other schools became established in the 19th century, many affiliated with local churches, the Peter Hills school became amalgamated into the larger network of education in Rotherhithe.

Apparently the building was used by the fire service in the Second World War.  It became part of St Mary's Rectory in the 1970s and was later converted for use as offices.  The Peter Hills name lives on in local education in the form of the modern Peter Hills with St Mary's and St Paul's C of E Primary School, which can be found at 2 Beatson Walk.  

Peter Hills died on 26th February 1614, a century before the new St Mary's was built in 1714-15.  Fortunately, some of the memorials were taken from the old church and installed in the new one, and the Reverend Beck, writing in 1907, tells how the three portions of a monumental brass dedicated to Peter Hills and embedded into the floor of the old church were taken into the new church and, because they were so badly eroded, were mounted on wood and hung on the wall.  The brass includes a portrait of Peter Hills and both wives and the inscription reads:

Here lies buried the body of Peter Hill, Mariner, one of the eldest Brothers and Assistants of the Company of the Trinity, and his two wives; who while hee lived in this place, gave liberally to the poore, and spent bountifully in his house;  and after many great troubles, being of the age of 80 yeeres and upward departed this life without issue, upon the 26 February, 1614.  

This was made at the charge of Robert Bell.

Though Hills be dead,
Hills' Will and Act survives
His Free-Schoole, and
his Pension for the Poore;
Thought on by him,
Performed by his Heire,
For eight poore Sea-mens
Children, and no more

Photographs of the Peter Hills brass and the subscription board mentioned above can be see on the St Mary's Rotherhithe website at http://www.stmaryrotherhithe.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=4.