(1866-1942)
Leaving behind a comfortable life, Ada headed to London to work in the city slums as a Methodist ‘Sister of the People’. She married Alfred Salter in 1900 and both became Quakers, labouring in dire conditions to bring food supplies to hungry families, improve living standards and protect workers’ rights. Ada was the first woman councillor in Bermondsey in 1909 and went on to be elected as president of the Women’s Labour League in 1914.
In 1922, the same year that Alfred became MP, Ada became the first woman mayor in London. Both worked tirelessly to bring safer, cleaner health practices to the district. This included Ada’s vision of green spaces for people to improve health and wellbeing in the heart of some of the most polluted areas of the city.
The three statues, entitled, ‘Doctor Salter’s Daydream’ captures a happy moment for the family: Ada, Alfred and their daughter Joyce. Tragically, their only child caught scarlet fever at the age of 8, a disease that spread around the slums where her parents fought so hard to improve people’s lives.
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