Beatrice Maude Drapper d.1961
Beatrice Drapper was the first woman Mayor of Deptford, and devoted her life to public service in the Borough. She was born in Deptford, and was a swimming and gym instructor before her marriage. From 1902 onwards she was a school manager, and in 1906 she became a member of the Greenwich Board of Guardians, on which she served for many years, three of them as Chair. In 1912 she organised a relief fund for women and children during the dock strike, using the money raised to serve 1,000 meals every day at Deptford Central Hall.
Mrs Drapper was elected to Deptford Borough Council as a Labour Councillor in 1919, and she later chaired the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee for five years, and the Public Health Committee for four years. On 9 November 1927 she was elected Mayor of the Borough, her election being opposed by only one Councillor, who said that he did not want to serve under a woman. His opposition met with no support among the other Councillors. Mrs Drapper was also on the National Food Council and had been a J.P. for Blackheath since 1921. She and her husband, who was also a Deptford Councillor, retired from the Council in 1937. She continued in public life, however, and in 1945 was appointed Chair of Chelsea Juvenile Court. At the time of her election as Mayor she was living at 7 Evelyn Street, but in later life she moved to Bromley.
Beatrice Drapper was an enthusiastic, hard-working woman who from childhood had wanted to help people in Deptford, her own local community. A colleague described her as “a wonderful woman — just an example of what a public woman should be.” She was in her eighties when she died in 1961.