Obituary: Death of St Mary's midwife and 'Hoot for Hettie' campaigner Hettie Peters

HETTIE Peters, who has died of cancer aged 74, delivered thousands of babies into the world as a midwife at St Mary’s Paddington and Marylebone’s Samaritan Hospital for Women.

She mainly worked nights and lived for many years in a large and lavishly furnished basement flat in Gloucester Place, Paddington. However, in the early 1990s she relocated to Hackney.

Ms Peters quickly became involved in community affairs in the east London borough and embarked on an eccentric political career that saw her switch allegiances from the Labour Party to the Liberal Democrats and finally the Conservatives.

Despite health problems –  diabetes and arthritis – she was a prolific activist and once hired a bus to ride through the streets during her madcap “Hoot for Hettie” campaign to become the Hackney mayor.

She stood as an independent candidate and her manifesto included the pledge: “I’ll personally ask all 16-year-olds to swear before me the national pledge upholding free speech and democracy.”

Ms Peters (pictured) was born in November 1937 on the Caribbean island of St Vincent, where her family owned a plantation.

She came to Britain to study nursing in Canterbury before moving to her Westminster flat.

She was elected to Hackney council in 1994 and became its chair of social services. 

Despite her relative distance from Westminster in later life and difficulty travelling around London, Ms Peters remained a familiar face in her favourite cafés and shops close to her old stomping ground in Paddington.

She died in University College London Hospital on June 15.

Ms Peters is survived by three siblings who live in Canada.

PUBLISHED: 08 July 2011
by JOSH LOEB