Page 84 - WHO'S WHO OF DUDLEY ROTARY

261 James Henry FUSSELL (1903-1970) (Elected 4.4.1944; resigned 14.5.1946.) Director of Education
for Tipton from April 1943 until November 1944 when he became Chief
Education Officer for Dudley. From July 1948 took a similar position at
Newport, Monmouthshire. His final move was in 1964 to Surbiton, Surrey.
He originally came from Dursley, Gloucestershire and attended Bristol
University where he gained a BSc in Mathematics and Physics and Diploma
in Education. However he was an accomplished musician so his first jobs
were as Music Master at South Bristol Central School (1924-30) and at
nearby Kingswood Grammar School (1931-37). While at Kingswood he was
awarded an MA in Education (1936). He then became headmaster of Ealing
Modern School, 1937-1942, followed by 18 months as Deputy Director of Education for Finchley
before coming to Tipton as Director. For over 20 years he was organist and choirmaster at
churches in Gloucestershire, Bristol and Ealing, and in 1934 was made a Fellow of the Royal
College of Organists.

262 Gilbert SALTER MBE, Major (1891-1959) (Inducted 15.5.1944; District Vocational Service
Committee chairman in 1948; Club President 1949-50; died 26.1.1959
whilst still a member. Previously a member of Bilston Rotary Club from
1934 or earlier.) Air Conditioning Equipment - Manufacturing. Managing
Director of Thos E Salter Ltd of Bloomfield Foundry, Bloomfield Road,
Tipton, manufacturers of heating and ventilating equipment. The firm was
founded by his father and made large gas or solid-fuel fired air heaters for
factories and small gas-fired domestic units. In the 1950s he was chairman
of several other companies including Bloomfield Steel Construction Co. of
Tipton, William Allday & Co. of Stourport, and The Utile Engineering Co. of
Irthlingborough, Northants.
He was brought up in Tipton only 100 yards from the Salter works, attended Tipton Green
Boys School (having won a County scholarship of £8.00) followed by King Edward Grammar
School, Birmingham. He then gained three years’ industrial experience with the Electrical
Construction Company of Wolverhampton before joining his father’s business. Three times in
the First World War he was rejected for miltary service because of a maimed foot but during the
last War he was Second in Command of Dudley Home Guard (3rd Worcestershire Batallion) with
the rank of Major (Acting Lieutenant Colonel), for which service he was awarded the MBE.
He followed his father as a keen Liberal and stood unsuccessfully as Liberal candidate for
Bilston in the 1929 General Election but soon afterwards switched to support the Conservatives.
He was a prominent and influential member of the employers’ association the National Union
of Manufacturers, forerunner of the Confederation of British Industries: he was Dudley and
District chairman from 1953, Midland Area chairman from 1956, and a member of the national
executive.

263 Joseph ALEXANDER (1914-2001) (Inducted 31.7.1944; resigned 16.1.1956 following his transfer
to Birmingham. He was a member of Redhill Rotary Club before Dudley and is believed to have
joined the Rotary Club of Birmingham on leaving.) Motion Picture Theatres. Manager of the
Odeon Cinema, Castle Hill, Dudley from 1942 (in succession to Charles Crathorn, Club member
#206). He left Dudley in 1955 to become manager of the Gaumont Cinema, Colmore Circus in
Birmingham city centre. He was born in Dudley of Jewish parents, attended Stourbridge
Grammar School and Birmingham University before becoming a dental student, following in the
footsteps of his dentist father. He soon gave that up for a career with Odeon Cinemas, first as
Assistant Manager at Wimbledon and then in turn Manager at Wallington, Isleworth and Redhill
before coming to Dudley in April 1944. In his younger days he was a keen sportsman, playing
rugby and cricket for the university, a good boxer and ‘splendid billiards player’.