After the departure of ‘the Doctor’ and the end of its medical role, his foundation was renamed the Oxford and Bermondsey Mission, a telling duality stressing the mutuality of the association and the interconnectedness of those who had previously inhabited different worlds. The mission ‘was no longer Oxford's effort to save Bermondsey, but a fraternal association of Oxford men with Bermondsey men and men-to-be, which had completely overcome barriers of class and education.’ Indeed the novel idea of democratic self-governance in boys’ clubs was initiated in Bermondsey by Paterson and his co-workers. Going even further than the aspirations of Barnett and the practice of Stansfeld, Alec encouraged the members of the clubs to run their own shows, pay their own way, form their own management committees, and make and enforce their own rules. Bermondsey and Oxford were in it together. ‘Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité’ could have been their motto, but they kept to the single word that encapsulated them all, Fratres. Alec composed a prayer for the future of this reconfigured venture:

Alec, the heir to the throne, had refused the succession, abdicating in favour of Barclay Baron.