SUFFRAGETTE, ROSE LAMARTINE YATES – Dorset House, Wimbledon

In 1909, Rose Lamartine Yates joined the committee of the Wimbledon branch of the Women's Social & Political Union (WSPU), becoming its treasurer and organising secretary in 1910. The Wimbledon Branch of the WSPU was renowned for their militant suffrage campaigns. Yates took the step of maintaining her right of free speech on Wimbledon Common after the Home Secretary attempted to prevent public meetings being held in open spaces by drafting in 300 policemen. The start of the First World War saw the Wimbledon branch converting its offices into Distress Kitchens of which Rose was Treasurer. This was followed by the opening of another soup kitchen in Merton. After the fragmentation of the WSPU, Yates became a committee member of a new organisation 'Suffragettes of the WSPU'. Yates was responsible, together with Una Dugdale Duval, for establishing the Suffragette Record Room that opened in 1939.