Rose Lamartine Yates

The Suffragette Rose Lamartine Yates with her young son, Paul. Rose (1875-1954) was born in Brixton and educated at Royal Holloway. She married a solicitor that she had met through the Cyclists Touring Club and in 1908 gave birth to her son Paul. In January 1909 her husband gave Rose a letter containing the sentence 'The present I give there is not gold or silver but permission freely and gladly, to offer up thy liberty for the benefit of downtrodden women'. The same month Rose joined the newly founded Wimbledon branch of the Women's Social and Political Union. In February 1909, when Paul was 8 months old she served her only term of imprisonment for taking part in a deputation to the House of Commons. By 1910 Rose was treasurer and organising secretary of the WSPU Wimbledon branch and often chaired meetings on Wimbledon Common. Despite attempts by the Home Secretary to prevent the WSPU holding public meetings Rose maintained the right of free speech on Common but often faced hostile crowds and a large police presence. In 1911 Rose's husband Tom, a member of the Men's Political Unon for Women's Enfranchisement was arrested but not prosecuted during a demonstration. He often acted as legal advisor to the WSPU and reprsented the Davison family during the inquest into the death of Emily Wilding Davison.