Not stated

36

Married

'Dorset Hall' 152 Kingston Road, London.

WSPU

Resists

Rose (1875 - 1954), who was born in France and raised in Clapham, was educated at the Sorbonne and Royal Holloway. She later studied law to help her husband Tom who was a solicitor. In 1907, Rose became the first woman elected to the Cyclists’ Touring Club (CTC) which had 40,000 members. She also served as the only woman on the Roads Improvement Council. In 1909, Rose joined the Wimbledon branch of the WSPU becoming its militant leader and was jailed for the first time that year, charged with obstruction for protesting outside the House of Commons. Her son, Paul, was 8 months old at the time and she referred to him during her trial. She said that if Paul ever asked her what she had done during the women’s suffrage campaign, she would be embarrassed if she had to reply that she had not attempted to take the matter to the Prime Minister. Despite her husband, Tom, representing her in the trial, Rose was sentenced and served one month’s imprisonment in Holloway. Tom was a member of the Men’s Political Union a wing of the WSPU. Rose’s home, Dorset Hall, became a hub for the Votes for Women movement. She was a great and influential speaker hosting meetings of 20,000 on the local Wimbledon Common. Rose also undertook suffrage work in Kent where she and Tom had a holiday cottage in Whitstable-cum-Seasalter. In 1911, when the government census was taken, Rose and Tom were at their Kent cottage where Rose resisted the census, refusing to give information (see image) but giving a full account of her reasons for protesting the census. In 1912, at her home Dorset Hall, Rose was suspected of hiding Christabel Pankhurst when she was on her way to Paris having fled the Police. Rose refused to allow them to search her house. Emily Wilding Davison (see entry) was a friend and frequently stayed at Rose’s home, including the day before her fatal accident at Epsom Derby in 1913. Rose’s husband Tom represented the Davison family at the inquest, but it was Rose who organised her funeral procession of 100,000 strong. After Emily's death, Rose became ill and took some time to recover, though she remained active with the WSPU until 1915 when the leadership abandoned the suffrage cause to support the War. Rose returned to politics full-time in 1918, when she became a member of the LCC (London County Council) and was instrumental in setting up the Suffragette Fellowship. She never tired of fighting for the poor and under-privileged, leaving her garden at Dorset Hall to be used in perpetuity by the people of Merton. Rose’s home ‘Dorset Hall’ still survives but is under threat. To read more please see our News and Blogs page story ‘Defend Dorset Hall’ by campaigner Barbara Gorna. Sources: Dorset Hall - The John Innes Society Documents held by The Women's Library Newspaper Reports; Jennifer Godfrey Suffragettes of Kent (Pen & Sword); Elizabeth Crawford, The Women’s Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide (London, 1999). Information contributed by Barbara Gorna (London) & Jennifer Godfrey (Kent).