Rose Emma Lamartine Yates ( Janau; 23 February 1875 – 5 November 1954) was an English social campaigner and suffragette. She was educated at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. Together with her lawyer husband she worked for female suffrage from 1908 and during the First World War, and was willing to suffer arrest and incarceration for her beliefs. She travelled widely, giving lectures. She and her husband were also leading members of the

Cyclists' Touring Club Cycling UK is a trading name of the Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC), which is a charitable membership organisation supporting cyclists and promoting bicycle use. Cycling UK is registered at Companies House as "Cyclists’ Touring Club", and is co ...

. After the war she was elected to the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

, where she campaigned for equal pay for men and women, better public housing, and the provision of nursery education. She later led the building of an archive of the suffrage campaign.

Life and career

Yates was born in Dalyell Road, Lambeth, London, to a language teacher, Elphège Janau (b. 1847), and his wife, Marie Pauline (1841–1909), both French-born and naturalised British citizens. She was the youngest of their three children. She was educated at high schools in

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history ...

and

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, and later at Kassel and the

, Paris,Crawford, pp. 763–764 and then, from 1896, at

Royal Holloway College Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

where she studied modern languages and

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

. She passed the

final honours examination in 1899.Cameron, Gail
"Yates , Rose Emma Lamartine (1875–1954)"
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University press, retrieved 14 May 2015 In 1900, she married a widower, Thomas Lamartine Yates ( Swindlehurst; 1849–1929). He was a solicitor, with a successful practice in

Court of Chancery The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equ ...

. Eight years after the marriage their only child, Paul (1908–2009), was born; he became an agricultural economist. Both Thomas and Rose Lamartine Yates were keen cyclists, and were leading members of the

. In 1907 she was the first woman elected to the governing council of the club. She did not at that point consider herself a suffragette, but soon concluded "on looking into the matter seriously I find I have never been anything else ndI came to realise that I was and must remain one at whatever personal cost". She joined the recently-founded Wimbledon branch of the

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership an ...

(WSPU) in 1908. Punch-verse-rose-lamartine-yates

On 24 February 1909, Rose Lamartine Yates was a member of a deputation led by

Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Baroness Pethick-Lawrence (; 21 October 1867 – 11 March 1954) was a British women's rights activist and suffragette. Early life Pethick-Lawrence was born in Bristol as Emmeline Pethick. Her father, Henry Pethick, ...

from Caxton Hall to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

. She was arrested, along with 28 other demonstrators, charged with obstruction and sentenced to a month's imprisonment. Her son was eight months old at the time, and ''

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'' printed a set of verses criticising her for abandoning him. Her political activism had the full support of her husband, who defended her at the trial. In 1910, she became honorary secretary of the Wimbledon WSPU; under her leadership it became one of the most flourishing branches of the organisation. Among those who came to address the branch were

Mary Gawthorpe Mary Eleanor Gawthorpe (12 January 1881 – 12 March 1973) was an English suffragette, socialist, trade unionist and editor. She was described by Rebecca West as "a merry militant saint". Life Gawthorpe was born in Woodhouse, Leeds to John Ga ...

George Lansbury George Lansbury (22 February 1859 – 7 May 1940) was a British politician and social reformer who led the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935. Apart from a brief period of ministerial office during the Labour government of 1929–31, he spe ...

and an old college friend,

Emily Davison Emily Wilding Davison (11 October 1872 – 8 June 1913) was an English suffragette who fought for votes for women in Britain in the early twentieth century. A member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and a militant figh ...

. She travelled widely, giving lectures. She and her husband made their house in Merton a refuge where activists released from prison could recuperate. In 1911, Thomas Lamartine Yates was arrested during a demonstration against the government for blocking a

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

to allow limited female suffrage. He was not charged, but the publicity damaged his law firm for a time. He made himself available as legal adviser to WSPU prisoners, and, in June 1913, he represented the Davison family at the inquest into Emily Davison's death after throwing herself under the king's horse at the

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

. Together with

Mary Leigh Mary Leigh (née Brown; 1885–1978) was an English political activist and suffragette. Life Leigh was born as Mary or Marie Brown in 1885. She was born in Manchester and was a schoolteacher until her marriage to a builder, surnamed Leigh. She j ...

, Rose was at the dying Davison's bedside, and headed a guard of honour for the funeral procession. At the beginning of the First World War the Wimbledon WSPU converted its meeting room and shop into a soup kitchen and opened another in nearby Merton. The war precipitated a split between Lamartine Yates and the leading suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst. Under the latter's leadership the WSPU suspended its militant campaign for female suffrage, instead backing the government in the fight against Germany. Lamartine Yates and others disagreed with this policy, and broke away to form a new body, the Suffragettes of the WSPU. In the general election of 1918, in which for the first time, limited female suffrage was granted, Lamartine Yates was adopted as

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

candidate for the Wimbledon constituency, but both she and the

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candidate withdrew shortly before polling. The following year she was elected to the

, its only independent member. Seven other women candidates stood successfully in the same election. She served for three years, championing equal pay, increased public housing, and the provision of nursery education."Equal Pay for Women Teachers: Deputation to Mr. Fisher", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 14 May 1920, p. 10 Lamartine Yates led the way in building an archive of the suffrage campaign, and, in 1939, she opened the Women's Record House in Great Smith Square, London. The building was bombed during the Second World War, but some of its records were saved and were moved to the Suffragette Fellowship collection in the

Museum of London The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall Museum (fou ...

. Rose Lamartine Yates died at her London home at the age of 79.

Notes, references and sources

Notes

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yates, Rose Emma Lamartine 1875 births 1954 deaths British women's rights activists English feminists English suffragists Women councillors in England First-wave feminism in the United Kingdom Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom Members of London County Council