THE DORSET HALL GROUP - Key Persons
Barbara Gorna, Chair of DHG, spotted the house and its name rang a remote bell. On investigation, she discovered that it had been the home of Rose Lamartine Yates the suffragette and social rights campaigner. In the 1930s the house had extensive grounds and was sold at a discount to Merton Council; Rose had stipulated that local people should be free to use the gardens ‘forever'.
Barbara Gorna is the founder of the Dorset Hall Group and is working along with her husband Simon Hood, a descendant of local politician and benefactor Sir Joseph Hood, and others to ensure the future of Dorset Hall. You can read more about Barbara's motivation to conserve Dorset Hall for current and future generations in her blogpost on the Mapping Women's Suffrage 1911 website here.