Committee

The V&A Museum of Childhood is part of the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and a charity exempt from registration under the Charities Act of 1993. The V&A operates at arm's length from the Government and is governed by a board of trustees. The V&A Museum of Childhood has a sub-committee which currently includes V&A Trustees and other co-opted members.

Martin Roth
Director, V&A

Martin Roth, born January 1955, graduated from Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen in the Faculty of Social and Cultural Science, and went on to achieve a Ph.D. on the political and historical background of German Museums and Exhibitions from 1871 to 1945.

Roth was curator at the German Historical Museum, Berlin (1989-91) and Director of the German Hygiene-Museum, Dresden (1991-2000) before being appointed Director General of the Dresden State Art Collections in 2001. Under Roth's management the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden underwent major renovation and modernisation.

Roth is widely published and has lectured at the University of Dresden, the School of Design in Karlsruhe and University of Karlsruhe. In 2007 he was awarded the French 'Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres' and in 2010 with the Danish Order of Dannebrog. 

Sir Paul Ruddock
Chairman of the V&A Board of Trustees

Sir Paul is Chief Executive of Lansdowne Partners Limited, an investment management firm he co-founded in 1998. Previously he held various senior positions with Schroders PLC and its American subsidiary Schroder and Co. Inc. Prior to this he had worked at Goldman Sachs. He has an MA and BA (1st class) in jurisprudence from Oxford University and is a fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford.

Sir Paul has been involved with the V&A since the mid 1990s. He has been a Trustee of the Museum since 2002 and was appointed Chairman of the V&A Board by the Prime Minister in 2007. He has served on a number of V&A committees including the British Galleries Committee and as Chair of the Trustees' Finance and Development Committees. He is Chair of the Gilbert Trust for the Arts. He has been heavily involved in fundraising for the Museum and is himself a major donor having given personal donations of over £6 million over 15 years, including being the lead donor for the Medieval & Renaissance Galleries.

Sir Paul's philanthropic activities also include giving generous donations to the following: Medieval Europe Gallery at the British Museum; Gothic Ivories Project at the Courtauld Institute; Donmar Warehouse; Mousetrap Theatre Projects; Mansfield College, Oxford; National Trust; a new Performing Arts Centre at King Edward's School, Birmingham; AfriKids. 

Sir Paul is a Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum, New York and of the Burlington Magazine Foundation. He is also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He was awarded a knighthood for services to the arts and philanthropy in the New Year Honours List 2012. 

Sir John Sorrell
Chair of the V&A Museum of Childhood Committee
Member of the V&A Board of Trustees

John Sorrell set up his first business when he was 19 and during his career of more than 40 years he founded and ran, with his wife Frances, one of Europe’s biggest and most successful design businesses, Newell and Sorrell, chaired both of the UK’s public design bodies (the Design Council and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment), originated and developed the London Design Festival and, again with Frances, set up the Sorrell Foundation, which works with young people to inspire their creativity. John was appointed CBE in 1996 and was awarded the Royal Society of Arts Bicentenary Medal in 1998. He holds four Honorary Design Doctorates, an Honorary Design Fellowship, is an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy, was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2002 and of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2009. John was awarded a Knighthood in the 2008 New Year Honours List `for services to the Creative Industries’. His book, `Creative Island’ (2002), features inspired design from Great Britain. A new edition, `Creative Island II’, was published in October 2009.

Professor Laurence Brockliss

Laurence Brockliss is professor of Early Modern French History at the University of Oxford. He is the author of some 50 articles and books. 

Andrew Hochhauser QC
Member of the V&A Board of Trustees

Andrew Hochhauser QC is a barrister at Essex Court Chambers, a Harmsworth scholar and Bencher of Middle Temple, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a Recorder. He specialises in commercial and employment litigation, with a substantial court and advisory practice. Some more recent high-profile work has included acting for the FSA in Financial Services Compensation Scheme Ltd v Abbey National; representing celebrity chef Gary Rhodes against his former agents; the Dresdner Kleinwort bonus claims and in the high-profile battle between inter-dealer brokers; Tullett Prebon v BGC. He is also honorary Counsel to Westminster Abbey, and has recently obtained an MA from the Courtauld Institute of Art, where he specialised in British Modernism. He is the chairman of Dance Umbrella which mounts an annual Festival of international contemporary dance in London every autumn.

Deborah Jaffé

Deborah Jaffé studied art and design at Dartington College of Arts and the London College of Furniture before gaining her MA from the Royal College of Art. Her varied career has included work in the toy, educational and fashion industries, the visual arts, photography and research. Deborah is the author of eight books including What's Left of Henry VIII, Victoria: A Celebration, Ingenious Women and The History of Toys.

Visit Deborah Jaffé's website

Councillor Denise Jones
London Borough of Tower Hamlets Elected Representative

Elected as Councillor in 1994, Denise Jones served as Mayor of Tower Hamlets from 1999 to 2000. She is founder of Eastside Arts & Bookshop. 

Dame Jacqueline Wilson

Jacqueline Wilson is one of the nation's favourite children's authors, perhaps most famous for the much-loved character Tracy Beaker, who first appeared in 1991 in The Story of Tracy Beaker, which won the 2002 Blue Peter People's Choice Award. Since then she has gone on to win many awards, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Award for The Illustrated Mum and the prestigious Nestle Smarties Book Prize for Double Act. In 2002 Jacqueline was awarded the OBE for services to literacy in schools and from 2005 to 2007 she was the Children's Laureate. In 2008 she became Dame Jacqueline Wilson.

Visit Dame Jacqueline Wilson's website