She initially saw birth control as an aid to marriage fulfillment and as a means to save women from the physical strain of excessive childbearing. Her work went a long way to changing attitudes to contraception, and making it more freely available. Marie Stopes, a biography by Ruth E Hall ISBN 13: 9780233968797 ISBN 10: 0233968792 Hardcover; London: Deutsch, 1977; ISBN-13: 978-0233968797 That same year she became founder and president of the Society for Constructive Birth Control, a platform from which she spoke widely about the benefits of married women having healthy, desired babies—essentially promoting the idea of eugenic birth control. Read more. In 1925 the Mothers' Clinic moved to Central London, where it remains to this day. If you think this file should be featured on Wikimedia Commons as well, feel free to nominate it . The parent body of Marie Stopes Clinics round the world is now called Marie Stopes … In 1918, she published a book, Married Love, which argued for greater equality between men and women in marriage. Marie Stopes was born on October 15, 1880 to Henry Stopes and Charlotte Carmichael Stopes in Edinburgh. 26 (2): 70–71. Stopes obtained a science degree (1902) from University College, London, which she completed in only two years. She was an influential figure in the early family planning movement, helping to break down taboos on issues such as contraception. The Marie Stopes Clinic. The book begins by stating that 'More than ever to-day are happy homes needed. The clinic which moved to Central London in 1925, is still in operation today. They had one son born in 1924. Published 12 Jan 2012. Her Contraception: Its Theory, History and Practice (1923) was, when it first appeared, the most comprehensive treatment of the subject. Our clinics. She was an influential figure in the early family planning movement, helping to break down taboos on issues such as contraception. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. The BBC history page dedicated to Marie Stopes introduces her as a “campaigner for women’s rights and a pioneer in the field of family planning” and says nothing negative about her. // 15th Oct 1880. Her advocacy of a more liberal approach to sex and family planning, pre-dated the 1960s sexual revolution and liberal attitudes which were later adopted. Marie Charlotte Stopes was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on October 15, 1880. After World War II she promoted birth control in East Asian countries. It was one of the first books openly to discuss birth control. Marie Stopes at her laboratory in the Victoria University of Manchester. Marie Stopes, 1918 ©Stopes was a campaigner for women's rights and a pioneer in the field of family planning. Select Your Cookie Preferences. Marie Stopes was a British author and palaeobotanist who is known for her pioneering work in popularizing the importance of birth control and use of contraceptives in England. “Far too often, marriage puts an end to woman’s intellectual life. In 1922, a Roman Catholic doctor Halliday Sutherland wrote a book Birth Control attacking Stopes for her support of the cervical cap. Lesley A. She was born in Scotland to Henry Stopes and Charlotte Carmichael Stopes. She became a leading 20th-century campaigner for women’s rights and birth control. Although she lost the case, she gained widespread support and won an appeal in the High Court – though this appeal was overturned. Marie Stopes (1880-1958) shook the world. Her views were radical for the time and generated great publicity. Read more. She married her first husband, a botanist named Reginald Ruggles Gates, in 1911. It also provided tips for sex and contraception. Although her clinical work, writings, and speeches evoked violent opposition, especially from Roman Catholics, she greatly influenced the Church of England’s gradual relaxation (from 1930) of its stand against birth control. Photo: Wikipedia. Marie Stopes (1880-1958) Marie Carmichael Stopes D.Sc, PhD was a Scottish author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for women’s rights. This included attending a conference held in Nazi Germany in 1935. Marie Stopes is widely lauded today as a feminist hero and women’s rights campaigner. Omissions? The building was the Marie Stopes Mothers’ Clinic in Whitfield Street, central London, which in 1925, Marie Stopes, a non-medical doctor, had opened despite opposition from a male-dominated medical establishment and the Catholic church. Buy Marie Stopes, a biography by Ruth E Hall (ISBN: ) from Amazon's Book Store. Stopes opened the UK's first family planning clinic at 61, Marlborough Road, Holloway, North London on 17 March 1921. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. She was later made the first female academic at the University of Manchester. 288pp. Stopes sued for libel. Her stance and willingness to protest at places of worship led her into conflict with the Church of England and the Catholic Church. Northern Irish clients can access abortion care in our network of over 60 Marie Stopes UK clinics all over England, including Liverpool and Manchester. Marie Stopes biography timelines // 1880 To 1892. Hall, ‘Stopes [married name Roe], Marie Charlotte Carmichael’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004) (subscription required: accessed 14 Oct 2020) Ruth Hall, Marie Stopes: A Biography (London, 1977) June Rose, Marie Stopes and the Sexual Revolution (London,1992) Below are references indicating presence of this name in another database or other reference material. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. We have over 60 clinics across England, which provide high-quality reproductive health services to over 70,000 people each year. Marie Stopes books helped to change some of the old-fashioned Victorian attitudes and ignorance to marriage. She was the foremost advocator of contraception and an influential leader of the early family planning movement. She argued that access to contraception was the best way to prevent unwanted pregnancies, particularly among working class people who often couldn’t afford another mouth to feed, but who also had no means to afford sex … Marie Stopes, who wrote probably the first sex guide in modern times, was a deeply narcissistic individual who thought that the Pope's encyclical Humanae Vitae was aimed at her personally, and wrote to the Pope accordingly. Their original birth-control clinic—designed to educate women about the few methods of birth control available to them—was founded three years later, in the working-class Holloway district of London. Roe aircraft firm, who also had strong interests in the birth-control movement. Corrections? During the pre-war years, many families were pushed into poverty because they struggled to feed and clothe their children. • "Dr. Marie Stopes". Stopes would later assert that her marriage was unconsummated and that she knew little about sex when she first married. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Marie Stopes : A Biography at Amazon.com. Updates? Most of the sources listed are encyclopedic in nature but might be limited to a specific field, such as musicians or film directors. From overcoming oppression, to breaking rules, to reimagining the world or waging a rebellion, these women of history have a story to tell. “Biography of Marie Stopes“, Oxford, UK – www.biographyonline.net. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. 1958. doi:10.1177/002581725802600205. She wrote a best-selling sex-manual for women and was a controversial birth control pioneer. Marriage can never reach its full stature until women possess as much intellectual freedom and freedom of opportunity within it as do their partners.”. After her first degree, she made more studies in Palaeobotany, including a scientific mission to Japan in 1907. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. PMID 13622045. Feb 28, 2012 - Marie Stopes (1880-1958) Marie Carmichael Stopes D.Sc, PhD was a Scottish author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for women’s rights. Last updated 18 September 2019. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Marie Stopes : A Biography at Amazon.com. File:Marie Stopes in her laboratory, 1904.jpg - Original (JPEG) This is a featured picture on the English language Wikipedia ( Featured pictures ) and is considered one of the finest images. That same year she became an assistant lecturer of botany at the University of Manchester. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Stopes' newsletter Birth Control News, her book Married Love, and her organisation Marie Stopes International, were hugely important in Britain and throughout the British Empire. As we launch our new vision, we are changing our name from Marie Stopes International to MSI Reproductive Choices, reflecting our fundamental commitment to choice. The BBC history page dedicated to Marie Stopes describes her as a: ‘campaigner for women’s rights and a pioneer in the field of family planning’ and says nothing negative about her. Biographies in her lifetime were written by acquaintances and vetted by her. The Medico-legal Journal. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. She went on to do postgraduate studies in paleobotany (fossil plants), earning a doctorate from the University of Munich in 1904. In 1930, she played a role in forming the National Birth Control Council and became a leading advocate for making contraception more freely available. In the 1930s, she was also involved in the Eugenics movement arguing for the forcible sterilisation of those totally unfit for parenthood. The work of Sanger and Stopes reached only a small fraction of the millions of couples who in the 1920s and ’30s lived in a world irrevocably altered by World War I, crushed by economic depression, and striving for the then lowest birth rates in history. Marie Stopes was born into a middle-class Victorian family. Her parents were both well-educated with successful careers: her father, Henry Stopes, was an architect, and her mother, Charlotte Carmichael Stopes, was a Shakespeare expert who had been the first female graduate of a Scottish university. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Marie Stopes is widely lauded today as a feminist hero and women’s rights campaigner. Dr. Marie Stopes was an impassioned, strategic British scientist who left academia to focus on the availability of contraceptives for all people, regardless of their class. Her clinics only provided contraception. Married Love or Love in Marriage is a book by British academic Marie Stopes. As a young girl, Stopes said she would spend the first twenty years of her life in science, the second twenty years of her life in social projects and the last twenty years of her life writing poetry. Her failed marriage and its eventual annulment in 1916 played a large role in determining her future career, causing her to turn her attention to the issues of sex, marriage, and childbirth and their meaning in society. MSI Reproductive Choices, named Marie Stopes International until November 2020, is an international non-governmental organisation providing contraception and safe abortion services in 37 countries around the world. Marie Stopes and the Sexual Revolution. Desperate parents of large families often wrote to Stopes, hoping she could help to limit their family size. She was the founder of British family planning, and fought many battles in print with those whose opinions differed … In the meantime she wrote Married Love and Wise Parenthood (both 1918), which were widely translated. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. “That girls can reach a marriageable age without some knowledge of the realities of sex would seem incredible: but it is a fact. Marie Stopes : biography 15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958 A few months later, Stopes, who had become enthusiastic about a contraceptive device called the "Gold-pin" which was reportedly successful in America, contacted a young Australian doctor in London, Norman Haire, and asked if he would be interested in running a clinical trial of […] In 1921 Sanger founded…. However, Stopes also was a staunch supporter of eugenics, and she advocated for eugenic birth control, wherein inferior women of the lower classes would be prevented from having children. 1993. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Meet extraordinary women who dared to bring gender equality and other issues to the forefront. London: Faber and Faber. Posthumously, an English Heritage blue plaque was erected in Upper Norwood, where she lived from 1880 to 1892, in her commemoration. It is worth noting she was opposed to abortion. Marie Carmichael Stopes was a British palaeobotanist, author and campaigner for birth control. Marie Stopes married Humphrey Verdon Roe in 1918. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. He helped her in the crusade that she then began. ,Stopes was educated as a scientist. Marie Stopes, advocate of birth control who, in 1921, founded the United Kingdom’s first instructional clinic for contraception. In 1918 Stopes married Humphrey Verdon Roe, cofounder of the A.V. She specialized in fossil plants and the problems of coal mining. Marie Stopes International, one of the world’s largest abortion providers, is changing its name due to unwanted attention that its founder was a eugenicist and a racist. One highly educated lady whom I know intimately told me that when she was about eighteen she suffered many months of agonizing apprehension that she was about to have a baby, because a man had snatched a kiss from her lips at a dance.”. People Who Made a Difference in Health Care, Facts about the extraordinary life of Joan of Arc. AUTHORITIES. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marie-Stopes, The Embryo Project Encyclopedia - Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Marie Stopes, Marie Stopes - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). She was an influential figure in the early family planning movement, helping to break down taboos on issues such as contraception. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership. 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