Marie Stopes Biography

Marie Stopes (1880-1958)

Marie Stopes Marie Carmichael Stopes D.Sc, Ph.D. was a Scottish author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for women's rights. She was an influential figure in the early family planning movement, helping to break down taboos on issues such as contraception.

Stopes attended University College London where she studied Botany and Geology and gained a first class degree in 1902. After her first degree, she made more studies in Palaeobotany, including a scientific mission to Japan in 1907. She was later made the first female academic at the University of Manchester.

However, it was her work in family planning which made her a national figure of some controversy. In 1921, she opened the UK's first family planning clinic in Holloway, London. The clinic which moved to Central London in 1925, is still in operation today. In 1930, she played a role in forming the National Birth Control Council and became a leading advocate for making contraception more freely available. She also published a sex manual - Married Love which was a rare kind of publication for that era. Her advocacy of a more liberal approach to sex and family planning, predated the 1960s sexual revolution and liberal attitudes which were later adopted. Her stance and willingness to protest at places of worship led her into conflict with the Church of England and the Catholic Church.

In the 1930s, she was also involved in the Eugenics movement arguing for the forcible sterilisation of those totally unfit for parenthood. This included attending a conference held in Nazi Germany in 1935.

Marie Stopes married Humphrey Verdon Roe in 1918. They had one son born in 1924. She died in 1958 from breast cancer in her home in Dorking, Surrey.

By: T.Pettinger 14/02/2010