Marie Stopes
(1880-1958)

Died aged 77

Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a British author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for eugenics and women's rights. She made significant contributions to plant palaeontology and coal classification, and was the first female academic on the faculty of the University of Manchester. With her second husband, Humphrey Verdon Roe, Stopes founded the first birth control clinic in Britain. Stopes edited the newsletter Birth Control News, which gave explicit practical advice. Her sex manual Married Love (1918) was controversial and influential, and brought the subject of birth control into wide public discourse. Stopes publicly opposed abortion, arguing that the prevention of conception was all that was needed, though her actions in private were at odds with her public pronouncements. As a one of her stated aims was "to furnish security from conception to those who are racially diseased". In reaction to this attitude, Marie Stopes International in 2020 changed its name to "MSI Reproductive Choices" with no other changes.

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Commemorated on 7 plaques

The first birth control clinic was opened by Dr. Marie Stopes in 1921 at Holloway and removed here in 1925

Whitfield Street, WC1, London, United Kingdom where they opened the first birth control clinic

Marie Stopes 1880-1958 palaeobotanist and pioneer of family planning. Lecturer in palaeobotany 1904-1907

The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom where they lectured

Marie Carmichael Stopes 1880-1958 Writer, dramatist and poet. Publicist of the campaign for sexual education. Advocate of family planning and founder of pioneer birth control clinic. Courageous crusader for the rights of women. Lived here during her first marriage to R.R. Gates.

Well Walk, Hampstead, London, United Kingdom where they lived

Marie Stopes 1880-1958 Promoter of sex education and birth control lived here 1880-1892

28 Cintra Park, Upper Norwood, London, United Kingdom where they lived

Marie Stopes 1880-1958 Social reformer pioneer of the family planning movement lived here 1909-1916

Well Walk, Hampstead, London, United Kingdom where they lived (1909-1916)

Marie Stopes 1880-1958 opened here the Mothers' Clinic. First of its kind in Britain 1921-1925

61 Marlborough Road, N19, London, United Kingdom where they worked

Marie Stopes

3 Abercromby Place, EH3 6LB, Edinburgh, United Kingdom where they lived