Eugenics and Birth Control: Contraceptive Provision in North Wales, 1918-1939

Social History of Medicine

Volumn 11, Issue 3, 1998, Pages 443-458

  Grier, Julie ^a  

^a Bryn Alaw   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

'Commitee for the Care of Mental Defectives'; Birth control clinics; Contraception; Eugenics; Marie Stopes; Wales

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; CONTRACEPTION; DOCTOR PATIENT RELATION; FAMILY PLANNING; GENETICS AND REPRODUCTION; HISTORY; MEDICAL GENETICS; UNITED KINGDOM;

GENETICS AND REPRODUCTION;

CONTRACEPTION; EUGENICS; FAMILY PLANNING SERVICES; GREAT BRITAIN; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; PHYSICIAN-PATIENT RELATIONS;

EID: 0032251545     PISSN: 0951631X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/shm/11.3.443     Document Type: Article

References (68)

1. The work of Marie Scopes in particular has been debated, see R. Hall, Marie Stopes: A Biography (London, 1977); J. Rose, Marie Stopes and the Sexual Revolution (London,1992); M. Box, The Trial of Dr Stopes (London, 1967).
2. The work of Marie Scopes in particular has been debated, see R. Hall, Marie Stopes: A Biography (London, 1977); J. Rose, Marie Stopes and the Sexual Revolution (London,1992); M. Box, The Trial of Dr Stopes (London, 1967).
3. The work of Marie Scopes in particular has been debated, see R. Hall, Marie Stopes: A Biography (London, 1977); J. Rose, Marie Stopes and the Sexual Revolution (London,1992); M. Box, The Trial of Dr Stopes (London, 1967).
4. For an account of contraceptive provision, see A. Leathard The Fight for Family Planning (London, 1980); A. McLaren, History of Contraception from Antiquity to the Present (Oxford, 1990); P. Fryer, The Birth Controllers (London, 1965).
5. For an account of contraceptive provision, see A. Leathard The Fight for Family Planning (London, 1980); A. McLaren, History of Contraception from Antiquity to the Present (Oxford, 1990); P. Fryer, The Birth Controllers (London, 1965).
6. For an account of contraceptive provision, see A. Leathard The Fight for Family Planning (London, 1980); A. McLaren, History of Contraception from Antiquity to the Present (Oxford, 1990); P. Fryer, The Birth Controllers (London, 1965).
7. See J. A. and O. Banks, Feminism and Family Planning in Victorian England (Aldershot, 1993).
8. D. Gitrins, Fair Sex: Family Size and Structure, 1900-1939 (London, 1982).
9. W. Seccombe, 'Starting to Stop: Working Class Fertility Decline in Britain', Past and Present, 126 (1990), 151-88.
10. P. Mazumdar, Eugenics, Human Genetics and Human Failings: The Eugenics Society, its Sources and its Critics in Britain (London, 1992), p. 1.
11. Mazumdar, Eugenics, p. 2.
12. J. MacNicol, 'In Pursuit of the Underclass', Journal of Social Policy, 16 (1987), 293-318, p. 297.
13. G. Jones, 'Eugenics and Social Policy Between the Wars', Historical Journal, 25 (1982), 717-28.
14. Denbighshire Records Office (hereafter DRO) Minutes of the 'Family Limitation Sub-Committee', Denbighshire County Council, 15 July 1931.
15. See J. Lewis, 'The Ideology and Politics of Birth Control in Inter War England', Women's Studies International Quarterly, 2 (1979), 33-48.
16. M. C. Stopes, Contraception (London, 1923), p. 44.
17. D. Cohen has questioned the extent to which eugenic ideals were followed in practice at Stopes' clinics. See D. Cohen, 'Private Lives in Public Spaces: Marie Stopes, The Mothers' Clinic and the Practice of Contraception', History Workshop Journal, 35 (1993), 95-115.
18. Lewis, 'Ideology and Politics of Birth Control', p. 39.
19. Stopes, Contraception, p. 9.
20. Ibid.
21. M. Douglas, 'Women, God and Birth Control: The First Hospital Birth Control Clinic, Abertillery 1925', Llafur, 6 (1995), 110-22. For a discussion of the establishment of Stopes' Belfast clinic and the significance of Stopes' influence in Ireland, see G. Jones, 'Marie Stopes in Ireland: The Mother's Clinic in Belfast, 1936-1947', Social History of Medicine, 5 (1992), 255-77.
22. M. Douglas, 'Women, God and Birth Control: The First Hospital Birth Control Clinic, Abertillery 1925', Llafur, 6 (1995), 110-22. For a discussion of the establishment of Stopes' Belfast clinic and the significance of Stopes' influence in Ireland, see G. Jones, 'Marie Stopes in Ireland: The Mother's Clinic in Belfast, 1936-1947', Social History of Medicine, 5 (1992), 255-77.
23. See also B. Harrison, Prudent Revolutionaries: Portraits of British Feminists between the Wars (Oxford, 1987) and Leathard, Fight for Family Planning.
24. See also B. Harrison, Prudent Revolutionaries: Portraits of British Feminists between the Wars (Oxford, 1987) and Leathard, Fight for Family Planning.
25. S. Browne cited in D. Beddoe, 'Women between the Wars', in T. Herbert, and G. Jones (eds.), Wales between the Wars (Cardiff, 1988), p. 153.
26. I am indebted to K. Fisher for allowing me to read her article '"Clearing up Misconceptions": The Campaign to set up Birth Control Clinics in South Wales between the Wars', which is to be published shortly in Welsh History Review.
27. Contemporary Medical Archives Centre at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, (hereafter CMAC) SA/FPA/A11/61A. North Wales Nursing Association to Miss Holland, 16 February 1935.
28. CMAC, SA/FPA/A11/61A. Report of Bangor Family Planning Association, 3 February 1952.
29. See D. Beddoe, 'Munitionettes, Maids and Mams: Women in Wales, 1914-1939', in A. V. John, Our Mothers' Land: Chapters in Welsh Women's History, 1830-1939 (Cardiff, 1991), p. 201 which notes that 'overcrowding in Wales remained a serious problem throughout the 1920s and 1930s . . . Caernarfon, Denbigh, Flint . . . all figure in the top twenty in the county table of overcrowding for England and Wales'.
30. Birth Control News, October 1924, p. 3.
31. Rhyl Journal, 27 February 1926, p. 7.
32. See M. Pugh, Women and the Women's Movement in Britain, 1914-1959 (London, 1992), pp. 255-6.
33. For a discussion of the political background to the issue, see R. Dowse and J. Peel, 'The Politics of Birth Control', Political Studies, XIII (1965), 179-97, and Lewis, 'Ideology and Politics of Birth Control'.
34. For a discussion of the political background to the issue, see R. Dowse and J. Peel, 'The Politics of Birth Control', Political Studies, XIII (1965), 179-97, and Lewis, 'Ideology and Politics of Birth Control'.
35. Caernarfonshire Records Office (hereafter CRO) Chief Medical Officer, Caernarfonshire, Annual Report, 1924, p. 6.
36. Ibid., Annual Report, 1927, p. 8.
37. Ibid., Annual Report, 1932, pp. 4-5.
38. Report on Maternal Mortality in Wales (PP, 1936-37, XI, Cmd. 5423), pp. 367-524, p. 440.
39. Ibid., p. 425.
40. Ibid., p. 441.
41. The Medical Officer for Denbighshire was also concerned about the quality of midwifery practice and noted that 'Midwives attend ninety percent of all confinements in the county, and for this reason their active support is essential. The majority of them are ill paid for their services, and it would be a serious financial loss to them to bring their patients to the Ante Natal clinics and find that they would lose their fees.' He suggested, therefore, that if it became necessary for a midwife to refer a patient she should be compensated with a fee often shillings. DRO, 'Report on Maternal Mortality', 6 January 1934.
42. Woman's Leader, 12 December 1924.
43. A letter from the Welsh Board of Health to Denbighshire County Council in 1934 claimed that 'the council's Maternal and Child Welfare service is in urgent need of review . . . in the light of the high maternal mortality rate of the county in recent years'; DRO, Minutes of the Maternal and Child Welfare Committee, 20 June 1934.
44. CMAC, SA/FPA/A11/61A. Mrs Pyke to Dr Herbert, 22 September. 1930.
45. I am indebted to Dr P. Michael for the biographical background of Dr Herbert, and for details of the North Wales Hospital.
46. CMAC, SA/FPA/A11/61A. Dr Herbert, pamphlet 'Family Limitations'.
47. E. W. McBride cited in G. Williams, 'Compulsory Sterilisation of Welsh Miners', Llafur, 3 (1982), 67-73, p. 71. Mazumdar's observation that MacBride was more interested in 'race' than 'class' would seem to be at odds with this view.
48. The Eugenics Society devoted a special issue of their journal to a full discussion of the Brock Report'. See Eugenics Review, XXVI (1934).
49. CMAC, SA/FPA/A11/61A. Dr Herbert to Mrs Pyke, 2 December1930.
50. CMAC, SA/FPA/A11/61A. Mrs Pyke to Dr Herbert, 3 February 1931.
51. CMAC, SA/FPA/A11/61 A. Dr Herbert pamphlet 'Family Limitations'.
52. DRO, Minutes of the 'Family Limitation Sub-Committee', Denbighshire County Council, 15 July 1931.
53. Wrexham Advertiser, 17 July 1931.
54. Ibid.
55. The earlier proposal to provide special sessions at the Maternal and Child Welfare clinics was not carried out as it was felt to go beyond what was permissible under the government's circular 1208, issued in July 1931 to clarify 153/MCW.
56. CMAC, SA/FPA/A11/61A. Mrs Pyke to Dr Herbert, 16 July 1932.
57. DRO Minutes of 'Family Limitation Sub-Committee', Denbighshire County Council, 10 October 1932.
58. CMAC, SA/FPA/A11/61A. NBCA to CMO Anglesey, 1 May 1935.
59. CMAC, SA/FPA/A11/61A. CMO Anglesey to NBCA, 11 October 1934.
60. CMAC, SA/FPA/A11/61A. Mrs Pyke to Dr Herbert, 25 November 1932.
61. CMAC, SA/FPA/A11/61 A. Dr Herbert to Mrs. Pyke, 20 June 1933.
62. CMAC, SA/FPA/A11/61A. Report of Bangor FPA, 3 February 1952.
63. C. Elphis, Sexuality and Birth Control in Social and Community Work (London, 1980), p. 178.
64. Rhyl Journal, 5 May 1924.
65. R. Soloway, 'The "Perfect Contraceptive": Eugenics and Birth Control Research in Britain and America in the Inter War Years', Journal of Contemporary History, 30 (1995), 637-64, p. 637. For a further discussion of eugenic influence, see also R. A. Nye 'The Rise and Fall of the Eugenics Empire: Recent Perspectives on the Impact of Biomedical Thought in Modern Society', Historical Journal, 36 (1993), 687-700, and Jones 'Eugenics and Social Policy Between the Wars'. G. Jones has highlighted the modifying effects that national traditions and religious beliefs had on Eugenic thought: see G. Jones 'Eugenics in Ireland: The Belfast Eugenics Society, 1911-1915', Irish Historical Studies, XXVIII, 109 (1992), 81-95. Jones examines the extent to which the Catholic Church in Ireland accepted some eugenic ideas, such as the need to segregate 'mental defectives' but could not condone the intervention in family life which policies such as artificial birth control and sterilization would have entailed.
66. R. Soloway, 'The "Perfect Contraceptive": Eugenics and Birth Control Research in Britain and America in the Inter War Years', Journal of Contemporary History, 30 (1995), 637-64, p. 637. For a further discussion of eugenic influence, see also R. A. Nye 'The Rise and Fall of the Eugenics Empire: Recent Perspectives on the Impact of Biomedical Thought in Modern Society', Historical Journal, 36 (1993), 687-700, and Jones 'Eugenics and Social Policy Between the Wars'. G. Jones has highlighted the modifying effects that national traditions and religious beliefs had on Eugenic thought: see G. Jones 'Eugenics in Ireland: The Belfast Eugenics Society, 1911-1915', Irish Historical Studies, XXVIII, 109 (1992), 81-95. Jones examines the extent to which the Catholic Church in Ireland accepted some eugenic ideas, such as the need to segregate 'mental defectives' but could not condone the intervention in family life which policies such as artificial birth control and sterilization would have entailed.
67. R. Soloway, 'The "Perfect Contraceptive": Eugenics and Birth Control Research in Britain and America in the Inter War Years', Journal of Contemporary History, 30 (1995), 637-64, p. 637. For a further discussion of eugenic influence, see also R. A. Nye 'The Rise and Fall of the Eugenics Empire: Recent Perspectives on the Impact of Biomedical Thought in Modern Society', Historical Journal, 36 (1993), 687-700, and Jones 'Eugenics and Social Policy Between the Wars'. G. Jones has highlighted the modifying effects that national traditions and religious beliefs had on Eugenic thought: see G. Jones 'Eugenics in Ireland: The Belfast Eugenics Society, 1911-1915', Irish Historical Studies, XXVIII, 109 (1992), 81-95. Jones examines the extent to which the Catholic Church in Ireland accepted some eugenic ideas, such as the need to segregate 'mental defectives' but could not condone the intervention in family life which policies such as artificial birth control and sterilization would have entailed.
68. Report on Maternal Mortality in Wales (PP, 1936-37, XI, Cmd. 5423), p. 377.