This biography is part of the series Pioneering women in Earth Sciences – the link will take you to the main page.
Marie Stopes was a paleobotanist whose scientific work encompassed ancient and modern flora. She did important work on floral groups like the Cycads, angiosperms (flowering plants that bear seeds and fruits), and on coal composition.
But any mention of Stopes’ name will more likely generate comment on her public persona as a vociferous advocate for birth control, the role of women in post-WWI Britain, sexual awakening in women, marriage, and eugenics. There are several biographies of Stopes and all focus on these more public attributes of her life. J. Rose (1996) quips that Stopes “…had that curious quality which we call charisma; in her case intellectual brilliance and emotional intensity, a woman who brought sparks and fire to every subject she broached.” Public perceptions were a mix of accolades for her ‘feminist’ views, and moral censure for her ideas on reproductive rights, eugenics, compulsory sterilization of the ‘weak’, and interracial marriage (A. Arnold-Forster, 2017). Her predilections certainly caused consternation in some quarters because of apparent links with the pre-World War 2 Third Reich.
Women were an important part of the World War 1 industrial complex until their men returned from the front at which time they were expected to assume their former, more subservient roles in society. Stopes’ voice during the early post-war years provided women with a modicum of hope. She published her first book – Married Love or Love in Marriage in 1918 with the financial help of Humphrey Verdon Roe who became her second husband in May 1918 (J. Parsons, 2023). She needed the financial assistance because most publishers baulked at the frank discussion about sex and married life. The book became an instant best seller, particularly among women, and required seven reprinted editions in the first year of publication to cope with the demands of readers (R.A. Soloway, 1996).
The enthusiasm with which books like hers were received is told in the BBC series The Home Front – a collection of vignettes about home life during World War 1. Libraries frequently banned such disturbing volumes. To circumvent the problem of availability, groups of women would secretly deposit the books on library shelves. If the book was discovered and removed by a librarian, someone would replace it.
Stopes opened Britain’s first birth control (Mother’s) clinic in London on March 17, 1921. However, some historians contend that her guiding principle for this was based largely on her position on eugenics and racial purity.
Marie Stopes the paleobotanist
Stopes’ parents were intellectuals who encouraged keen observation and argumentation. Her father’s archeological pursuits exposed Marie to field work, and the kind of systematic sampling and recording that science requires. Her mother was a literary scholar and a supporter of the suffragette movement. Both parents were members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science at a time when women were excluded from many other scientific establishments, even as spectators.
Marie enrolled in a University College London science degree program – one of the few women to do so at the time. At the turn of the century most of the 19th C ‘rules’ and social norms still applied, preventing or discouraging women from participating in universities and learned societies. Women in Britain did not have the right to vote until 1918 and even them they had to be no younger than 30 years old. The appearance of an argumentative, precocious young woman in the halls of maledom would have been startling, if not unwanted. She became president of the Women’s Debating Society and annoyed the University hierarchy by introducing debates with men.
Stopes studied botany and geology and in 1902 gained a BSc with a first in Botany; she completed the degree in two years. During her tenure as a student, she had few qualms about joining male-dominated field trips in both her subjects – it was likely the men that had most of the qualms. She was also the youngest person to earn a DSc from the University College, London. While at University College, she assisted Professor Francis Oliver in his research on Cycads. It was this research that led to the discovery of seed-bearing ferns (pteridosperms) preserved in Carboniferous coal beds, that at the time were considered to be the missing link between true spore-bearing ferns and geologically younger conifers. Oliver, a Fellow of the Royal Society, became an important mentor and referee for her publications and scholarship applications. Stopes contributed a chapter to his book The Exploitation of Plants in 1917. Winning the University’s Gilchrist Scholarship, she continued her studies on cycad reproduction at the Botanical Institute, Munich University and for this received a PhD in 1904. She was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1904; one of the first women to be granted this accolade.
That same year she met Robert Falcon Scott who was planning an exploration to Antarctica. Stopes applied to join the party, primarily to collect geological samples of ancient flora (D. Gelsthorpe, 2017). Her application was denied, no doubt because of pressure from scientific societies and government officials who were still doing their best to prevent women from doing anything useful.
In 1905, she became the first woman lecturer in science at Manchester University. Her research at this time had expanded to the origin of angiosperms. A second scholarship of ₤85, this time from the Royal Society, enabled her to conduct angiosperm research during an eighteen-month expedition in Japan in 1907-1908. The tour was ostensibly under the guidance of Professor Kuyiro Fujii at the Imperial University in Tokyo, who she met in Munich and had developed a more than collegial relationship. The Royal Society’s grant was unusual, particularly for a woman traveling alone. The study leave was a scientific success; the relationship was not.
Stopes continued gaining early 20th C firsts with an appointment at University College London in 1913 where she lectured in botany. The period 1903 to 1921 was very productive from a botanical science perspective, with several publications on floral reproduction and evolution, and coal composition. The list of Marie Stopes’ publications demonstrates her range of interests. Her books Ancient Plants (1910), Botany (1912), and Catalogues of Mesozoic plants (1913-1915) show a depth of understanding and the ability to convey the nuances of paleobotany to general and academic audiences. She also published a great deal on the more specific aspects of plant structure and microstructure. Several of her papers and books are reproduced in the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
References and other links
Agnes Arnold-Forster, 2017. Marie Stopes opened the UK’s first birth control clinic 100 years ago – she was also a eugenicist. The Conversation: March 16, 2021
Bowden, A.J.; J., Burek, C. V. and Wilding, R. 2005. (eds) History of Palaeobotany: Selected Essays, 241, 304 pp., London: Geological Society, London, Special Publications.
K. Briant, 1962, Marie Stopes, A Biography, London: The Hogarth Press
David Gelsthorpe, 2017 Marie Stopes – Manchester, Scott of the Antarctic and her adventures in Japan. Stories From the Museum Floor, Earth Sciences at Manchester Museum, University of Manchester.
R. Hall, 1977, Marie Stopes, a biography, London: Andre Deutsch Ltd
Judith A. Parsons, 2023. Marie Stopes: British social reformer. An article in EBSCO
J. Rose, 1997. The evolution of Marie Stopes. In; Marie Stopes, Eugenics and the English Birth Control Movement, R.A. Peel (Ed.), Galton Institute, p.13-26.
R.A. Soloway, 1997. The Galton Lecture: “Marie Stopes, Eugenics and the Birth Control Movement” In; Marie Stopes, Eugenics and the English Birth Control Movement, R.A. Peel (Ed.), Galton Institute, p.49-76.
