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THE MARIE STOPES
CONNECTION
Britain's first-ever hospital
birth control clinic opens at Abertillery
 In
1922, Abertillery and District Hospital opened, financed partly by the
contributions of local miners, a development welcomed by all in the rapidly
expanding town of Abertillery. However, when less than three years later in
June 1925, the hospital opened up a birth control clinic, the first ever such
hospital clinic in Britain, there followed such a fierce, hostile response by
some sections of the local community, notably the Abertillery Free Church
Council, that within sixteen months, the clinic would shut. So how did this
remarkable chapter in the town's history come to happen and end so
quickly?
In 1937, Marie Stopes (pictured
left) wrote in the
Western Mail that "the Abertillery
Clinic was killed by gossip". Writer/director Margie Douglas, whose
father was born in Six Bells, has researched
the story superbly well and in 1995, in the journal Llafur, she published an
intriguing account of how the clinic came to be and what caused it itself to die not long after its
birth. The bare bones of that account are retold here and site visitors are
urged to seek out the excellent full article that appeared in Llafur.
In the 1920s, the subject of birth
control was largely taboo, but the reality was that having and raising children
in the grim, desperately harsh economic circumstances that existed, especially in
the mining valleys of south Wales, created
huge problems and it was clear that self-induced abortions were performed as a
method of controlling the birth rate. The middle-classes had undoubtedly
been practising birth control for some time, but amongst the less well educated
working classes, there was little information available. In 1921, the famous
campaigner Marie Stopes established the Society for Constructive Birth Control
and Radical Progress (CBC) and a year later the first issue of her newspaper, Birth
Control News was published. But it was clear that huge problems remained
with a soaring population in the valleys putting massive pressure on
already-struggling, depressed communities and the local Abertillery weekly newspaper,
the South Wales Gazette, reported the distressing, shocking sights of discarded
babies' bodies.
The contributions of the local
miners to the opening of Abertillery Hospital in 1922 ensured that local lodges
were represented on the committee that ran the hospital. One of these members
was David Daggar (pictured below) from Six Bells, brother of future
Abertillery member of parliament, George Daggar (a full story of this remarkable
family is to come on Tyleri Tales) and in 1923, David Daggar joined the CBC,
fully cognisant with the heartbreaking conditions that existed in his community.
He campaigned vigorously and
tirelessly for the establishment of a birth control clinic to be set up at the
newly opened Abertillery Hospital to provide information to all married mothers
in the area and his hard work paid off with a mandate vote passed on 3rd
December 1923 in favour. However, there was still opposition within the
committee and Daggar managed to enlist the help of Stopes herself who was due to
visit south Wales. She educated the local committee in establishing a clinic run
on similar lines to her Mother's Clinic in London. Her assistance appeared to
help in quelling the opposition and in March 1925, Stopes helped direct interviews,
along with Daggar and committee secretary, Victor Roberts, for two prospective
candidates for the post for a sister to run the clinic.
Naomi Jones, a local nurse from
Brynmawr was appointed as Clinic Nurse and received four weeks' intensive
training before passing the CBC certificate examination. Stopes continued to aid
the Abertillery cause and provided details of a supplier who, upon her
recommendation would supply reliable pessaries, the form of birth control she advocated,
at a much reduced cost.
With everything in place, the
Hospital committee placed a small advertisement in the Gazette announcing the
opening of the clinic on Monday 15th June 1925 whilst Stopes heralded the
opening in Birth Control News under the headline - WALES LEADS. If the champions
of the clinic had hoped for a easy and successful start to their new venture,
however, they were mistaken as within just four days of the opening, a hugely critical
and rather misogynistic article appeared in the Monmouth Free Press. The
battle for the future of the clinic had begun.
The letters' column of the Gazette
now became the focus for the sparring between the clinic's advocates and those opposing
it with local debates and lectures also held by both sides. Stopes herself
attended a large meeting at the Gymnasium Hall, presided over by Daggar,
speaking passionately in favour of the cause and the clinic whilst Daggar and
his fellow Birth Control Clinic secretary and miner Ivor Griffiths continued the
fight through the papers. However, the opposition was now headed up by a
charismatic, handsome local member of the clergy, the Reverend Ivor Evans and he
galvanised the opposition through the
Abertillery Free Church Council, which passed unanimously a resolution condemning
the clinic that was printed in the Gazette.
Perhaps Griffiths and Stopes, in
particular, underestimated the sway of the chapels upon people in the valleys as
Evans led the opposition together with his fellow clergymen from the pulpit.
Moreover, Evans rapidly immersed himself in the fine details of the case against
birth control, even contacting one of its eminent opponents, remarkably a woman,
Professor Louise McIlroy of the London School of Medicine for Women, and he championed
the opposition with as much gusto and zeal as that mustered
by Daggar, Stopes and Griffiths. The debate continued but became more personal
in its nature especially as Stopes became convinced that there was a concerted
plot against her by the Christian Church with Evans launching what were
perceived to be attacks on her personal integrity.
The continued public wrangling
obviously affected attendance at the clinic with some elements within the
hospital committee, in particular Miss Gatfield, also continuing their
opposition. It was determined at a committee meeting that the clinic would
remain open for a further year at least, but the General Strike of 1926 meant
that hospital contributions dried up and that probably also contributed to the
clinic's eventual demise. Nurse Jones persisted in trying to engender support
amongst local mothers for the clinic,
printing over 6000 pamphlets, the majority of which she distributed personally,
taking them around houses from Brynmawr as far down as Newport. But in September
1926, she wrote to Marie Stopes informing her of her decision to leave
Abertillery and take up nursing again with the support of the hospital committee
having drained away. Jones was to join Stopes at her Caravan Clinic in 1927 but astonishingly
she was eventually sacked for being unsuitable since she was unmarried.
In 1930, Pontypridd, some 15 miles
from Abertillery, became the next hospital to set up a birth control clinic and
that same year the National Birth Control Council was established whilst the
Ministry of Health permitted the provision of contraception advice at Maternity
and Child Welfare centres.
In 1977, the Hospital compiled a
detailed history but there was no mention of the clinic's existence at all
despite the huge furore it had caused at the time of its opening. Miss J. Gatfield
was amongst its compilers and Margaret Douglas concludes
that a conscious decision was taken to deliberately forget the clinic and the
involvement of Marie Stopes, a remarkable chapter in the history of Abertillery.
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This
piece was based on a superbly researched and written article by
writer/director/playwright Margie
Douglas (Llafur,
volume 6, number 4, 1995). Without her hard work,
perhaps the story of these groundbreaking events would never have come to
light and I am very grateful to her for her comments on the above article.
Her father, David Douglas was brought up at 9 High Street, Six Bells. A
miner, he studied at night school and eventually gained a place at Cardiff
University
where he took a degree in engineering. After a long and distinguished
career as a mining engineer, the South Wales Institute of Engineers created
the David Douglas Award, in recognition of his sterling work in the field,
which is made biennially to the best student/young engineer's paper
submitted. Sadly he died in 1998 three years after the award was
created
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The picture
of David Daggar was kindly provided by his grandson and namesake, David
Daggar, to whom I am very grateful. A full Tyleri Tale will appear soon on
the history of the Daggar family in Abertillery, for which David has again
been very helpful in furnishing me with information.
TYLERI TALES
Contents:
 THE
HORROR OF 1921 - THE HAROLD JONES MURDERS
THE
FOUNDING FATHER OF DRUG METABOLISM - the story of Professor RT
Williams, FRS
THE
BLAINA RIOTS OF 1935 - Desperation and unrest in the Ebbw Fach
valley (by Martyn Thomas)
THE
MODEST, HARD MAN - Jim Webb, Wales rugby star of the Golden era
THE
MAN WHO BOWLED W. G. GRACE FOR A DUCK - Abertillery cricket
memories of the 1890s
THE
WAR HERO WHO TESTED THE BRITISH H-BOMB - Air Vice Marshall
Wilfred Oulton
THE
MARIE STOPES CONNECTION - Britain's first-ever hospital birth
control clinic opens at Abertillery
THE
REDOUBTABLE DAGGARS - A remarkable tale of an extraordinary
Abertillery family (by David Daggar)
THE
ABERBEEG GHOST
HEROES
OF WORLD WAR ONE
THE
"LIB" CLUB - BRITAIN'S BEST SNOOKER TEAM
(by Graham Bennett)
CAMERA'S
GREATEST MAGICIAN - the humble beginnings of Angus McBean
Coming
soon:
THE
TRAGEDY OF SIX BELLS - the terrible pit disaster of 1960
A
CHARITABLE ACCIDENT - Eddie Price, founder of the Tenovus
charity
THREE
LIONS IN THE SHIRT - Pask, Morgan, and Lewis, stars of the Green
& Whites
THE
MEN WHO BECAME SAINTS
THE
MAN IN THE MIDDLE
AHEAD
OF HER TIME - The extraordinary story of Beatrice Green
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