Dr Marie Stopes was the leading advocate of birth control and played a major role in redefining female sexuality in the early 20th century.

Marie Stopes opened the UK's first family planning clinic, the Mothers' Clinic in Holloway, North London on 17 March 1921. The clinic offered a free service to married women and also gathered scientific data about contraception. The opening of the clinic created one of the greatest social impacts of the 20th century and marked the start of a new era in which couples, for the first time, could reliably take control of their fertility. In 1925, the clinic moved to Whitfield Street in Central London, where it remains today.

From the 1920s onwards, Marie Stopes gradually built up a small network of clinics that were initially very successful. By the early 1970s the clinics were in financial difficulties and in 1975 went into voluntary receivership. The modern organisation that bears Marie Stopes' name was established a year later, taking over responsibility for the main clinic, and beginning its work overseas in Delhi in 1978. Since the late 1970s the organisation has grown steadily.

Today the Marie Stopes International Global Partnership works in 38 countries and has offices in London, Brussels, Melbourne, Tokyo and Washington DC.

Dr Marie Stopes 1880-1958