Alice Vickery (also known as A. Vickery Drysdale and A. Drysdale Vickery; 1844 – 12 January 1929) was an English physician, campaigner for women's rights, and the first British woman to qualify as a chemist and

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

. She and her life partner,

Charles Robert Drysdale Charles Robert Drysdale (1829 – 2 December 1907) was an English engineer, physician, public health scientist, and supporter of birth control. He was the first President of the Malthusian League

, also a physician, actively supported a number of causes, including free love,

birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

, and destigmatisation of illegitimacy.

Education and marriage

Vickery was born in Devon in 1844 to a piano maker and

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

builder. By 1861, she had moved to

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

. Vickery began her medical career at the

Ladies' Medical College The Ladies' Medical College (renamed The Obstetrical College for Women) was a short-lived English medical college for women, established in 1864 by the Female Medical Society. It offered courses in midwifery and diseases associated with women and c ...

in 1869. There she met the lecturer

and started a relationship with him. They never married, as they both agreed with his brother George (also a neo- Malthusian physician) that marriage was "

legal prostitution Prostitution laws varies widely from country to country, and between jurisdictions within a country. At one extreme, prostitution or sex work is legal in some places and regarded as a profession, while at the other extreme, it is a crime pu ...

". The society, however, generally presumed that the pair were married; had their contemporaries known that they were in a free union, their careers likely would have suffered. Vickery sometimes added Drysdale's name to her own, referring to herself both as "Dr. Vickery Drysdale" and as "Dr. Drysdale Vickery". In 1873, Vickery obtained a midwife's degree from the

Obstetrical Society The Obstetrical Society of London existed from 1858 to 1907. History The Society was set up in 1858, the successor to an Obstetric Society dating from 1825, and in the aftermath of the Medical Act 1858. The founding group included James Hobson Ave ...

. On 18 June the same year, she passed the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's exam and became the first qualified female chemist and druggist. Afterward, Vickers went to study medicine at the University of Paris, as women were not allowed to attend any British medical school. There she gave birth to her first child,

Charles Vickery Drysdale Charles Vickery Drysdale FRSE CB OBE (1874–1961) was an English electrical engineer and social reformer. He is remembered for opening the second birth control clinic in Britain in 1921 and co-founding the Family Planning Association in 1930. ...

. The

UK Medical Act 1876 The Medical Act 1876 (39 & 40 Vict c 41) was an act which repealed the previous Medical Act in the United Kingdom and allowed all British medical authorities to license all qualified applicants whatever their gender. It was introduced by Parliamen ...

allowed women to obtain medical degrees, and Vickery returned to England in 1877. In 1880, she became one of five women who qualified as physicians in the kingdom, obtaining her degree from the London School of Medicine for Women, and started practising medicine. In August 1881 her second son, George Vickery Drysdale was born.

Activism

Vickery became a member of the Malthusian League and an outspoken supporter of

after the trial of

Annie Besant Annie Besant ( Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights activist, educationist, writer, orator, political party member and philanthropist. Regarded as a champion of human f ...

and Charles Bradlaugh, who were arrested for publishing a book about contraception in 1877. When she was called to testify at the trial, she spoke about the dangers of too frequent childbirths and of using over- lactation as a contraception method. She had to temporarily withdraw from the League, however, because the London Medical School for Women did not approve of her activities. She resumed membership in 1880, when she obtained her degree, and spent the following decade lecturing about birth control as a key element to the emancipation of women. At the same time, she actively opposed the Contagious Diseases Acts. Both Vickery and Drysdale joined the

Legitimation League The Legitimation League was an English advocacy organisation in the 1890s, which campaigned for the legitimation of illegitimate children and free love. History The association was founded in Leeds, in 1893, by a group of Individualist anarchism ...

, set up in 1893, and campaigned for equal rights for children

born out of wedlock Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as '' ...

. Vickery felt that the organisation "did not go far enough" until it started advocating free love. She was successively a member of the National Society for Women's Suffrage, the Women's Social and Political Union, and the Women's Freedom League. After Drysdale's death in 1907, Vickery continued practising as a physician and succeeded him as president of the Malthusian League, while their elder son Charles and daughter-in-law

Bessie Bessie is a feminine given name, often a diminutive form (hypocorism) of Elizabeth, Beatrice and other names since the 16th century. It is sometimes a name in its own right. Notable people with the name include: People *Bessie Abott (1878-191 ...

became the new editors of the journal ''Malthusian''. Soon afterward, she became one of the first members of the Eugenics Education Society.

Later years

Vickery moved to

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

in 1923 to be near her elder son. She regularly addressed meetings of the local branch of the Women's Freedom League. She died of pneumonia on 12 January 1929, a few days after delivering an address that became her final public presentation. She was buried with

in Brookwood Cemetery.

Family

Her life-partner was Dr Charles Robert Drysdale. Their sons were

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(1874-1961) and George Vickery Drysdale (1881).

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vickery, Alice 1844 births 1929 deaths Alumni of the London School of Medicine for Women English women medical doctors British birth control activists Deaths from pneumonia in England Free love advocates Burials at Brookwood Cemetery Medical doctors from Devon Women of the Victorian era