Rose Lilian Witcop Aldred (9 April 1890 – 4 July 1932) was an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

, journalist and pioneer of

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 sex education. She was born Rachel VitkopskiNicolas Walter, ‘Witcop, Rose Lillian (1890–1932)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 9 Sept 2007
/ref> in

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

, Ukraine to Jewish parents - Simon and Freda (Grill) - who brought her to London, England when she was five years old. Witcop was a member of the anarchist

Jubilee Street Club The Worker's Friend Group was a Jewish anarchist group active in London's East End in the early 1900s. Associated with the Yiddish-language anarchist newspaper ''Arbeter Fraint'' ("Worker's Friend") and centered around the German emigre anarch ...

- her sister

Milly Milly is a feminine given name, sometimes used as a short form (hypocorism) of Mildred, Amelia, Emily, etc. It may refer to: People * Milly Alcock (born 2000), Australian actress * Milly Babalanda (born 1970), Ugandan politician * Milly Berna ...

(Witkop) was the partner of Rudolf Rocker - and it was there she met Guy Aldred. In January 1907 they set up home together in Thorpebank Road,

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a district of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, i ...

, London.Aldred, Guy A., ''No Traitors' Gait! - The Life and Times of Guy A. Aldred'', Vol.3 No.1, Strickland Press, Glasgow, 1963, p.449 Two years later, on 2 May 1909, she gave birth to their son, Annesley. She worked alongside Guy Aldred and single-handedly ran ''The Spur'' during his imprisonment for resisting conscription during the First World War. From 1921 she concentrated her efforts on the issue of birth control and in 1923 she and Aldred were arrested and charged for publishing and distributing

Margaret Sanger Margaret Higgins Sanger (born Margaret Louise Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966), also known as Margaret Sanger Slee, was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term "birth control ...

's ''Family Limitation''. The case drew much press coverage and was supported both morally and financially at appeal by Dora Russell and John Maynard Keynes. Although losing the case, Rose re-published the text in 1925 and, while she avoided prosecution, attracted the attention of the Home Office who threatened to deport her as a Russian (i.e. Soviet) national. Despite having parted in 1924, Witcop and Aldred arranged a civil marriage in order to confirm her citizenship status and prevent any possible deportation. She died on 4 July 1932 in

St George's Hospital St George's Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Tooting, London. Founded in 1733, it is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals and one of the largest hospitals in Europe. It is run by the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundatio ...

, London from gangrenous appendicitis and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium two days later.

References

Bibliography

* Aldred, Guy A. (1963), ''No Traitors' Gait! - The Life and Times of Guy A. Aldred'', Vol.3 No.1, Strickland Press, Glasgow * Caldwell, John T. (1978), "Guy Aldred, Anti-Parliamentarian, 1886-1963: A Memoir", ''Essays in Scottish Labour History: a tribute to W. H. Marwick'', ed. MacDougall, I., * Caldwell, John Taylor (1988), ''Come Dungeons Dark: The Life and Times of Guy Aldred, Glasgow Anarchist'', {{DEFAULTSORT:Witcop, Rose 1890 births 1932 deaths Anarchist writers British birth control activists Free love advocates Free speech activists Jewish anarchists Ukrainian anarchists Ukrainian Jews Ukrainian-Jewish emigrants to the United Kingdom Print journalists English anarchists English Jews English political journalists English women journalists English women non-fiction writers