A sketch of a temperament
Nick Churchill on a new play showing how Marie Stopes fitted in on Portland
Published in January ’19
Doug Smith at the wheel of a Daimler with Jane McKell as Dr Marie Stopes at the Old Higher Lighthouse
It was a close-knit, somewhat isolated community, resistant to change and suspicious of outsiders. She was a firebrand advocate of female empowerment, an outspoken campaigner for contraception and sex education for all, regardless of gender and social class. On the face of it, Dr Marie Stopes and Portland were never going to see eye to eye.
And yet… having bought the Old Higher Lighthouse in 1923 as a refuge from the storms in which she was embroiled on the mainland, Marie Stopes found some restorative peace and quiet, sunbathing on the Bill, swimming in the sea and forging friendships with the locals. She founded and curated Portland Museum in 1930, gifting to the community its two 17th-century cottages, one of which was used by Thomas Hardy as the home of Avice, the heroine in The Well-Beloved. For 35 years Portland was a precious refuge from the wider world for Marie Stopes until her death from breast cancer at the age of seventy in 1958.
Marie’s second husband Harry Rose with Marie and the baby Harry Verdon Stopes-Roe. Credit: Steps in Time Project
Today she is perhaps best known as the founder of the network of health clinics that, as Marie Stopes International, provide contraception and safe abortions in 37 countries, but her early embrace of eugenics and espousal of the forced sterilisation of those deemed ‘totally unfit for parenthood’ make her a controversial character to champion.
A century after the publication of her landmark book, Married Love, in which she spoke frankly about mutual sexual enjoyment, Dorset-based AsOne theatre company is taking its new play about Marie Stopes on the road. Based in Portland and London, Escaping the Storm was written and directed by Peter John Cooper and produced by Jane McKell, one of AsOne’s four-actor ensemble. ‘Marie Stopes was a jagged character,’ says Jane, who plays her in later life. ‘She is fascinating and formidable and fits well with other Dorset stories AsOne has told about Mary Anning and Emma Hardy.’
The multi-media production sets the story of Marie Stopes in Portland in context by explaining something of her life and the gruelling court case that provided the backdrop for her move to the isle in 1923. ‘She effectively sued the Catholic Church for defamation after the publication of Married Love,’ says Jane. ‘She was absolutely vilified for her views on sex and birth control. Actually, she was against abortion, but in favour of enjoying sex, which is why she argued for contraception to be widely available. Her life was hectic, so Portland offered her an oasis of calm.
Marie Stopes on the rocks at Lower Lighthouse Bay in the summer of 1939. Credit: Steps in Time Project
‘One of the most challenging aspects of the script is to fit in all the different aspects of her story without lecturing the audience. Marie really fought hard to study botany and geology and then became the first female professor at Manchester University. She was a recognised world expert in coal and worked in Japan and Canada before marrying her first husband, a marriage she had annulled on the grounds of non-consummation.’
The play opens on Portland Bill where Marie is with two Portlanders, Margaret and Mikey, generic characters created from the wealth of local stories. ‘What follows is a journey for all three of them with some surprising conclusions,’ Jane explains. ‘The four actors play all the parts, including Marie’s dog, Wuffles. It’s an interesting approach to the material, very modern.’
Marie’s father, Henry Stopes, was a leading amateur palaeontologist and her first visits to Portland were fossil-hunting trips as the isle is rich in the cycad fossils that were of particular interest to her. Having bought the former lighthouse, she visited for a few days, weeks, or even months at a time, entertaining stellar guests including Thomas Hardy, George Bernard Shaw, HG Wells and Noël Coward – she often said she wanted to be remembered for her poetry.
Marie Stopes the trailblazing young paleobotanist in her laboratory . Credit: Steps in Time Project
‘She was definitely a “kimberlin”, an incomer,’ says Jane. ‘Portlanders would probably have called her; “’er op thar” and it wouldn’t have been long before everyone had an opinion about her – it was said she sunbathed naked and took skinny dips in the sea. She was an unashamedly sensual woman and said that her son, Harry, had been conceived under the stars at the lighthouse.’
Marie doted on Harry, firmly controlling every aspect of his childhood. She knitted him kilts to wear instead of trousers so as not to overheat his reproductive organs and, after being told she could not have more children, she recruited a series of ‘healthy, intelligent and not circumcised’ companions for him from impoverished backgrounds, returning each one when they failed to meet her expectations. Years later, when Harry married Mary Eyre Wallis, the daughter of bouncing bomb engineer Barnes Wallis, Marie objected because the bride suffered from myopia. She went on to disinherit Harry and left the bulk of her estate to the Eugenics Society and the Royal Society of Literature.
‘Harry never spoke out against his mother, but there’s no doubt she was absolutely blinkered in her focus, she thought she was creating the perfect man,’ says Jane. ‘Marie was drawn to eugenics as were many others, including George Bernard Shaw and Bertrand Russell. She sent a book of her love poetry to Hitler, she was a skilled media manipulator and knew exactly how to attract attention.’
Joan McKell as Dr Marie Stopes
Marie Stopes may have been the source of much controversy in the wider world, but Doug Smith has no cause to recall with her anything other than fondness. The 94-year-old Portlander was her regular driver for eleven years. Doug’s father, Richard John Smith – ‘Dick Snappy he was known on Portland’ – ran a horse and wagonette taxi service before making the change to the motor car. In 1941, at the age of 17, Doug joined the business and drove an Armstrong Siddeley. ‘Beautiful car, Bedford cord upholstery and plush carpet, coach-built. Then in 1946 Dad told me a job had come in and I was to go to London, pick up a lady and bring her down here. She turned out to be Dr Marie Stopes and I was to take her to the Old Lighthouse. She told me for the time she was there I was to pick up four pints of milk every day and bring them to her along with gladioli and sometimes some meat. That was all she bought locally.
‘She must have been satisfied with my work or else why would she have kept me all those years?’ he reasons. ‘I found her to be very generous and thoughtful. I spoke to her just as I would speak to anybody and she never spoke down to me or anyone else that I heard.
‘I’d drive up to Golders Green to pick her up for about 10 o’clock and her cook would make me a breakfast all cooked in butter. We’d set off with Dr Marie and her maid and stop for lunch in the New Forest. Now, a measure of how good she was. On the way back up to London we’d all sit together and when we’d finished eating, the waiter would naturally bring the bill to me as I was the man and Dr Marie would always let me pay. I’d leave half a crown tip and then once we got outside she’d ask me how much it was and give me the money. In those days it was expected the man would pay and, although she had more pounds than I had ha’pennies, I never once felt pushed down by her. She was very good like that.’
The current owner of the Old Higher Lighthouse, Frances Lockyer chatting with Doug Smith in the garden
Marie Stopes and Doug Smith came from very different worlds, but they developed a respectful bond based on mutual trust. Doug is well aware of the criticisms levelled at his one-time employer, but can speak only as he found her. ‘This is how she was to me and that’s all I know,’ he says. ‘My son, Michael, was born in the Old Lighthouse on 5 May 1949. I was having a bungalow built and had terrible trouble with the planners. One day, and I don’t know why I said it, I told Dr Marie that I wished her house was nearer to Easton. She asked why and I said because we could move in and look after it while she was away.
‘Straightaway she said that as she paid me to look after the Old Lighthouse in any case, why didn’t I just move in with Audrey, my wife, and
we could live there over the winter and take care of the house. So we did. Audrey said she wanted to have the baby at home and so she gave
birth in the lighthouse with two doctors and a nurse present.
‘A few years ago, they made a television documentary about Dr Marie and I was interviewed for about two hours, but the film was very critical of her and I wasn’t featured in what they broadcast because I don’t think what I had to say fitted with what they wanted to show.’
Some sixty years after her death, Portland continues to remember Marie Stopes who remains as controversial as ever – at once visionary, but deeply flawed, simultaneously both a product of and ahead of her time.
www.as-onetheatre.co.uk
Escaping the Storm, Dorset tour dates
16 January, 7.30 Corn Exchange, Dorchester, 01305 266926
14 February, 7.30 Weymouth Pavilion, 01305 783225
Portland Museum is open 10.30 to 4.00 seven days a week.
