Charles Vickery Drysdale

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 ...

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 FPA (Family Planning Association) was a UK registered charity (number 250187) working to enable people to make informed choices about sex and to enjoy sexual health. It was the national affiliate for the International Planned Parenthood Federat ...

in 1930. As an engineer he is remembered as the inventor of the Phase-shifting transformer. He was co-founder of the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physica ...

and served as its Vice-President 1932–1936. He was first a

Malthusian Malthusianism is the idea that population growth is potentially exponential while the growth of the food supply or other resources is linear, which eventually reduces living standards to the point of triggering a population die off. This event, c ...

and then a

Neo-Malthusian Malthusianism is the idea that population growth is potentially exponential while the growth of the food supply or other resources is linear, which eventually reduces living standards to the point of triggering a population die off. This event, c ...

and served as President of the

Malthusian League The Malthusian League was a British organisation which advocated the practice of contraception and the education of the public about the importance of family planning. It was established in 1877 and was dissolved in 1927. The organisation was secul ...

. He is seen as a founding father of Neo-Malthusianism.

Life

He was born the first son of

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

and

Alice Vickery 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. She and her life ...

. He was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

on 8 July 1874 while his mother was studying Medicine there. His uncle was John James Drysdale (1816–1890) founder of the Liverpool Homeopathic Hospital. He was privately tutored then sent to

Finsbury Finsbury is a district of Central London, forming the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Islington. It borders the City of London. The Manor of Finsbury is first recorded as ''Vinisbir'' (1231) and means "manor of a man called Finn ...

Technical College to study engineering. He completed his studies at the Central Technical College in

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

, where he was awarded the Siemens Medal. From 1898 he was a member of the Physical Society and oversaw its transition into the

. He served as president of the

Optical Society Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society (OSA) and before that as the Optical Society of America) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conference ...

in 1904. Following the death of his father in 1907 he became Secretary of the

and served as its President 1912 until 1952 (its demise). In 1914 he met

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 ...

who became a strong influence on his views. In both 1921 and 1925 he served as President of the Neo-Malthusian International Conference (London, 1921: New York, 1925). These views led to his involvement in Britain's National Birth Control Association in 1930. In 1907, greatly influenced by his mother's views he founded the Men's League for Women's Suffrage. He also sat on the Men's Committee for Justice for Women. In 1913 he was the first witness to give evidence to the National Birth-Rate Commission. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

in 1921. His proposers were

Charles Glover Barkla Charles Glover Barkla FRS FRSE (7 June 1877 – 23 October 1944) was a British physicist, and the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1917 for his work in X-ray spectroscopy and related areas in the study of X-rays (Roentgen rays). Life ...

James Robert Milne James Robert Milne Royal Scottish Society of Arts, PRSSA FRSE (c.1880–3 February 1961) was a 20th-century Scottish physicist. He served as President of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts from 1923 to 1925. Life He graduated with a BSc from the ...

, Sir

Thomas Hudson Beare Sir Thomas Hudson Beare FRSE RSSA (30 June 1859 – 10 June 1940) was an eminent British engineer. He was successively Professor of Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, at University College, London (where he was a colleague of K ...

Magnus Maclean Prof Magnus Maclean FRSE MIEE MICE LLD (1857-1937) was an electrical engineer who assisted Lord Kelvin in his electrical experiments and later became Professor of Electrical Engineering in Glasgow (one of the first to hold such a title). The Magnu ...

and

Ernest George Coker Prof Ernest George Coker FRS FRSE MIME MICE Wh.Ex. (1869–1946) was a British mathematician and engineer. He won the Howard N. Potts Medal for Physics in 1922, and the Rumford Medal for work on polarised light in 1936. He was an expert ...

. From 1934 to 1936 he was a joint manager of the

Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

. He was the Duddell Medalist for 1936. Following his wife's death he went to live with his nephew at Ashley, Filsham Drive, Pebsham near

Bexhill-on-Sea Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish situated in the county of East Sussex in South East England. An ancient town and part of the local government district of Rother, Bexhill is home to a number of arc ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

and died there on 7 February 1961. He is buried with his wife beside his parents in

Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regist ...

Career

From 1896 to 1910 he was Head of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics at the

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

Institute. From 1916 to 1918 he worked at H Tinsley & Co. In January 1918 he joined the Admiralty Experimental Station at Parkeston Quay on the Essex coast. Here he developed the "leader cable" system: a ship guidance system where ships attached to an underwater cable. Following the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in November he moved with the AES to Shandon on the western Scottish coast. From 1921 to 1929 he acted as Superintendent to the facility, and from 1929 to 1934 was Director of the admiralty Experimental Station in Scotland.

Recognition

Blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

commemorates Britain's second birth control clinic, which Drysdale managed. It stands on 153 East Street, Walworth,

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Publications

See He succeeded his father as editor of The Malthusian from 1907. He also wrote the following books and papers: *''The Foundation of Alternate Current Theory'' (1910) *''Food Supply at the Electrical Engineer'' (1914) *''The Small Family System: Is it Injurious or Immoral'' (1917) *''Small or Large Families'' (1917) with contributions from

Havelock Ellis Henry Havelock Ellis (2 February 1859 – 8 July 1939) was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, progressive intellectual and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He co-wrote the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in ...

*''Neo-Malthusianism and Eugenics'' (1922) *''Electrical Measuring Instruments'' (1952) *''A Religion for Humanity'' *''The Malthusian Doctrine and Criterion of Overpopulation'' *''To All Who Desire Permanent Peace and Prosperity'' *''Science and Post-War Policy'' *''Wage-Earners Save Yourselves!''

Family

In 1898 he married Bessie Ingman Edwards (1871-1950) a teacher at Stockwell College in South London. They had one daughter who died in 1914 aged 13. They adopted a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drysdale, Charles Vickery 1874 births 1961 deaths English engineers Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh English suffragists 20th-century English non-fiction writers English non-fiction writers English eugenicists Burials at Brookwood Cemetery British expatriates in France