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

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and pioneer of birth control and

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproduc ...

. 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,

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

parents - Simon and Freda (Grill) - who brought her to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

, England when she was five years old. Witcop was a member of the anarchist Jubilee Street Club - her sister Milly (Witkop) was the partner of

Rudolf Rocker Johann Rudolf Rocker (March 25, 1873 – September 19, 1958) was a German anarchist writer and activist. He was born in Mainz to a Roman Catholic artisan family. His father died when he was a child, and his mother when he was in his teens, so he ...

- and it was there she met

Guy Aldred Guy Alfred Aldred (often Guy A. Aldred; 5 November 1886 – 16 October 1963) was a British anarcho-communist and a prominent member of the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation (APCF). He founded the Bakunin Press publishing house and edited ...

. In January 1907 they set up home together in Thorpebank Road, Shepherd's Bush, 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 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 ...

. 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's ''Family Limitation''. The case drew much press coverage and was supported both morally and financially at appeal by

Dora Russell Dora, Countess Russell (née Black; 3 April 1894 – 31 May 1986) was a British author, a feminist and socialist campaigner, and the second wife of the philosopher Bertrand Russell. She was a campaigner for contraception and peace. She worked ...

and

John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...

. 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 The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

) 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, London from gangrenous

appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these typical symptoms. Severe complications of a ru ...

and was cremated at

Golders Green Crematorium Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000 (the equivalent of £135,987 in 2021), ...

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