Helena Rosa Wright
Encyclopedia
Helena Rosa Wright (17 September 1887 - 21 March 1982) was a British
-born pioneer and influential figure in birth control
and family planning
both in the Britain
and internationally. With her husband she undertook missionary work in China
for five years. She qualified as a medical doctor, later specialising in contraception
medicine
. Helena became renowned as an educator and also as a campaigner for government funded family planning services and became associated with international organisations promoting population control
programmes. She was the author of several books and training guides on birth control, sex education
and sex therapy
.
, Brixton
, London
. Her father, Henryk (Henry) Loewenfeld had arrived in England
from Silesia
in the early 1880s. Although almost penniless he soon became a wealthy businessman through a variety of ventures, including the buying up rundown theatres in the West End of London
and starting a brewery selling non-alcoholic beer in Fulham
at the time the temperance movement took hold. He married Alice Evans in 1884. Soon after Helena's birth, the family were able to move into a large house, staffed by servants in Knightsbridge
, West London. Helena was educated initially at home by governess
es and attended Princess Helena College
then located in Ealing
followed by Cheltenham Ladies College in Gloucestershire
. Her younger sister, Margaret Lowenfeld
, also became a doctor and was renowned as a pioneer in the fields of child psychology and psychotherapy
.
In August 1917, Helena married Peter Wright, an army surgeon, with whom she had four sons.
, London obtaining a MRCS (Eng.) and LRCP (Lond.)
in 1914 and MB, BS (Lond.) in 1915. Later that year she started working in the outpatients department of Hampstead General Hospital in Camden Town
, later transferring to the main hospital in Haverstock Hill
as house surgeon. However, having been reported to the police due to her foreign name she was required to resign her job at the hospital in May 1915. After a short break she took up appointment as a house surgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street. Meanwhile she was active in the Student Christian Movement and was a member of the London Inter-Faculty Christian Union and had declared herself a pacifist. Her beliefs precluded her from joining the Royal Army Medical Corps
but she worked as a civilian junior surgeon under military supervision at the Bethnal Green Hospital in east London.
. In October 1921 she fulfilled her ambition by taking up the position of associate professor of gynaecology at the Shandong Christian University, now part of Shandong Medical University in Tsinan. Helena and Peter had intended this missionary work to continue for the rest of their lives. However, in the event it came to an end after five years when the missionary work was halted due to increasing hostilities prefacing the imminent arrival of the Nationalists, and as they were visiting England
in March 1927 they were unable to return. Despite this Helena recorded her experiences in China as 'a complete fulfilment of all I expected and more'.
whom she had by chance had met in 1918, during a holiday at Lands End in Cornwall
. Marie had mentioned her plans to open a birth control clinic
in England, the first of its kind. By 1921, Marie had opened the Mothers' Clinic for Constructive Birth Control in Holloway
, north London and then a second clinic in Walworth
, south London which Helena visited. Helena discovered Marie had been badly affected by losing a protracted libel action she had initiated against the Roman Catholic Church
. In Helena's view this had left Marie bitter, bordering on paranoia, as well as resentful towards the medical profession, almost exclusively male at the time, had been opposed to her views that women should receive birth control advice from trained nurses rather than doctors. An approach which was also at odds with Helena's own views.
This experience contrasted with Helena's visit to the Women's Centre in North Kensington where she met its founder the social reformer, Margery Spring Rice. Helena and was able to persuade Margery that contraceptive advice should be given by specially trained gynaecologists. Margery offered Helena the job of Chief Medical Officer at the Kensington Centre, a role which she continued in for thirty years becoming also Chairman of the Medical Committee. Working in collaboration with Margery, Helena was able to ensure the Centre became a focus for training medical students and nurses in birth control, sex education and therapy which also gave Helena an international reputation. In 1930 Helena addressed the Lambeth Conference, persuading bishops of the Church of England
to give their blessing to the use of contraceptives in marriage.
Helena was paid just £2 per weekly session in 1928 for her work at the Kensington Centre. For income Helena relied on family money and in due course a private gynaecological practice she was building, temporarily based at her sister Margaret's consulting rooms prior to Helena and Peter being able to set up separate consulting practices in Weymouth Street. Premises which she continued to occupy throughout her career.
(FPA) in 1939. Despite Helena's best efforts, Marie Stopes' participation in the national association survived only until 1933 when she resigned from the executive committee having found her opinions on contraception increasingly ignored.
Having gained charitable status for the NBCA in 1931, Helena worked with the medical committee which she now chaired to establish standards in the use of contraceptive devices and the safety of procedures and medicines. In the later case, the NBCA went on to sponsor the development and licensing of proprietary medicines for distribution to birth control clinics.
From 1936 Helena had established the first curriculum for contraceptive medicine at her north Kensington clinic. She also started to teach at the British Postgraduate Medical School
at Hammersmith
, the first medical school
in Britain
to include lectures in contraception for trainee doctors. The numbers of women pursuing the advice and completing courses of treatment had also increased. The term sex therapist was not in use in the 1930s, however, in retrospect Helena is described as one of the early British practitioners. This phase of her career is also marked by the publication of the short handbook Birth Control: Advice on Family Spacing and healthy Sex Life and her 1930 book, The Sex Factor in Marriage, which focussed on dispelling ignorance about sexual relations.
The Second World War brought a rapid decline in FPA activity. Helena continued to work at her clinic but became concerned for the women who had enlisted and needed to be offered help due to pregnancy. She failed in her attempts to persuade the War Office
that the FPA should train medics but was able to offer her own support and a place to stay for women who became pregnant. After the war, the failure to take the initiative at the time the National Health Service
to ensure family planning was included within the plans for health services provision led to the FPA running virtually all birth control clinics and pregnancy diagnosis laboratories. Helena continued to experience opposition to the work of the FPA and resistance to her approach to birth control in many quarters well into the 1950s. However, in 1955 Helena was instrumental in obtaining the surprise support for the FPA from Iain Macleod
, the then UK Minister for Health
. This initiative was seen as a watershed in public opinion towards birth control and contraception. However, the fundamental change in public policy towards a government-sponsored family planning service in the UK had to wait until the 1974 reorganisation of the NHS when responsibilities for family planning were handed over to local health authorities.
, a fellow pioneer in family planning, an international conference of family planning institutions from around the world was organised in Cheltenham
, Gloucestershire
in 1948 at which plans were made for a new international organisation. Helena worked closely with others, including Margaret Sanger
, the American
birth control campaigner, to promote the development of family planning programmes on a worldwide basis. This culminated in 1952 with the inauguration of the International Planned Parenthood Federation
(IPPF). She retired from the FPA in 1957 but continued in private practice and to train foreign sphysician students in family-planning practices. Her 1968 book, Sex and Society, was described as "pioneering" through its promotion of voluntary fertility and the impact of this on society.
She travelled extensively, teaching and lecturing on family planning. Her last visit was to India
in 1976.
in 1974 at the age of 87. She remain active into her 93rd year, travelling to FPA events in the UK, meeting IPPF delegates from abroad and being interviewed on the BBC.
whom she married at the Savoy Chapel
in the Stand
, London on 17 August 1917. Their first son Beric Wright, who in time was also to become a renowned doctor, was born on 17 June 1918. Christopher Wright, their second son was born on 18 October 1920 just a year before their departure to China. Their third son, Michael, (10 April 1923), and fourth son Adrian, (6 September 1926), were both born during their parent time at Tsinan.
Helen and Peter's work was not financially well rewarded, at least initially, and in the period following their return to England they found it a struggle to sustain a lifestyle at the level they had both been used to. Helena had access to money from her mother's estate but they were also committed to supporting the private education of their four boys whose all presented their parents and teachers with problems and challenges. By 1955, the surprise success of Helena's book, The Sex Factor in Marriage, particularly in the USA, provided much needed income to meet the rising costs of their larger house in London. In 1962 her second son, Christopher died suddenly whilst been treated for depression. Helena had already developed an interest in astrology
and the paranormal
. She thought Christopher had strong extra sensory perception and at the time of his death her conviction in attending séances was reinforced as she reported receiving a 'message' from him and other deceased friends of hers. Helena also became an advocate of alternative medicine
in the latter part of her career.
In 1962 Helena also bought Brudenell House, a former rectory in Quainton
, Oxfordshire
. This was a weekend retreat for Helena and her close friend Bruce McFarlane the medieval historian based nearby at Magdalen College, Oxford
. Helena had first met Bruce at Oxford in 1930 when he advised on her son Christopher's troubled education. He soon became a family friend and regular guest of the Wright's. During their marriage both Helena and Peter had relationships with several other people and in her professional role she was encouraging to those patients who consulted her about their extra-marital relationships. The architect Oliver Hill
was one with whom she had an affair. Helena long-standing relationship with Bruce was known openly by family and friends. In 1952 Bruce dedicated his book on John Wycliffe
to Helena and on his death in 1966, whilst on a picnic with Helena, he left all his possessions to her and made Peter his executor.
Peter Wright died in May 1976. Helena died, age 95 in 1982 and she is buried along with her sister, Margaret and alongside her cousin Günther's wife, Claire Loewenfeld
at the Church of St Lawrence, Cholesbury
, Buckinghamshire
. Another cousin, Ralph Beyer
, who worked with Basil Spence
designing and carving the 'Tablets of the Words' at Coventry Cathedral
, carved the inscriptions on the tombstones.
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
-born pioneer and influential figure in birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
and family planning
Family planning
Family planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and...
both in the Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and internationally. With her husband she undertook missionary work in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
for five years. She qualified as a medical doctor, later specialising in contraception
Contraception
Contraception is the prevention of the fusion of gametes during or after sexual activity. The term contraception is a contraction of contra, which means against, and the word conception, meaning fertilization...
medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
. Helena became renowned as an educator and also as a campaigner for government funded family planning services and became associated with international organisations promoting population control
Population control
Human population control is the practice of artificially altering the rate of growth of a human population.Historically, human population control has been implemented by limiting the population's birth rate, usually by government mandate, and has been undertaken as a response to factors including...
programmes. She was the author of several books and training guides on birth control, sex education
Sex education
Sex education refers to formal programs of instruction on a wide range of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, abstinence, contraception, and...
and sex therapy
Sex therapy
Sex therapy is the treatment of sexual dysfunction, such as non-consummation, premature ejaculation , erectile dysfunction, low libido, unwanted sexual fetishes, sexual addiction, painful sex, or a lack of sexual confidence, assisting people who are recovering from sexual assault, problems commonly...
.
Early years
Helena was born on 17 September 1887 in Tulse HillTulse Hill
Tulse Hill is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in South London, England. It lies to the south of Brixton, east of Brixton Hill, north of West Norwood and west of West Dulwich.-History:...
, Brixton
Brixton
Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Her father, Henryk (Henry) Loewenfeld had arrived in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
from Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
in the early 1880s. Although almost penniless he soon became a wealthy businessman through a variety of ventures, including the buying up rundown theatres in the West End of London
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
and starting a brewery selling non-alcoholic beer in Fulham
Fulham
Fulham is an area of southwest London in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, SW6 located south west of Charing Cross. It lies on the left bank of the Thames, between Putney and Chelsea. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
at the time the temperance movement took hold. He married Alice Evans in 1884. Soon after Helena's birth, the family were able to move into a large house, staffed by servants in Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a road which gives its name to an exclusive district lying to the west of central London. The road runs along the south side of Hyde Park, west from Hyde Park Corner, spanning the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
, West London. Helena was educated initially at home by governess
Governess
A governess is a girl or woman employed to teach and train children in a private household. In contrast to a nanny or a babysitter, she concentrates on teaching children, not on meeting their physical needs...
es and attended Princess Helena College
Princess Helena College
Princess Helena College is an independent school for girls located in the small village of Preston near Hitchin in Hertfordshire. It is housed in a Grade II* listed Queen Anne country house, which was redesigned by Edwin Lutyens, at the same time as the gardens were designed by his great friend,...
then located in Ealing
Ealing
Ealing is a suburban area of west London, England and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Ealing. It is located west of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a rural village...
followed by Cheltenham Ladies College in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
. Her younger sister, Margaret Lowenfeld
Margaret Lowenfeld
Margaret Frances Jane Lowenfeld was a British-born pioneer of child psychology and psychotherapy, a medical researcher in paediatric medicine, and an author of several publications and academic papers on the analysis of child development and play...
, also became a doctor and was renowned as a pioneer in the fields of child psychology and psychotherapy
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
.
In August 1917, Helena married Peter Wright, an army surgeon, with whom she had four sons.
Medical training and hospital surgical work
Helena had harboured a desire to become a medical doctor from the age of six despite strong parental opposition. From 1908 she attended the London Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine for Women in BloomsburyBloomsbury
-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
, London obtaining a MRCS (Eng.) and LRCP (Lond.)
Conjoint
The conjoint was a basic medical qualification in the United Kingdom administered by the United Examining Board. It is now no longer awarded. The Conjoint Board was superseded in 1994 by the United Examining Board, which lost its permission to hold qualifying medical examinations after 1999.Medical...
in 1914 and MB, BS (Lond.) in 1915. Later that year she started working in the outpatients department of Hampstead General Hospital in Camden Town
Camden Town
-Economy:In recent years, entertainment-related businesses and a Holiday Inn have moved into the area. A number of retail and food chain outlets have replaced independent shops driven out by high rents and redevelopment. Restaurants have thrived, with the variety of culinary traditions found in...
, later transferring to the main hospital in Haverstock Hill
Haverstock
Haverstock is an area and electoral ward in the London Borough of Camden. It is centred around Haverstock Hill and Chalk Farm, with Gospel Oak to the north; Kentish Town to the east; Camden Town to the south, and Swiss Cottage to the west....
as house surgeon. However, having been reported to the police due to her foreign name she was required to resign her job at the hospital in May 1915. After a short break she took up appointment as a house surgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street. Meanwhile she was active in the Student Christian Movement and was a member of the London Inter-Faculty Christian Union and had declared herself a pacifist. Her beliefs precluded her from joining the Royal Army Medical Corps
Royal Army Medical Corps
The Royal Army Medical Corps is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace...
but she worked as a civilian junior surgeon under military supervision at the Bethnal Green Hospital in east London.
Missionary work
Even before their marriage both Helen and her husband Peter discussed their shared vocation having both become student missionary volunteers in ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. In October 1921 she fulfilled her ambition by taking up the position of associate professor of gynaecology at the Shandong Christian University, now part of Shandong Medical University in Tsinan. Helena and Peter had intended this missionary work to continue for the rest of their lives. However, in the event it came to an end after five years when the missionary work was halted due to increasing hostilities prefacing the imminent arrival of the Nationalists, and as they were visiting England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in March 1927 they were unable to return. Despite this Helena recorded her experiences in China as 'a complete fulfilment of all I expected and more'.
Pioneer in birth control and sex education
On her return after five years in China, Helena had become convinced her future vocation lay in enhancing the status of contraception medicine. She first sought out Marie StopesMarie Stopes
Marie Carmichael Stopes was a British author, palaeobotanist, campaigner for women's rights and pioneer in the field of birth control...
whom she had by chance had met in 1918, during a holiday at Lands End in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
. Marie had mentioned her plans to open a birth control clinic
Clinic
A clinic is a health care facility that is primarily devoted to the care of outpatients...
in England, the first of its kind. By 1921, Marie had opened the Mothers' Clinic for Constructive Birth Control in Holloway
Holloway, London
Holloway is an inner-city district in the London Borough of Islington located north of Charing Cross and follows for the most part, the line of the Holloway Road . At the centre of Holloway is the Nag's Head area...
, north London and then a second clinic in Walworth
Walworth
-Places:United Kingdom* Walworth, County DurhamUnited States* Walworth County, South Dakota* Walworth County, Wisconsin* Walworth, New York* Walworth, Wisconsin, a village* Walworth , Wisconsin, a town...
, south London which Helena visited. Helena discovered Marie had been badly affected by losing a protracted libel action she had initiated against the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. In Helena's view this had left Marie bitter, bordering on paranoia, as well as resentful towards the medical profession, almost exclusively male at the time, had been opposed to her views that women should receive birth control advice from trained nurses rather than doctors. An approach which was also at odds with Helena's own views.
This experience contrasted with Helena's visit to the Women's Centre in North Kensington where she met its founder the social reformer, Margery Spring Rice. Helena and was able to persuade Margery that contraceptive advice should be given by specially trained gynaecologists. Margery offered Helena the job of Chief Medical Officer at the Kensington Centre, a role which she continued in for thirty years becoming also Chairman of the Medical Committee. Working in collaboration with Margery, Helena was able to ensure the Centre became a focus for training medical students and nurses in birth control, sex education and therapy which also gave Helena an international reputation. In 1930 Helena addressed the Lambeth Conference, persuading bishops of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
to give their blessing to the use of contraceptives in marriage.
Helena was paid just £2 per weekly session in 1928 for her work at the Kensington Centre. For income Helena relied on family money and in due course a private gynaecological practice she was building, temporarily based at her sister Margaret's consulting rooms prior to Helena and Peter being able to set up separate consulting practices in Weymouth Street. Premises which she continued to occupy throughout her career.
Educator and campaigner
By 1931 there were at least five independent birth control clinics in the UK. The National Birth Rate Commission noted that each used their own techniques and equipment and there was little gathering of research or sharing of scientific knowledge. Following protracted discussions agreement was reached on establishing a single co-ordinating body on which the leading birth control practitioners would sit. Marie Stopes had continued her public hostilities towards both the Catholic Church and the medical fraternity and she was initially going to be excluded on grounds that she did not have medical qualifications. However Helena secured Marie's involvement in return for agreeing to her own participation on the co-ordinating committee and to 'manage' Marie. The National Birth Control Association (NBCA) was formed which in turn evolved to become the Family Planning AssociationFamily Planning Association
FPA is a UK registered charity working to enable people to make informed choices about sex and to enjoy sexual health. It is the national affiliate for the International Planned Parenthood Federation in the United Kingdom. It celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2010...
(FPA) in 1939. Despite Helena's best efforts, Marie Stopes' participation in the national association survived only until 1933 when she resigned from the executive committee having found her opinions on contraception increasingly ignored.
Having gained charitable status for the NBCA in 1931, Helena worked with the medical committee which she now chaired to establish standards in the use of contraceptive devices and the safety of procedures and medicines. In the later case, the NBCA went on to sponsor the development and licensing of proprietary medicines for distribution to birth control clinics.
From 1936 Helena had established the first curriculum for contraceptive medicine at her north Kensington clinic. She also started to teach at the British Postgraduate Medical School
Royal Postgraduate Medical School
The Royal Postgraduate Medical School was an independent medical school, based primarily at Hammersmith Hospital in west London. In 1988, the school merged with the Institute of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, and in 1997 became part of the Imperial College School of Medicine.-History:The medical school...
at Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
, the first medical school
Medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches medicine. Degree programs offered at medical schools often include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, master's degree, or other post-secondary...
in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
to include lectures in contraception for trainee doctors. The numbers of women pursuing the advice and completing courses of treatment had also increased. The term sex therapist was not in use in the 1930s, however, in retrospect Helena is described as one of the early British practitioners. This phase of her career is also marked by the publication of the short handbook Birth Control: Advice on Family Spacing and healthy Sex Life and her 1930 book, The Sex Factor in Marriage, which focussed on dispelling ignorance about sexual relations.
The Second World War brought a rapid decline in FPA activity. Helena continued to work at her clinic but became concerned for the women who had enlisted and needed to be offered help due to pregnancy. She failed in her attempts to persuade the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
that the FPA should train medics but was able to offer her own support and a place to stay for women who became pregnant. After the war, the failure to take the initiative at the time the National Health Service
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
to ensure family planning was included within the plans for health services provision led to the FPA running virtually all birth control clinics and pregnancy diagnosis laboratories. Helena continued to experience opposition to the work of the FPA and resistance to her approach to birth control in many quarters well into the 1950s. However, in 1955 Helena was instrumental in obtaining the surprise support for the FPA from Iain Macleod
Iain Macleod
Iain Norman Macleod was a British Conservative Party politician and government minister.-Early life:...
, the then UK Minister for Health
Secretary of State for Health
Secretary of State for Health is a UK cabinet position responsible for the Department of Health.The first Boards of Health were created by Orders in Council dated 21 June, 14 November, and 21 November 1831. In 1848 a General Board of Health was created with the First Commissioner of Woods and...
. This initiative was seen as a watershed in public opinion towards birth control and contraception. However, the fundamental change in public policy towards a government-sponsored family planning service in the UK had to wait until the 1974 reorganisation of the NHS when responsibilities for family planning were handed over to local health authorities.
International work
During the late 1940s Helena became more and more frustrated by the FPA's 'introverted' attitude towards encouraging good practice and raising standards of family planning and strived for the FPA to adopt a more international perspective. Together with Margaret PykeMargaret Pyke
Margaret Amy Pyke was a British birth control activist and family planning pioneer. A founding member of the British National Birth Control Committee , later known as the Family Planning Association , she succeeded Lady Gertrude Denman as chairman of that organization in 1954. She was also a...
, a fellow pioneer in family planning, an international conference of family planning institutions from around the world was organised in Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
in 1948 at which plans were made for a new international organisation. Helena worked closely with others, including Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger was an American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood...
, the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
birth control campaigner, to promote the development of family planning programmes on a worldwide basis. This culminated in 1952 with the inauguration of the International Planned Parenthood Federation
International Planned Parenthood Federation
The International Planned Parenthood Federation is a global non-governmental organization with the broad aims of promoting sexual and reproductive health, and advocating the right of individuals to make their own choices in family planning. It was first formed in 1952 in Bombay, India, and now...
(IPPF). She retired from the FPA in 1957 but continued in private practice and to train foreign sphysician students in family-planning practices. Her 1968 book, Sex and Society, was described as "pioneering" through its promotion of voluntary fertility and the impact of this on society.
She travelled extensively, teaching and lecturing on family planning. Her last visit was to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in 1976.
Semi retirement
Helena eventually handed over her private consulting practice in Weymouth St to her successor in 1975 at the age of 88. She continued to support the work of the IPPF, travelling abroad to conferences and to lecture including, for example, a visit to Sri LankaSri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
in 1974 at the age of 87. She remain active into her 93rd year, travelling to FPA events in the UK, meeting IPPF delegates from abroad and being interviewed on the BBC.
Family life
In May 1916, whilst at Bethnal Green Hospital, she met Captain Henry Wardel Snarey Wright who she always called Peter. He was a RAMC surgeonSurgeon
In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...
whom she married at the Savoy Chapel
Savoy Chapel
The Savoy Chapel or the Queen's Chapel of the Savoy is a chapel off the Strand, London, dedicated to St John the Baptist. It was originally built in the medieval era off the main church of the Savoy Palace...
in the Stand
Stand
Stand may refer to:*Stand, Greater Manchester, a residential area in the Metropolitan Borough of Manchester, England*A partnership in cricket*STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition...
, London on 17 August 1917. Their first son Beric Wright, who in time was also to become a renowned doctor, was born on 17 June 1918. Christopher Wright, their second son was born on 18 October 1920 just a year before their departure to China. Their third son, Michael, (10 April 1923), and fourth son Adrian, (6 September 1926), were both born during their parent time at Tsinan.
Helen and Peter's work was not financially well rewarded, at least initially, and in the period following their return to England they found it a struggle to sustain a lifestyle at the level they had both been used to. Helena had access to money from her mother's estate but they were also committed to supporting the private education of their four boys whose all presented their parents and teachers with problems and challenges. By 1955, the surprise success of Helena's book, The Sex Factor in Marriage, particularly in the USA, provided much needed income to meet the rising costs of their larger house in London. In 1962 her second son, Christopher died suddenly whilst been treated for depression. Helena had already developed an interest in astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
and the paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
. She thought Christopher had strong extra sensory perception and at the time of his death her conviction in attending séances was reinforced as she reported receiving a 'message' from him and other deceased friends of hers. Helena also became an advocate of alternative medicine
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
in the latter part of her career.
In 1962 Helena also bought Brudenell House, a former rectory in Quainton
Quainton
Quainton is a village and civil parish in Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England, north west of Aylesbury. The population is 1290, of which 1000 are adults. The village has two churches , a school and two public houses...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
. This was a weekend retreat for Helena and her close friend Bruce McFarlane the medieval historian based nearby at Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
. Helena had first met Bruce at Oxford in 1930 when he advised on her son Christopher's troubled education. He soon became a family friend and regular guest of the Wright's. During their marriage both Helena and Peter had relationships with several other people and in her professional role she was encouraging to those patients who consulted her about their extra-marital relationships. The architect Oliver Hill
Oliver Hill (architect)
Oliver Hill was an English architect, landscape architect, and garden designer. Oliver Hill was apprenticed to a builder and then to an architect. Oliver Hill's early garden designs were in the Arts and Crafts style but he turned towards modernism in the 1930s, favouring curved lines...
was one with whom she had an affair. Helena long-standing relationship with Bruce was known openly by family and friends. In 1952 Bruce dedicated his book on John Wycliffe
John Wycliffe
John Wycliffe was an English Scholastic philosopher, theologian, lay preacher, translator, reformer and university teacher who was known as an early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century. His followers were known as Lollards, a somewhat rebellious movement, which preached...
to Helena and on his death in 1966, whilst on a picnic with Helena, he left all his possessions to her and made Peter his executor.
Peter Wright died in May 1976. Helena died, age 95 in 1982 and she is buried along with her sister, Margaret and alongside her cousin Günther's wife, Claire Loewenfeld
Claire Loewenfeld
Claire Loewenfeld, born Lewisohn in Berlin, Germany was a nutritionist and herbalist who worked in England during and after the Second World War promoting the importance of good nutrition, most notably rosehips from Britain's hedgerows as a source of vitamin C...
at the Church of St Lawrence, Cholesbury
Cholesbury
Cholesbury is a village in Buckinghamshire, England, on the border with Hertfordshire. It is situated in the Chiltern Hills, about east of Wendover, north of Chesham and from Berkhamsted....
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
. Another cousin, Ralph Beyer
Ralph Beyer
Ralph Alexander Beyer was a German letter-cutter, sculptor and teacher. He was most noted for his work on Basil Spence's new Coventry Cathedral where Beyer carved his masterpiece Tablets of the Words.-Early life:...
, who worked with Basil Spence
Basil Spence
Sir Basil Urwin Spence, OM, OBE, RA was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Modernist/Brutalist style.-Training:Spence was born in Bombay, India, the son of Urwin...
designing and carving the 'Tablets of the Words' at Coventry Cathedral
Coventry Cathedral
Coventry Cathedral, also known as St Michael's Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry, in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The current bishop is the Right Revd Christopher Cocksworth....
, carved the inscriptions on the tombstones.