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Controlling fertility
Although Queen Victoria was idealised as the ideal mother figure of the age, she wasn't too keen on childbearing. Unfortunately, in Victoria's day, there was very little that a respectable woman could do to avoid becoming pregnant. Victoria, who had nine children, was by no means exceptional. In the middle of the 19th century more than 35% of all married women had eight or more children.
Condoms were available, illegally, and the very word was considered improper. These, however, were more for protecting men against venereal disease than for contraceptive purposes.
Brave campaigners
Some early pioneers such as Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, recommended other methods, such as coitus interruptus (withdrawal), douching or the use of barriers inserted in the vagina. However, at the start of the Victorian age, publishing information on birth control led to prosecution.
In 1832 an American doctor, Charles Knowlton, published The Fruits of Philosophy about different methods of birth control. He was promptly prosecuted.
Undeterred, the social reformers Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh decided to publish Knowlton's book in England in 1877. They too were prosecuted and sentenced to imprisonment, though the sentence was quashed on appeal.
Annie Besant then published her own book, The Law of Population.
Another advocate of birth control was the trade unionist and women's suffrage campaigner Selina Cooper. She gave talks on contraception to women in the textile factory where they worked. She also made available to them her library of books, which included one called Dr. Allison's Book for Married Women.
Birth control was not fully accepted until the early part of the 20th century. The American Margaret Sanger and Annie Besant and Marie Stopes in England were instrumental in the wide distribution of information on the subject.
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