Helen Brook
Helen Brook CBE | |
---|---|
Born | Helen Grace Knewstub 12 October 1907 Chelsea, London, England |
Died | 3 October 1997 | (aged 89)
Nationality | British |
Known for | Founder of Brook Advisory Centres |
Spouse(s) | Robin Brook, m. 1937 |
Children | 2 daughters |
Helen Brook,
Biography
Born Helen Grace Knewstub in
Helen Brook worked as a volunteer for the Family Planning Association (FPA). As Ann Furedi wrote in The Independent,
"Brook was motivated by fervent belief that children should be born to mothers who wanted them and could care for them. She also believed that women should enjoy equality with men and that to achieve this they needed to be able to avoid unwanted pregnancy.... In 1958, when Marie Stopes died, Brook was invited to run her independent clinic in Whitfield Street in London, and with the support of the clinic doctors and a nurse she began to run an evening session each week for the large numbers of unmarried women turned away from other clinics. In 1963, she began 'secret' sessions aimed specifically at young people. When, at the end of that year, a storm of publicity broke, the Marie Stopes board suggested it would be expedient if she founded a separate centre. The opportunity was duly seized and the first of the Brook Advisory Centres exclusively for young, unmarried people opened its doors in London to women and men in 1964."[1]
On 16 February 1980, Brook wrote a letter to The Times in which she stated:
"[T]here are countless men and women, parents, who are too selfish, too ignorant, too lazy to be bothered about their children's general education. From birth till death it is now the privilege of the parental State to take major decisions— objective, unemotional, the State weighs up what is best for the child."[5]
John Stokes described the letter in Parliament as "notorious" and "a terrifying doctrine, the end of which one dare not see."[6]
Brook was vice-president of the national council of the FPA from 1987. In later life, she lost her sight, and she died as the result of a stroke on 3 October 1997, survived by her husband.[4]
Honours and legacy
In the
References
- ^ a b c Ann Furedi, "Obituary: Helen Brook", The Independent, 8 October 1997.
- ^ Catharine M. C. Haines (ed.), "Brook, Lady Helen Grace Mary née Knewstub", International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary to 1950.
- ^ "The 2016 Woman's Hour Power List", BBC News, 14 December 2016.
- ^ a b Hera Cook, "Brook (née Knewstub), Helen Grace, Lady Brook", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
- ^ The Times, 16 February 1980.
- ^ "Adjournment (Spring) – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 14th May 1980".
- ^ "No. 54066". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 16 June 1995. p. 8.
- ^ "Power List 2016: Helen Brook", Woman's Hour, BBC Radio Four, 13 December 2016.
- ^ "The seven women who've changed women's lives", Woman's Hour, BBC Radio Four, 2016.
External links
- Portraits of Helen Brook at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- "Helen Brook", BBC Woman's Hour, 18 November 2014 (clip from July 1989 interview with Helen Boaden).
- "Our Story", Brook.