Charles Vickery Drysdale

Charles Vickery Drysdale
Vickery and Sanger in 1925
Born	Charles Vickery Drysdale 8 July 1874 Paris
Died	7 February 1961 Pebsham
Spouse(s)	Bessie Ingman Edwards

Dr Charles Vickery Drysdale FRSE CB OBE (1874-1961) was an English electrical engineer and social reformer. He is remembered for opening the first birth control clinic in Britain in 1921 and co-founding the Family Planning Association 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 and served as its Vice-President 1932-36.

He was first a Malthusian and then a Neo-Malthusian and served as President of the Malthusian League. He is seen as a founding father of Neo-Malthusianism.

He was born the first son of eminent Drs Charles Robert Drysdale and Alice Vickery. He was born in Paris 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 Technical College to study engineering. He completed his studies at the Central Technical College in South Kensington, where he was awarded the Siemens Medal.

From 1898 he was a member of the Physical Society and oversaw its transition into the Institute of Physics. He served as President of the Optical Society in 1904. Following the death of his father in 1907 he became Secretary of the Malthusian League and served as its President 1912 until 1952 (its demise). In 1914 he met Margaret Sanger 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.