Stopes v. Sutherland libel trial – dramatis personae

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE KINGS BENCH DIVISION

Royal Courts of Justice. Wednesday, 21st February, 1923

Before the LORD CHIEF JUSTICE, and a Special Jury

BETWEEN

Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes … Plaintiff

Halliday G. Sutherland and Harding & More Limited … Defendants

Dr. Stopes’ legal team:

• Mr. Patrick Hastings, K.C., M.P.
• Sir Hugh Fraser
• Mr. Herbert Metcalfe
• Messrs. Braby & Waller (solicitors)

Dr. Sutherland’s legal team:

• Mr. Ernst Charles, K.C.
• Mr. H.V. Rabagliati
• Mr. Harold Murphy
• Messrs. Charles Russell & Co. (solicitors)

Harding & More’s legal team:

• Serjeant Sullivan, K.C.
• Mr. Theobald Mathew
• Messrs. Witham Roskell Munster & Weld (solicitors)

Events and witnesses

Day 1. Wednesday, 21st February 1923.

• Opening speech of Mr. Patrick Hastings, K.C.
• Sir James Barr

Day 2. Thursday, 22nd February 1923.

• Dr. Marie Stopes
• Nurse Maud Hebbes
• Sir William Arbuthnot Lane

Day 3. Friday, 23rd February 1923.

• Dr. Harold Chapple
• Sir William Bayliss
• Dr. Meredith Young
• Dr. Jane Hawthorne
• Dr. George Jones
• Opening speech of Mr. Ernst Charles, K.C.
• Professor Ann Louise McIlroy

Day 4. Tuesday, 27th February 1923.

• Mr. George Roberts, M.P.
• Dr. Halliday Sutherland
• Dr. Arthur Giles
• Dr. Frederick McCann
• Dame Mary Scharlieb
• Dr. Norman Haire
• Dr. Agnes Saville
• Dr. William Falkner

Day 5. Wednesday, 28th February 1923.

• Sir Maurice Abbott Anderson
• Closing speeches of Serjeant Sullivan, Mr. Ernst Charles K.C., Mr. Patrick Hastings K.C.
• Summing up by the Lord Chief Justice
• Delivery of the verdict by Mr. Maurice Spencer, foreman of the Jury

Day 6. Thursday, 1st March 1923.

• Legal argument and Judgement

Stopes v. Sutherland explained (under three minutes):