This archive contains research posts, contextual commentary, and supporting materials related to Dr Halliday Sutherland, tuberculosis, public health, and the early twentieth-century debate on eugenics.
These documents reflect the process of reconstructing the historical record and preserving primary-source evidence. They include contemporary press extracts, research notes, later interpretations, and material clarifying modern misrepresentations regarding Dr Sutherland and the Stopes v Sutherland case.
This section remains available for historians, researchers, and readers interested in the wider intellectual and social context surrounding Sutherland’s work.
Section 1 — Research Notes & Historical Commentary
Explorations, archival notes, historical reflections, and research blog posts created while reconstructing the historical record of Dr Halliday Sutherland and the early eugenics movement. This website was set up in 2014 by Mark H. Sutherland, grandson of Dr Sutherland, in part as a place in which he could place his research. The posts and articles are grouped by the year in which they were published so that they reflect the development of that research.
2014 Research Notes
- Tuberculosis and eugenics – July 2014
- Tuberculosis, heredity and environment – September 2014
- “Exposing the poor to experiment”: the words that led to the Stopes v. Sutherland libel case – October 2014
2015 Research Notes
- Madeleine Simms’ Marie Stopes Memorial Lecture 1975 – February 2015
- Halliday Sutherland’s story relevant today – March 2015
- Stopes v. Sutherland in a single object – April 2015
- Malthus, Malthusianism and Neo-Malthusianism (1/3) – May 2015
- Malthus, Malthusianism and Neo-Malthusianism (2/3) – June 2015
- Malthus, Malthusianism and Neo-Malthusianism (3/3) – July 2015
2016 Research Notes
- Roman Catholic Doctor – April 2016
2017 Research Notes
- The Hound of Heaven – January 2017
- Nature’s Lethal Chamber – February 2017
- The Perfect Eugenic State – April 2017
- The Fruits of Philosophy: Charles Bradlaugh’s less serious crime – August 2017
2018 Research Notes
- Positive and negative eugenics – January 2018
- Infographic – January 2018
- The Context of John M’Neil – April 2018
- Allsop Place (a visit to London sites) – April 2018
- The Tenets of the C.B.C. – May 2018
- Where are my Children? (1916 film) – June 2018
- John Francis Sutherland – July 2018
- Professor Louise McIlroy Medico-Legal Society Talk – September 2018
- Elevator Pitch – September 2018
2019 Research Notes
- “The Trap” Stopes visits McIlroy in disguise – July 2019
- “It can’t be done” (a postcard from G.B. Shaw) – August 2019
- Vectors of Infection (Consumption) – September 2019
2020 Research Notes
- The Campaign for Compulsory Sterilization in Britain – July 2019
- Burying Eugenics to Save Marie Stopes – March 2020
2021 Research Notes
- Euthanasia – September 2021
- Waiting for the New Normal circa. 1936 – September 2021
2022 Research Notes
- Dr Halliday Sutherland – A Roman Catholic doctor – January 2022
- The Edinburgh System – February 2022
- The Fifth International Neo-Malthusian Conference London 1922 – May 2022
- Humour in the Stopes v. Sutherland libel trial – September 2022
- The Election Questionaire (Marie Stopes and the 1922 General Election) – November 2022
- Dr Sutherland debates Lord Dawson of Penn at the Cambridge Union 1936 – November 2022
- A put-up job? – December 2022
2023 Research Notes
- The Gold Pin in the Stopes v. Sutherland libel trial – January 2023
- A last-minute change – Sir Leslie Scott returns his brief – January 2023
- “All is Beauty” – March 2023
- Pagani’s – November 2023
Centenary notes – a summary of the Stopes v. Sutherland libel trial – January 2023
- Centenary of the Stopes v Sutherland libel trial
- Stopes v. Sutherland libel trial – dramatis personae
- Stopes v. Sutherland libel trial Day 1
- Stopes v. Sutherland libel trial Day 2
- Stopes v. Sutherland libel trial Day 3
- Stopes v. Sutherland libel trial Day 4
- Stopes v. Sutherland libel trial Day 5
- Stopes v. Sutherland libel trial Day 6
- What happened next?
2024 Research Notes
- Exploring Dr Sutherland’s “Utopia” – October 2024
Section 2 — The Censoring of Dr Sutherland’s Irish Journey
These materials relate to Dr Sutherland’s visit to the Mother & Baby Home at Tuam and the Magdelene Laundry at Galway in 1955. Permission to visit the latter was granted on condition that anything he wrote would be vetted by the Mother Superior, and subsequently his account in Irish Journey (1956) was censored. In 2013 the censored manuscript was rediscovered in a cellar.
2013 “The Suitcase in the Cellar”
The uncensored manuscript of Dr Sutherland’s visit to the Magdalene Laundry in Irish Journey (1955) was rediscovered in 2013. Dr Sutherland’s grandson, Mark Sutherland, tells the story.
2014 Ann Ferris T.D. Speech to the Dial Eireann
On 11th June 2014, Ann Ferris T.D. spoke of the significance of the discovery of the uncensored version of Dr Sutherland’s Irish Journey manuscript in the Dáil Éireannon.
Section 3 — Newspaper Extracts & Contemporary Press
Book review of “Exterminating Poverty” in the Ampleforth Journal
Section 4 — Modern Commentary & Clarifications
Guest post “Alive and Killing” by Ann Farmer
There is much misinformation and disinformation about Dr Sutherland and the Stopes v. Sutherland libel trial of 1923. These are clarifications and corrections.
- allday.com “In 1918, She Taught The Public How To Actually Enjoy Sex With Her Scandalous Book” by Jennifer Wirth
- Atlas Obscura “How a 1918 Author Introduced the World to the Concept of Female Pleasure“
- Biography Online “Marie Stopes Biography“
- Introduction to “The Trial of Marie Stopes” by Muriel Box
- Media Diversified “Exhibition review: The whitewashing of Marie Stopes’ eugenicist beliefs“
- “Norman Haire and the Study of Sex” by Diana Wyndham
- “Secret Admirers“
- UK Essays Online “A Sexual Revolution“
- “A Remarkable Decline in the Birth Rate” BBC
- “Galton” (comments in relation to University College London disavowing Galton in 2018)
- “The Trap” After the Stopes v Sutherland libel trial, Stopes visited Professor McIlroy at the Royal Free Hospital in a disguise. It is a great story, but is it true?
- “Opposing eugenics – then and now” February 2020
- “A Double Standard” February 2020
- “Burying Galton to save eugenics” March 2020
- “Burying eugenics to save Marie Stopes” March 2020
- A Letter to the Daily Telegraph London “No to Cancel Culture” June 2020
- “Yes to accurate history” July 2020
- “Yes to consistency” July 2020
- “Changing a name doesn’t change the facts” November 2020
- “Media Release” November 2020
- Fact Check Emma Barnett interviews Lesley Hall on BBC Radio 5 Live
- Complaint to the B.B.C. December 2020 – Part 1
- Complaint to the B.B.C. December 2020 – Part 2
- “Getting it wrong, again” – June 2022
Section 5 — Later-Life Writings & Observations
Material reflecting Sutherland’s later public writings and observations, including social commentary. Included for historical completeness and transparency.
1890 “The Terror of the Glen”
A family holiday at a remote farmhouse in Scotland made memorable by a homicidal maniac. From Arches of the Years.
1892 “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show”
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show played in Glasgow between October 1891 and February 1892. Dr Sutherland loved it and wrote about the show in A Time to Keep.
189? “A Glasgow Childhood”
G.K. Chesterton described Dr Sutherland as “a born writer, especially a born story-teller.” The following passage is as good an example as any of Dr Sutherland’s craft and is the first in a series of reminiscences of his Glasgow childhood.
1895 “Merchiston Castle School”
Dr Sutherland attended Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh and he wrote about his schoodays in A Time to Keep.
189? “The Experiment with Cannabis Indica”
Whilst at Edinburgh University, Dr Sutherland tried Cannabis Indica and he wrote about its effects. From A Time to Keep.
189? “The Planter’s Story
During a university holiday, Halliday Sutherland was sent on a holiday to the Shetland Islands. The doctor with whom he was staying lived five miles from a whaling station. His father, John Sutherland, told Halliday: “If you go to the whaling station you will probably meet the Planter. He is recluse – a retired Burma tea-planter, and there are a lot of stories about him because he lives alone. All rubbish. He may ask you to stay with him. He’s got a big house at the end of the Voe – that is Norse for an inlet of the sea.” This is his story.
1904 “The Abbey Theatre”
In August 1904 Halliday Sutherland, aged 22, was a 4th year medical student at Edinburgh University. He went to Dublin to learn practical midwifery at the Coombe Hospital. From Irish Journey.
190? “El Litri and Manuelito”
Whilst visiting his uncle and cousin in Huelva, Spain at the turn of the Twentieth Century, Dr Sutherland met El Litri and tried his hand at bull fighting. From Arches of the Years.
1907 “The Death of a Brave Man”
The story of a brave Scottish engineer who tries to rescue a colleague in a ship’s fire. From Arches of the Years.
1909 “A Murder in the Highlands”
A murder at Rosehall, Sutherland, Scotland in 1909.
190? “The King’s Writ in Scotland”
In “A Time to Keep” (1936) Dr Sutherland wrote about the administration of justice in Tain, Sutherland, Scotland.
1910 “The Gaiety Girls”
Arriving in London to take up a new post as Medical Officer at the St Marylebone Dispensary for the Prevention of Consumption, Dr Sutherland lived in Bloomsbury with two showgirls from the Gaiety Theatre and their mother.
1910 “The Sleepless Night”
At a Midsummer Eve’s Ball in the Botanic Gardens, Halliday Sutherland encountered “the Sleepless Night”.
1910 “Regent’s Park Bandstand School”
As Medical Officer of the St Marylebone Dispensary for the Prevention of Consumption, Dr Sutherland set up an “Open Air” school in a bandstand in Regent’s Park. This excerpt is from Arches of the Years.
1911 “Experimental Open-air Class, Regent’s Park”
This is Dr Halliday Sutherland’s Report on Working of Experimental Open-Air Class in Regent’s Park. It appeared in the first annual report of the St Marylebone Dispensary for the Prevention of Consumption.
1911 “William James, Coachman”
As Medical Officer of the St Marylebone Dispensary for the Prevention of Consumption, Dr Sutherland attended to the tuberculous poor of London. He told the story of William James, Coachman in Arches of the Years.
1911 “The Strange Case of Mr Z”
As Medical Officer of the St Marylebone Dispensary for the Prevention of Consumption, Dr Sutherland attended to the tuberculous poor of London. Not all of his patients were victims of Consumption and the cause of their ailments were closer to home (from Arches of the Years).
1911 “Exploitation of the Poor”
As Medical Officer of the St Marylebone Dispensary for the Prevention of Consumption, Dr Sutherland wrote about how the poor were exploited in death as they were in life (from Arches of the Years).
1912 “Death on the Moors”
Dr John Francis Sutherland (Halliday Sutherland’s father) died suddenly at Christmas in 1912. Dr Sutherland wrote about it in Arches of the Years.
1914 “Mobilising for War”
On a walk from Bideford to Appledore on Sunday 2 August 1914, Dr Sutherland witnessed the mobilisation of the merchant fleet for war. From Arches of the Years.
1914 “Tuesday 4th August 1914”
On 4th August 1914, Dr Sutherland travelled to London to enlist in the Royal Navy. From Arches of the Years.
1914 “Mutiny!”
On the outbreak of war in August 1914, Dr Sutherland volunteered for the Royal Navy and he served on an armed cruiser The Empress of Britain. From Arches of the Years.
1916 “The Bombing of Deal”
In February 1916, Dr Sutherland was transferred to the Royal Marines at Deal, where he witnessed attacks from German aircraft. From Arches of the Years.
1916 “The Invasion of England”
Whilst at Deal, Dr Sutherland was involved in the preparations for the invasion of England. From Arches of the Years.
1917 “Lunch on the Lysistrata”
Dr Sutherland recollects how a deplorable insult led to a Garganturan feast aboard the Lysistrata. From Arches of the Years.
1918 “In Search of Truth”
Dr. Halliday Sutherland wrote about his religious journey in A Time to Keep. Two chapters — In Search of Truth and My Path to Rome display Dr. Sutherland’s story-telling, intellect and sense of humour.
1919 “My Path to Rome”
These articles My Path to Rome followed those under In Search of Truth. Both of Dr Sutherland’s 1934 book, A Time To Keep, explains how Sutherland converted to Catholicism.
1922 “Heredity & Consumption: Marriage Problem: A Challenge to the Eugenists”
Dr Sutherland’s “Heredity & Consumption: Marriage Problem: A Challenge to the Eugenists” appeared in the Westminster Gazette on 19 May 1922.
1922 “A Writ for Libel”
On 13th May 1922, Dr. Halliday Sutherland was served with a writ for libel. He recalled the moment in his 1934 memoir A Time to Keep:
1922 “A Close Call in Rue Bonaparte”
A visit to Paris while preparing for the Stopes v. Sutherland libel trial led to a very near miss. From A Time to Keep.
1922 “The Test”
Dr Sutherland receives £100 in the mail to help to pay for his legal fees. From A Time to Keep.
1922 “An Offer to Settle”
The Stopes v. Sutherland libel trial may not have come to the High Court – according to a 1939 newspaper report, Dr Marie Stopes sought to settle her libel suit against Dr Halliday Sutherland out of court.
1923 “At Lourdes”
In 1923, Dr Sutherland visited Lourdes. He wrote about it in A Time to Keep 1934.
1925 “Who are the unfit?”
One challenge for eugenists is identifying and separating the “fit” from the “unfit”. Dr Halliday Sutherland made these suggestions in his 1925 book, Birth Control Exposed. In addition, he identified the real possibility of a “eugenic nightmare”.
192? “George Bernard Shaw”
An essay on Shaw, eugenics and euthanasia.
1929 “A Strange Post-Mortem”
The canonisation of St John Southworth, English martyr.
1930 “Pope Pius XI”
Dr Sutherland attended an audience with Pope Pius XI at Christmas 1930.
1932 “Dr Ian MacDonald”
In A Time To Keep (1934) he wrote about the death of his cousin, Dr. Ian Macdonald, on 14 September 1932. Dr. Macdonald established the Mackay and Macdonald clinic in Huelva, Spain with his (and Halliday’s) uncle, Dr. William Alexander Mackay.
1932 “A Return to Arcadia”
In the early 1930s, Dr Sutherland returned to Scotland and to visit the place he had loved as a child. From A Time to Keep.
1933 “The Resourceful Journalist”
Charles was a journalist for the Daily Mail with whom Dr Sutherland because acquainted and whose story was told in Arches of the Years (1933).
1935 “Eamon de Valera”
On 25 March 1935, Dr Sutherland met Eamon de Valera for the first time. From Irish Journey.
1935 “Remember, laddie, there’s a day called tomorrow”
A sudden dismissal leads Dr. Sutherland to a bar in the Tottenham Court Road where he receives some profound advice. From Irish Journey.
1935 “The trial of Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant”
The libelous words in the Stopes v. Sutherland libel trial included a reference to Charles Bradlaugh (“Charles Bradlaugh was condemned to jail for a less serious crime”), so the 1877 trial of Charles Bradlaugh and Anne Besant trial is pertinent. Dr Halliday Sutherland’s account of that trial was published in his book “Laws of Life” (1935).
1936 “The Perfect Eugenic State”
The Perfect Eugenic State was a short story that envisaged a Britain in the far-distant future in which its citizens owned nothing but who were happy, not least because there were laws to make it so. They were closely monitored by a state that cared about them, and whose officials intruded to keep them safe. There was also a Lethal Institute to help citizens reach the “blue Empyrean” accompanied by a “Sympathiser” of their choice. The story appeared in Britannia & Eve and In My Path.
1936 “Adam & Eve”
A short story that appeared in Control of Life.
1936 “Euthanasia”
The seventeenth chapter of Halliday Sutherland’s 1936 book, “Laws of Life,” dealt with Euthanasia. His contribution to the debate is still relevant today.
1937 “A Doodle”
This drawing appeared in the Evening Standard on Tuesday 5th October 1937 on the page headed “Doodles”.
1938 “St Henry” and “On Miracles”
St Henry was murdered on the icy surface of Lake Köyliön, Finland, in 1157. Dr Sutherland also discussed the issue of miracles. From Lapland Journey (1938).
1939 “The Perils of Overpunctuality”
Those afflicted with the problem of unpunctuality should consider the plight of those who suffer the perils of overpunctuality, as explained by Dr Sutherland in Hebridean Journey.
1939 “Address at the Sydney Town Hall”
A transcript of the speech by Dr Sutherland at the Sydney Town Hall on Monday 23 October 1939.
1940 “What the British Empire means to the World”
Dr Sutherland was on a speaking tour of Australia when war broke out in 1939. His speech “What the British Empire means to the World” was broadcast on radio nationally via the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
1944 “Writing, perseverance and crushing disappointments”
Arches of the Years made the Publishers’ Weekly list of international bestsellers in 1933. Its success did not happen overnight and Dr Sutherland faced many crushing disappointments prior to that. From Control of Life.
1946 “Spanish Journey”
In 1946, Dr Sutherland visited Spain as a guest of the Spanish government. He accepted on condition that he was allowed to go where ever he liked and could speak to whoever he liked. The result was Spanish Journey (1948). This excerpt explains why he went to Spain.
1946 “The Siege of the Alcazar 1936”
During his 1946 visit to Spain, Dr Sutherland visited the Alcazar in Toledo which had been the site of an epic siege ten years previously. He wrote about it in Spanish Journey.
1946 “General Franco”
During his 1946 visit to Spain, Dr Sutherland met General Franco on two occasions during his visit. In Spanish Journey he expressed admiration for Franco. As he wrote in Spanish Journey: “No honest man may whisper against Franco without shouting from the house-tops against Stalin.”
1955 “Eamon de Valera”
During a second meeting with Eamon de Valera in 1955, Dr Sutherland heard the story of how de Valera escaped from Lincoln Jail in 1919. From Irish Journey.
1955 “On evolution”
On a visit to Ireland in 1955, Dr Sutherland stayed in a guest house at the Mount St. Joseph Abbey near Roscrea. He contemplated the hard life of the Trappist monks there, and this led him to contemplate the theory of evolution.
Section 6 — Film: The Story of John M’Neil
Dr Sutherland produced Britain’s first public health cinema film The Story of John M’Neil (1911). It has been described as a “Dramatized story of a Scottish family living in slum housing, illustrating how tuberculosis can be spread from one member of the family to another; and the treatment available.” A copy of the film is available to view for free on the British Film Institute’s website – click here.
Section 7 — Family lore
These are family anecdotes and stories related to Dr Sutherland written by Mark Sutherland.
- “Bombs” – the bombing of London in 1940s Britain.
- “The Disagreeable Butler” – and a failed telephone message.
- “In Memoriam” Vincent Joseph Sutherland.
Explore Related Topics
For readers interested in the broader historical context, these pages offer in-depth coverage of the main themes explored in this archive:
The 1923 Stopes v Sutherland Trial – detailed background, court documents, and analysis of one of the most significant legal cases in the history of eugenics.
Eugenics in Context: Dr Sutherland’s Opposition – explains how Sutherland’s medical experience shaped his challenge to Britain’s eugenics movement.
Primary Sources and Documents – original writings, speeches, and contemporary reports forming the foundation of this research collection.