Background
She was born Rachel Vitkopski in Kiev, Ukraine to Jewish parents - Simon and Freda (Grill) - who brought her to London, England when she was five years old.
She was born Rachel Vitkopski in Kiev, Ukraine to Jewish parents - Simon and Freda (Grill) - who brought her to London, England when she was five years old.
In January 1907 they set up home together in Thorpebank Road, Shepherd"s Bush, London. She worked alongside Guy Aldred and single-handedly ran The Spur during his imprisonment for resisting conscription during the First World War. From 1921 she concentrated her efforts on the issue of birth control and in 1923 she and Aldred were arrested and charged for publishing and distributing Margaret Sanger"s Family Limitation.
The case drew much press coverage and was supported both morally and financially at appeal by Dora and Bertrand Russell and John Maynard Keynes among others
Although losing the case, Rose re-published the text in 1925 and, while she avoided prosecution, attracted the attention of the Home Office who threatened to deport her as a Russian (ie Soviet) national. Despite having parted in 1924, Witcop and Aldred arranged a civil marriage in order to confirm her citizenship status and prevent any possible deportation.
She died on 4 July 1932 in Street George"s Hospital, London from gangrenous appendicitis and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium two days later.