Nelly ROUSSEL
See onthe map
Feminist, freethinker, anarchist, pioneer of birth control.
As early as 1902, she was one of the first women in France to defend birth control in public, calling for a “strike of the wombs”. In 1920 she founded a public-speaking school for women. On the stone, she is named only as “Madame Henri Godet née Nelly Roussel”.
The story
In 1902 a young woman became one of the first in France to speak out publicly for contraception: Nelly Roussel, born in 1878, a free-thinker and an anarchist who made birth control her cause.
She took it on the road, lecturing across France and then across Europe at a time when the subject was barely speakable. She was married to the sculptor Henri Godet.
In 1920 she founded a school to teach women how to speak in public. Her papers are held today at the Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand, the Paris library of women's history. She died in 1922.
The grave
A family chapel under the cartouche “Famille NEL-GODET”, lit by a stained-glass window with a red cross on a white ground and foliage scrolls, by an unknown hand. The lecturer bears her husband's name before her own: “Madame Henri GODET née Nelly ROUSSEL, died 18 December 1922 at the age of 44”. The sculptor Henri Godet joined her there in 1937, along with several generations of the Nel and Godet families, whose inscriptions run from 1889 to 1947.
On site, do not miss
A family chapel bearing the name “Famille NEL-GODET”, lit by a stained-glass window with a red cross on a white ground. Look for the line where the activist is called “Madame Henri GODET née Nelly ROUSSEL”.
Visitors' questions
Where is Nelly Roussel's grave at Père-Lachaise?
In Division 93, Avenue Greffulhe, first row. This is not an individual grave but a family chapel marked “Famille NEL-GODET”, lit by a stained-glass window showing a red cross on a white ground. Division 93 is also home to the occultist Papus.
PAPUS (Gérard Encausse)Why is Nelly Roussel considered a pioneer of birth control?
Because she took the subject public as early as 1902, when it remained largely taboo. A neo-Malthusian and a lecturer, she travelled across France and then Europe to defend women's right to control their own bodies — a position that was still a minority one even within the feminist movement of her day.
Antoine d'ANDRÉWhat does Nelly Roussel's gravestone say?
Her married name before her own. The inscription reads “Madame Henri GODET née Nelly ROUSSEL”, followed by the date 18 December 1922 and her age, forty-four. The chapel's cartouche announces “Famille NEL-GODET”.
Paul BARRASWho rests with Nelly Roussel?
Her husband, the sculptor and freethinker Henri Godet, fifteen years her senior, along with several generations of the Nel and Godet families — including a four-year-old child who died in 1891. The chapel gathers inscriptions spanning from 1889 to 1947.
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