Humphrey Verdon Roe (18 April 1878 – 27 July 1949) was a British businessman, a philanthropist, aircraft manufacturer and the usually unacknowledged co-founder of Britain's first and most successful birth control clinic along with Marie Stopes, who became his wife.

[7] Before he met his wife, Roe had attempted to found a birth control clinic in Manchester, offering to finance St Mary's Hospital for the purpose.

In November 1917 Dr Binnie Dunlop, who was also interested in birth control, introduced Roe to Marie Stopes, who had just written a book called Married Love, but could not get it published.

[8] In late March 1918 Roe injured his spine and broke an ankle when the aircraft in which he was an observer crashed after a bombing raid over an airfield in Germany.

They were married on 16 May 1918 and with the aid of his wife his desire to open a birth control clinic was realized on 17 March 1921 at 61, Marlborough Road, Holloway, North London.