The British never did adopt a eugenics policy, despite England being the intellectual birthplace of the idea. Before Darwin and Galton, Thomas Malthus had formally fretted about population growth and control, and therein laid the foundations of improving the ‘stock’ of a people. But in the USA, and a few other countries (notably Sweden), the forced, involuntary and often secret sterilization of undesirables was embraced enthusiastically.
