Lock hospital

{{Short description|Type of hospital specializing in sexually transmitted diseases}} [[File:A satire on the refurbishment (or building) of a Lock Hospit Wellcome V0013419.jpg|thumb|Cartoon showing inmates of a lock hospital, 1802. The man at left is undergoing paracentesis (draining of fluid from the abdomen). In the centre, one patient reads handbills for quack medicines. At right, a prosperous and smug apothecary (pharmacist) rides in a coach with footmen; his family motto is ''Memento mori'', "remember you shall die."]] thumb|London Lock Hospital, 1831 [[File:Plan_of_the_Lock_Hospital%2C_Southwark_Wellcome_M0015151.jpg|thumb|Plan of the lock hospital of Southwark: it includes a "pleget room," devoted to the changing of dressings.]] {{for|the Broadside ballad|The Unfortunate Lad}}

A '''lock hospital''' was an establishment that specialised in treating sexually transmitted diseases. They operated in Britain and its colonies and territories from the 18th century to the 20th.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/lockhospitalsloc00lown/lockhospitalsloc00lown_djvu.txt|title=Lock Hospitals and Lock Wards in General Hospitals|last=Loundes|first=Frederick W.|publisher=J. & A. Churchill|year=1882|location=London}}</ref>

== History == The military had a close association with a number of the hospitals. By the mid-19th century, most of the larger army bases in India were home to a lock hospital.<ref name="Dartnell">{{cite journal|last=Dartnell|first=George R.|year=1860|title=On the prevalence and severity of syphilis in the British army and its prevention|journal=British Medical Journal|volume=1|issue=174|pages=317–319|pmc=2252720|doi=10.1136/bmj.s4-1.174.317}}</ref> There were more military than civil lock hospitals in India, due to the prevalence of venereal diseases amongst British troops.<ref name="Medical History of British India">{{cite web |last=Sehrawat |first=Samiksha |title=Institutions: Lock hospitals: Measures to halt venereal diseases |url=http://digital.nls.uk/indiapapers/institutions.html |work=Medical History of British India |publisher=National Library of Scotland |access-date=24 October 2013}}</ref> In 1858, the Admiralty paid to have one opened in Portsmouth and, in 1863, another in Plymouth.<ref name="stark">{{cite book |title=Female Tars: Women aboard ship in the age of sail |last=Stark |first=Suzanne J. |year=1998 |publisher=Pimlico |isbn=978-0-7126-6660-2 |page=33}}</ref>

The earliest lock hospitals in India were established around 1797 at Berhampur, Kanpur, Danapur, and Fatehgarh. They were usually within bazaars, surrounded by a mud wall and staffed by a doctor and a female nurse. The local police were in charge of rounding up women suspected of being diseased, who could return home only after obtaining a certificate of discharge.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wald |first=Erica |date=5 May 2009 |title=From begums and bibis to abandoned females and idle women |journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=5–25 |doi=10.1177/001946460804600102|s2cid=143874173 }}</ref>

Lock Hospital operated in Hong Kong from 1858 to 1894 to deal with venereal diseases.{{cn|date=September 2023}}

The term "lock hospital" originates from their use as leprosariums, after the "locks", or rags, which covered the lepers' lesions.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lock Hospital, Hyde Park Corner|url=http://www.oldlondonmaps.com/viewspages/0334.html|work=Sara Douglass, Old London Maps|year=2006|access-date=2010-02-02}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links == * [http://digital.nls.uk/indiapapers/browse/archive/74905153 Reports on Lock hospitals in India] * [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-19/indigenous-lock-hospitals-onbernier-and-dorre-islands/10634122 Australian news article about Bernier and Dorre Island history] {{Hospital articles}}

Category:Hospitals by medical condition Category:Sexual health Category:History of the British Empire Category:Women's health in the United Kingdom