Westmoreland Lock Hospital
Next week
is National Sexual Health Awareness Week at RCPI. SHAW events reflect a modern Ireland whereby people are encouraged to communicate about sexual health issues and sexuality. In support of this we at the Heritage Centre thought we would look at and discuss the history of sexual health in Ireland through our
archive.
The
Heritage Centre at RCPI contains a large collection of archival materials, our
own records, along with records created by others and donated to us for safe
keeping. These include papers of
individual physicians, hospitals, medical and professional organisations,
papers of Irish medical historians, and papers relating to the social history
of medicine and medical businesses.
One such
collection donated to the archive came from the Westmoreland Lock Hospital
which was established in 1755, by George Doyle, for the treatment of venereal
diseases. The term venereal disease was commonly used until the 1990s, however
these are now referred to as sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or sexually
transmitted diseases (STDs). During the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries many hospitals would not admit patients
suffering with venereal diseases leading to a need for a dedicated
hospital.
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| 10th Earl of Westmoreland |
The name Lock Hospital dates back to earlier leprosy hospitals, which were known as ‘lock’ hospitals derived from the French loques, the rags that were used to cover the leper’s lesions. ‘Lock Hospitals’ were developed specifically for the treatment of syphilis, a sexually transmitted infection.
The Westmoreland Lock Hospital was initially located on Rainsfort Street in Dublin, but changed location on several occasions, before being relocated to Townsend Street in 1792. Townsend Street was considered an ideal location, given the larger size of the hospital and its proximity to the city centre. It was named in honour of John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmoreland who was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at the time and sponsored the move to Townsend Street.
The Westmoreland
Lock Hospital originally opened with 270 beds, but this was reduced over time
to less than 200. The move to Townsend
Street was also significant as it signaled a shift in the importance of
acknowledging and treating venereal disease. Gary A. Boyd, in his book Dublin 1745-1992, Hospitals, Spectacle and
Vice explains that,
“at a time of unprecedented danger to the
sovereignty of the British Isles, the disease’s potentially debilitating effect
on a standing army made it increasingly a matter of national security”.
From 1819
men were no longer admitted to the hospital, partly influenced by the smaller
military presence in daily life after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Men instead received treatment for sexually
transmitted diseases from Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital or Dr Steevens’ Hospital. The Lock Hospital continued to treat women, many of whom were prostitutes. High levels of prostitution in Dublin were partly the result of the presence of large British garrisons
in the city in the nineteenth century. Boyd explains that at the time it was
believed that the female body was not only “the
principle vector of the disease, but also its source”.
In 1946 it
was again renamed to St Margaret of Cortona; however, ten years later, due to a
considerable drop in admissions and building having fallen into a state of
disrepair, the hospital closed its door for the last time.
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| Westmoreland Lock Hospital |
If you
are interested in researching the Westmoreland Lock Hospital or venereal
diseases in Dublin, our archive holds the papers of the Westmoreland Lock
Hospital, from its foundation in 1792 to the beginning of the twentieth
century. Records include administrative, financial and patient records created
by the hospital.
By Jenny O'Neill
Library Intern