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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.[1]
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.[2] There were more military than civil lock hospitals in India, due to the prevalence of venereal diseases amongst British troops.[3] In 1858 the Admiralty paid to have one opened in Portsmouth and in 1863 another in Plymouth.[4]
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.[5]
Lock Hospital operated in Hong Kong from 1858 to 1894 to deal with venereal diseases.[citation needed]
The term "lock hospital" originates from their use as leprosariums, after the "locks", or rags, which covered the lepers' lesions.[6]
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