A critical summary of the evidence before the Royal Commission upon the Contagious Diseases Acts, 1866-1869 / prepared for the National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts, by Douglas Kingsford.

Kingsford, D. P. W. (Douglas P. W.)

Date:: [1869]

Credit: A critical summary of the evidence before the Royal Commission upon the Contagious Diseases Acts, 1866-1869 / prepared for the National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts, by Douglas Kingsford. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

64/130 (page 14)

$3387 ; 3395; 7848-4 Append C.Tablei 20.315 brought to bear in a compulsory hospital need be absent from' a 4 voluntary one ; and that voluntary hospitals are more effectual>i in reclaiming the women admitted to them appears to be cleartj on the evidence. Mr. Wolferstan, who had experience under the • voluntary system and under the Acts, shows that under the b: 'and c. p. 824 voluntary system the per-centage of reclamations was 28-9 as against 13-7 under the Acts. In 1870, out of 644 women ad- mitted to the Devonport hospital under the Acts, only 43, or less than 7 per cent, were reclaimed. Further, the number of;' women reclaimed in each year was greater from the voluntary'; than from the compulsory hospital. Under the voluntary systenji (Dec. 3rd, 1863 to March 31st, 1865), 74 women were “possilfyj reclaimed,” giving an average of 66 per annum. Under the> compulsory system (April 1st, 1865 to Dec. 13th, 1869), 186* women were “ possibly reclaimed,” giving an average of 39 pei^i annum. This is an answer to the assertion that the compulsory system is more effective, because it brings a larger number of women under the moral influence of the hospital. At the London Lock Hospital, where there is a voluntary and a “government, 14,532 : See too side, the experience is similar. Mr. Lane says: “A largei|! proportion of the voluntary women go (into homes) than of the.it compulsory, that is to say, the numbers are about equal, but there is a larger per-centage.” As Mr. Lane furnished not statistics in support of his statement, we may give here a retuinjt made to Mr. Acton (see his book on “Prostitution” p. 264) by> the authorities of the lock hospital. In 1867, out of 169 ordinary]^ {i. e. voluntary) patients, 42 or 24-8 per cent.* entered the Asylum: (a reformatory institution connected with the London hospital); while out of 708 government patients only 34, or 4-7 per cent., did so. ' Mr. Lane shows, however, that in 1869 and 1870, though the^ numbers of “ government ” women in the lock hospital were lessi: than in 1867 and 1868, the per-centage going into the Asylumjs increased from 4-7 and 6-5 to 10-83 and 9-91 respectively. He- does not say whether the per-centage on the voluntary side increased in 1868-70. But, in any case, the per-centage on the - government side still contrasts unfavourably with that on the voluntary side of the hospital. 17,831 23, 313-5 14,532 * But it should be noted that 30 per cent, of the women on the voluntary side are not prostitutes (see 14,481 j 14,728-9), and would not therefore be likely to go to a reformatory. It would appear then that out of 119 prostitutes on the voluntary side, about 33'5 per cent entered the Asylum.$