Report of Royal Commission upon the Administration and Operation of the Contagious Diseases Acts.
- Great Britain. Royal Commission on the Contagious Diseases Acts
- Date:
- 1871
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report of Royal Commission upon the Administration and Operation of the Contagious Diseases Acts. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
916/952 page 818
![Papee put in by Inspector Anniss. CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ACTS. Number of Patients treated for Veneral Disease in the Devonport, Stonehouse, and Plymouth Workhouses, during the under-mentioned periods. Tears. Devonport. ■ Stonehouse. Plymouth. Total. Males. Females. Total. Males. Females. Total. Males. Females. Total. Males. Females. 1862 - -1 1863 - - \ 51 163 214 51 51 96 455 551 147 697 1864 - -J 1865 - -1 1866 - - y 19 90 109 20 20 36 108 144 55 218 1867 - -J 1868 - -] 1869 - - \ 12 42 54 14 14 35 64 99 47 115 1870 - -J Paper put in by Mr. T. R. Pickthorn. Report from Devonport District. The anne.xed return represents the working of the Con- tagious Diseases Acts in the Devonport district during the year 1870. It gives the examination by the visiting surgeon of the public women and its results, and also the per-centage of venereal disease contracted by Her Majesty's forces in this district in the corresponding week. The return is made out in weekly results, then in quar- terly, and finally the annual total under each heading is given. The first aay of 1870 having been a Saturday is not included in the return. At the commencement of the year three examinations in the week were held in Devonport and three in Plymouth, but when Dartmouth was brought under the operation of the Acts, a visit was made to it on every Saturday, and only two days were set apart for examination in Devonport. The number of public women on the police register for Devonport, Plymouth, and Stonehouse on the 2nd January 1870 was 633. During the year 310 women were added to the register, and 387 were removed, thus leaving on the register on the 31st December 1870, 556 women. The greatest number of women on the police register during the year was on April 4th, when it reached 654. By the 27th August the number had fallen to 553, the smallest during the year. It will be seen by consulting the return that the attend- ance of the women for examination, during the first six months of the year, was very regular, that disease among them was diminishing, and that syphilitic disease in the navy and army at this station was never so low at any previous period as in the second quarter of 1870. In the month of July, however, an active opposition to the working of the Acts was commenced by members of the Ladies' Association for their repeal and other persons, some of whom came to me and told me that they should do all in their power to impede the administration of these Acts. The doors of the examining rooms were blockaded, and documents adverse to the Acts were circulated among the women who were persuaded to absent themselves from examination, and told that they could not be punished for so doing. The effect of this was that the attendance of the women became irregular and fell off, until on the 9th August about 170 had been absent from examination for shorter or longer periods. I felt it to be my duty to represent this to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and to suggest that the defaulting women should be summoned before the magis- trates for evading the law. The police then received instructions to proceed before the local authorities against women who thus defied the law. A few of them were imprisoned, and a more regular attendance followed, but up to the close of the year had not recovered the regularity that characterized the first six months of it. The irregular attendance of the women was accompanied by an increase of disease in the navy and army, and during the last three months of the year by a marked increase of syphilitic disease among themselves. Whence this was imputed it is needless to speculate. The channels of ingress are many, and the detective force employed quite unequal to pm-suing such an inquiry. One very pernicious efPect of the interference with the law by members of the Ladies' Association was that women were persuaded to make a declaration that they lived with one man only, whereby they escaped from periodical exa- mination. In almost every instance this proved to be a mere scheme for evading the Acts, as the women very shortly returned to prostitution and were brought again under them by the police. The agitation by the Ladies'Association did not improve the conduct of the women; they became noisy and trouble- some to the police, but for some time past have been more orderly. Many when foimd diseased by me at the Ply- mouth rooms, and given the necessary certificate for admis' sion to hospital, remained at large for one or more nights, and were at length apprehended by the police and taken to hospital. I have no doubt that this alone led to great increase of disease. Forty-five women thus absented them- selves during the year, and remained absent for periods of from one to twenty-one days. I invariably treated all the women who came before me with kindness and forbearance, and I omitted no suitable opportunity of explaining to them how they might escape from the life of prostitution. I also took particular care in investigating the case of all new comers, and satisfied inyself before examining that they were properly brought under the operations of these Acts, either by their own confession to a life of prostitution or by the testimony of the police to that effect. My duties at Dartmouth commenced on the 12th March, since which weekly examinations have taken place there. The whole number of women brought under the Acts there was only 24. On my first examination eight were brought up by the police, and six were found diseased. There are only five at present on the police register. Tho. Russel Pickthorn, Dep. Inspector General, Visiting Surgeon for Devonport, &c.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21365945_0916.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
