Prospectus: Appeal for £6000 to complete the asylum for penitent females.
Appeal for £6000 to complete the asylum for penitent females, in connexion with the Lock Hospital, Westbourne Green, now capable of receiving only 20 inmates, and to finish the erection of the hospital itself. [London:] [c.1849] [44442]
Octavo (233 × 186 mm). 4pp. subscription appeal. Engraved vignette of the Hospital. Light creases from old folds, else very good.
The London Lock Hospital was the first clinic specifically for venereal diseases to be opened in London. The name “Lock” perhaps derives from a former hospital in Southwark, which in mediaeval times was a lazar house, or hospital for lepers. “Locks”, or rags, covered the lepers' lesions, so the hospital came to be known as Lock Hospital. When leprosy died out in England, the Southwark hospital continued to treat outcasts—those suffering from venereal diseases—and the name remained attached to new establishments set up for the purpose. “The Hospital established 1746, for the treatment of the peculiar disease incident to profligate women; the Asylum founded 1787 by the Bible commentator, the Rev. Thomas Scott, for the reclamation of the cured inmates to virtuous habits … The establishment was originally formed in Grosvenor-Place, where the Chapel, by its popular preachers, became a source of income to the institution … In 1842, the Institution was removed to its present site [Harrow Road, Westbourne Green]; in 1849, the success of an autograph appeal by the Duke of Cambridge provided for the admission of double the number of patients” (Timbs, Curiosities of London). By 1890 Harrow Road consisted of 140 inpatient beds and 40 asylum places for women. The Duke of Cambridge was always George III and Queen Charlotte’s favourite son. “Unlike his brothers, he was never entangled with debtors, nor was there any scandal in his private life” (ODNB). After a modestly successful career in the army and as governor-general of Hanover, he returned to England and immersed himself in charitable causes. “He was president of at least six hospitals, and the patron or vice-patron of more than a score of other beneficent corporations.”
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