6 - Rethinking the Lock Hospital

Summary

Extremely high incidence of the pox in the mid eighteenth century necessitated more ward space for London’s venereal poor. This may seem strange since the royal hospitals had large operations, and parishes treated an increasing number of patients within workhouses. By the 1740s there were more hospital beds for the city’s poxed poor than ever before, and thus the Lock’s emergence in that decade still confuses. Understanding the Lock’s original purpose ultimately rests on understanding how it related to the pre-existing network of medical institutions. When we consider the Lock within the wider context of the city’s medical welfare system, it becomes clear that its purpose was to fill a particular niche within that system. Despite the growing number of beds in London’s foul wards a particular portion of the city’s population remained neglected, and the Lock Hospital tried to fill the gap. It is only by considering the Lock in relation to the broader social welfare network that its unique character may be understood. Once understood, we can better compare the experiences of its patients to those we have already encountered.

The need for more hospital beds for venereal patients was acute in the early to mid eighteenth century. Demand continued to outstrip supply when it came to hospital beds for the pox. By the time William Bromfeild convened a meeting to found the Lock Charity, London had witnessed the establishment of yet two other major hospitals that cared for venereal patients, Guy’s Hospital in Southwark, and the London Hospital in the East End.

Guy’s Hospital, established in 1727 by famed benefactor Thomas Guy, originally intended to care for “incurables”—that is, those that other hospitals refused because their conditions seemed too desperate to cure successfully. Considering this original mission, it is surprising that foul wards came to house a significant portion of Guy’s patients. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Guy’s Hospital’s administrative records were not available for consultation at the time of this study.