Lock Hospital

[joette]

Very interesting reading.
Some would be laughable if it were not so tragic-a five year old child would not contract syphillis from sucking a sweetie an infected baby had been eating.
The belief that STD's could be cured by having intercourse with a virgin is still a widely held belief as a cure for AIDS in some African cultures.
As if the poor & abandoned were not at a disadvantage to be used in this heinous & barbaric way by those in authority makes my flesh crawl -sad sad sad.
Again the double moral standards-female sexuality & bodies to be controlled & corralled whilst men were free to seek their pleasures where & how they may.

As an aside I don't know if anybody else is watching the excellent BBC2 series "History Cold Case". It investigates the cause of death,circumstances of archoelogical skeletons.Last week was that of a skeleton found on a Medieval dig in England which turned out to be that of an North African man.
This week I think is a child's & I am wondering from the trailers whether it is connected to body snatching & the collusion of the authorities in the use of foundlings/orphans bodies in dissection.
After reading these articles on the Lock I am now hoping they might touch on this little know & hidden dirty little secret of Glasgow's
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sd9kl

[rosie]

Hi Scotia
Thanks for the information on Lock Hospitals , it's a big interest to me as one of my ancestors has used ,and was turned away from the hospital when she was young and had fallen on hard times.It never ceases to amaze and appall me how people were treated in those days.

welcome to talking scots
Rosie

[carlineric]

Interestingly the "History Cold Case" last week was about the skeleton of a woman from London who died of syphilis. A Lock Hospital in London was mentioned. They determined that she was probably around 19 and caught the disease when she was only 12 or 13. She had been treated with mecury but died of pneumonia. It was the facial reconstruction that was really disturbing with the pustules all over her face.

Eric

[LesleyB]

Interestingly the "History Cold Case" last week

Just for those who are not fans, or who can't view this programme due to not being in the UK, some details are here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sd9kl

[emanday]

I watched the programme and was amazed to see that the graveyard where these poor girls were buried is still visited and a small ceremony of remembrance held.

The team think they may have found out that the girl was Elizabeth Mitchell but, of course, no way of really proving that. However, the documentation found was very intriguing.

Great programme - fascinating.

[rosie]

Hi everybody

Yes I watched Cold case history too, very interesting but very sad it would be bad enough as an adult to get the desease but how tragic that she was just a child.

[dizzybint]

I wasnt just prostitutes in the Lock,,, girls who dressed provocatively, children who had been sexually abused, and who had VD were put in there.. they were treated harshly with mercury baths, which burned their bodies and in some cases killed them.. The Lock was hidden away near Rottenrow, until the mid 50s and yet my old auntie whos 85 and other Ive spoken to dont know about this place at all,, Ive written a short story bringing the Lock into it.. sad place altogether.. Women were treated dreadfully, but what made me laugh was the the Gallowgate Barracks was closes and the military moved on to Maryhill to get them away from all these bad women....