Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-n9wrp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T23:03:37.891Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘Syphilis is given over to sentimentalists’: the Dublin Medical Press and Circular and the drive to extend the Contagious Diseases Acts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 July 2015

Ann Daly
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In 1878, a meeting organised in Dublin by those in favour of repealing the contentious Contagious Diseases Acts ended in chaos and disruption. The acts themselves empowered police and doctors to forcibly detain and examine women (within specified geographical locations) suspected of being infected with venereal disease. The campaign to abolish the acts appeared to lack the widespread support that it had gathered in England, particularly in medical circles, and the disorderliness of the Dublin meeting seemed to confirm this. The Irish medical press, specifically the weekly Dublin Medical Press and Circular (D.M.P.C.) mirrored The Lancet’s vilification of those who sought to abolish the acts. This article examines the D.M.P.C.’s campaign to extend the acts in Ireland and explores its influence within the context of the debate surrounding these controversial acts. Despite prolific representation of leading English medics among those who opposed the acts, the D.M.P.C. did not offer any outspoken testimony for the repeal of the C.D.A.s by an important figure in the Irish medical profession. This article examines the reasons for such a muted response by Irish doctors to the draconian legislation that directly involved the profession.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 39 , Issue 155 , May 2015 , pp. 399 - 416
Copyright
© Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Cameron (1830–1921) was professor of Hygiene and Political Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland from 1867, and for over fifty years had charge of the Public Health Department of Dublin Corporation:MacThomáis, Éamonn, ‘Sir Charles Alexander Cameron (1830–1921)’ in Dublin Historical Record, xxii (1968), p. 224Google Scholar.

2 Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science [hereafter D.Q.J.M.S.], xlviii (1869), p. 265.

3 Irish Times, 18 May 1869.

4 Resolution from the Association for the Extension of the Contagious Diseases Acts to the Civil Population, 29 Feb. 1868 (N.A.I., CSORP/1884/27996).

5 Dublin Medical Press [i] (9 Jan.,1839), p. 2.

6 Rowlette, Robert J., The Medical Press and Circular 1839–1939: a hundred years in the life of a medical journal (London, 1939), p. 53Google Scholar.

7 Wilde became editor in July 1845 and almost immediately increased the size of the journal and its periodicity to that of a quarterly. He included a history of the medical journal in his editor’s preface: Kirkpatrick, T. P. C., ‘Irish medical journals’ in Irish Journal of Medical Science, 6th series, lxxviii (1932), pp 243–245CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 D.Q.J.M.S., 1 (1846), pp xlii–xliii.

9 See Daly, Ann, ‘Medical victories: the Dublin Medical Press and the medical charities debate, 1838–1851’ in Virginia Crossman and Peter Gray (eds), Poverty and welfare in Ireland 1838–1948 (Dublin, 2011), pp 177–188Google Scholar.

10 For more on medical politics see Digby, Anne, The evolution of British general practice 1850–1948 (Oxford, 1999)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; McLean, David, Public health and politics in the age of reform: cholera, the state and the Royal Navy in Victorian Britain (London, 2005)Google Scholar; Roberts, M. J. D., ‘The politics of professionalization: MPs, medical men and the 1858 Medical Act’ in Medical History, lxx, no. 1 (Jan. 2009), pp 37–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar. In an Irish context see Cassell, Ronald D., Medical charities, medical politics: the Irish dispensary system and the Poor Law, 1836–1872 (Woodbridge, 1997)Google Scholar and Geary, Laurence M., Medicine and society in Ireland 1718–1851 (Dublin, 2005)Google Scholar.

11 For more on Wakley’s campaign for reform in The Lancet see Jones, Roger, ‘Thomas Wakley, plagiarism, libel and the founding of The Lancet’ in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, cii (2009), pp 404–410CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

12 For more on the struggles of the Irish medical profession see Jones, Greta, ‘Shake out boldly for the prizes that are available to you: medical emigration from Ireland 1860–1905’ in Medical History, liv (2010), pp 55–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 D.M.P., ii (15 May 1839), p. 299.

14 Tindall, Gillian, Footprints in Paris: a few streets, a few lives (London, 2009), p. 107Google Scholar.

15 Rowlette, , Medical Press and Circular 1839–1939, p. 64Google Scholar.

16 British Medical Journal, i (19 Jan. 1901), p. 184.

17 Journal of the Irish Medical Association (3 June 1867), p. 54.

18 Rowlette, , Medical Press and Circular 1839–1939, p. 103Google Scholar.

19 D.M.P.C., xli (19 May 1886), p. 447.

20 D.M.P., iii (1846), p. 33.

21 D.Q.J.M.S., xcix (1870), p. 49.

22 D.Q.J.M.S., xlviii (1869), p. 627.

23 Report of the committee appointed to enquire into the pathology and treatment of the venereal disease, p. 481, H.C. 1867–8 (4031), xxxviii, 985.

24 Luddy, Maria, Prostitution and Irish society 1800–1940 (Cambridge, 2007), p. 134Google Scholar.

25 D.Q.J.M.S., xlviii (12 Sept. 1869), pp 623–4.

26 Howell, Phillip, Geographies of regulation: policing prostitution in nineteenth century Britain and the Empire (Cambridge, 2009), p. 54Google Scholar.

27 D.M.P.C., lviii (1867), p. 43.

28 D.M.P.C., lxii (11 Aug. 1869), p. 127.

29 Extract from the Inspector of Certified Hospitals, report on Cork Lock Hospital, 1869 (N.A.I., CSORP/1884/27996).

30 D.Q.J.M.S., xlvi (1868), p. 164.

31 The Lancet, ii (11 Nov. 1871), p. 700.

32 D.M.P.C., lxii (Dec. 1869), p. 496.

33 D.M.P.C., ix (9 Feb. 1870), p. 107.

34 Report of the Royal Commission upon the administration and operation of the Contagious Diseases Acts, p. 8 [C 408-I], H.C. 1871, xix, 8.

35 Mapother’s (1835–1908) career included service as president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and the first Medical Officer of Health for Dublin, from 1864: Mary O’Doherty, ‘Salus Populi: the endeavours of Edward Dillon Mapother’ in epublications@RCSI (July 1999).

36 D.Q.J.M.S., xlvi (1868), p. 167.

37 D.Q.J.M.S., xlvi (1868), pp 168–9.

38 D.Q.J.M.S., xlvi (1868), p. 167.

39 D.M.P.C., xvii (13 Aug. 1878), p. 23.

40 Contagious Diseases Acts. Copy of memorials presented to the Secretary of State for the Home Department from 2,500 men, praying that the principles of the Contagious Diseases Acts may be maintained, together with the signatures and other particulars attached thereto, and including any memorials on the same subject since presented, p. 1, H.C. 1872 (245), xlvii, 495.

41 D.Q.J.M.S., liii (11 Nov. 1871), p. 476.

42 For example, see D.M.P., ii (1864), pp 93–4.

43 Carmichael, Richard, An essay on venereal diseases (2nd, edn., London, 1825)Google Scholar.

44 D.Q.J.M.S., lii (1871), p. 477.

45 D.M.P.C., xvi (30 July 1873), pp 99–100.

46 Luddy, , Prostitution and Irish society, p. 137Google Scholar.

47 D.M.P.C., ii (9 Nov. 1870), p. 375.

48 D.M.P.C., lxxv (12 Dec. 1877), p. 504.

49 Report of the Royal Commission upon the Administration and Operation of the Contagious Diseases Acts, p. 675.

50 ibid.

51 D.Q.J.M.S., xlvi (1868), p. 164.

52 Steele, E. D., ‘Cardinal Cullen and Irish nationality’ in Irish Historical Studies, xix, no. 75 (Mar. 1975), p. 252Google Scholar.

53 Larkin, Emmet, ‘The devotional revolution in Ireland 1850–1875’ in American Historical Review, lxxvii, no. 3 (June 1972), pp 625–652CrossRefGoogle Scholar at p. 651.

54 Malcolm, Elisabeth, ‘“Troops of largely diseased women”: V.D., the Contagious Diseases Acts and moral policing in late 19th century Ireland’ in Irish Economic and Social History, xxvi (1999), pp 13–14Google Scholar.

55 D.M.P.C., ii (21 Sept. 1870), p. 233.

56 Sheldon, Amos, The Contagious Diseases Acts (London, 1876), p. 22Google Scholar. Sheldon was a barrister and professor of Jurisprudence in the University of London.

57 Walkowitz, Judith, Prostitution and Victorian society: women, class and the state (Cambridge, 1980), pp 92–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

58 Stansfeld’s involvement in the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts campaign ensured that he was not part of Gladstone’s cabinet in the 1880 to 1885 administration: Hammond, J.L. and Hammond, Barbara, ‘James Stansfeld, a Victorian champion of sex equality’ in American Journal of Sociology, xxxix, no. 2 (Sept. 1933), pp 266–268Google Scholar.

59 Jordan, Jane, Josephine Butler (London, 2007)Google Scholar.

60 Wright, Maureen ‘An impudent intrusion: assessing the life of Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy, first wave feminist and social reformer’ in Women’s History Review, xviii, no. 2 (2009), pp 243–264CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

61 Luddy, , Prostitution and Irish society, pp 149–150Google Scholar.

62 Luddy, Maria, ‘Isabella Tod’ in Mary Cullen and Maria Luddy (eds), Women, power and consciousness in 19 th century Ireland (Dublin, 1995), p. 213Google Scholar.

63 Cullen, Mary, ‘Anna Marie Haslam’ in Cullen and Luddy (eds), Women, power and consciousness, pp 161–196Google Scholar; Quinlan, Carmel, Genteel revolutionaries: Anna and Thomas Haslam and the Irish women’s movement (Cork, 2002)Google Scholar.

64 Isabella Tod served on the executive committee of the London-based L.N.A. and on the general council of the N.A.R.C.D.A.

65 Luddy, ‘Isabella Tod’, p. 214.

66 Annual report of the Ladies’ National Association, 1878, p. 37.

67 Quinlan, Genteel revolutionaries.

68 Report of the Royal Commission upon the Administration and Operation of the Contagious Diseases Acts, p. 674.

69 Report from the Select Committee on the Contagious Diseases Acts, p. 105, H.C. 1882 (340), ix, 211.

70 Irish Times, 20 May 1873.

71 Freeman’s Journal, 5 May 1870.

72 The Shield, 23 May 1870.

73 Annual Report of the Ladies’ National Association, p. 11.

74 Irish Times, 31 May 1870.

75 The Lancet, 8 Jan. 1870, p. 51.

76 D.M.P.C., xi (9 Nov. 1870), pp 375–6.

77 D.M.P.C., xi (23 Nov. 1870), pp 427–8.

78 D.M.P.C., xi (9 Nov. 1870), pp 375–6.

79 Malcolm, ‘Troops of largely diseased women’, p. 7Google Scholar.

80 D.M.P.C., ix (9 Feb. 1870), p. 107.

81 Irish Times, 6 Nov. 1878.

82 Report of the Royal Commission upon the Administration and Operation of the Contagious Diseases Acts, p. 677.

83 Charles Drysdale initially supported the acts but was soon convinced that they fundamentally threatened the civil liberties of working-class women and by 1870 was firmly on the side of repeal. He held the position of senior physician to the Metropolitan Free Hospital, London and published On the treatment of syphilis and other diseases without mercury (1872). His Prostitution medically considered of 1860 linked prostitution and poverty. See British Medical Journal, ii (21 Dec. 1907), p. 1811.

84 D.M.P.C., ix (9 Feb. 1870), pp 107–8.

85 D.M.P.C., xv (2 July 1873), pp 19–20.

86 The Malthusian League was established in 1877 with the aim of educating the populace on the importance of birth control and to campaign for the abolition of penalties against the public discussion of contraceptives. The league’s ideologies were based on the economic arguments of Thomas Robert Malthus (1766–1834) who never advocated contraception but did outline the dangers of over-population in his book The principles of population (London, 1798). The league’s first president was Dr Charles Drysdale, a regular contributor to the D.M.P.C.

87 Howell, , Geographies of regulation, pp 62–63Google Scholar; Walkowitz, , Prostitution and Victorian society, pp 91–92Google Scholar.

88 Frederickson, Kristine Wardle, ‘Josephine E. Butler and Christianity in the British feminist movement’ (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Utah, 2008), p. 180Google Scholar.

89 D.M.P.C., lxii (10 Nov. 1869), p. 391.

90 D.M.P.C., xvii (9 July 1873), p. 42.

91 Taylor, Charles Bell, The Contagious Diseases Act, being the substance of a paper read before the Medical Society of London (London, 1870), p. 11Google Scholar.

92 D.M.P.C., xvi (14 May 1873), pp 432–4.

93 D.M.P.C., lxii (22 Dec. 1869), p. 496.

94 D.M.P.C., xxvii (30 Apr. 1879), p. 343.

95 Report of the Royal Commission upon the Administration of the Contagious Diseases Acts, p. 8.

96 For further discussion on the struggles the medical profession in Ireland faced see Geary, Laurence M., ‘The medical profession, health care and the Poor Law in nineteenth century Ireland’ in Crossman and Gray (eds), Poverty and welfare, pp 189–206Google Scholar; Cox, Catherine ‘Access and authority; the medical dispensary service in post-Famine Ireland’ in Catherine Cox and Maria Luddy (eds), Cultures of care in Irish medical history 1750–1970 (Basingstoke, 2010), pp 57–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

97 Session of 1882: Petition to the House of Commons from medical men in Belfast, pp 1–2.

98 D.Q.J.M.S., lii (1871), pp 476–7.

99 Freeman’s Journal, 5 Mar. 1870.

100 Freeman’s Journal, 12 May 1870.

101 The Shield, 16 May 1870.

102 Freeman’s Journal, 19 May 1871.

103 D.Q.J.M.S., xlviii (1869), p. 627.

104 D.M.P.C., lxxv (12 Sept. 1877), p. 221.

105 D.M.P.C., lxxv (10 Oct. 1877), p. 302.

106 D.M.P.C., lxxv (12 Sept. 1877), p. 221.

107 D.M.P.C., xxvii (30 Apr. 1879), p. 346.

108 Ibid., p. 347.

109 Stokes (1804–78) was professor of Physic at the University of Dublin and is famed for his writings on cardiac and pulmonary diseases. See Brian, V. A., ‘The man behind the name: William Stokes 1804–1878’ in Nursing Times, 73 (Mar. 1977), pp 311–325Google Scholar.

110 D.M.P.C., xxvii (30 Apr. 1879), p. 346.

111 Irish Times, 19 Oct. 1878.

112 Belfast News-Letter, 4 Mar. 1870.

113 Freeman’s Journal, 10 Oct. 1878.

114 Freeman’s Journal, 14 Oct. 1871.

115 Ibid.

116 D.M.P.C., lxxvii (27 Nov. 1878), pp 436–7.

117 Ibid.

118 D.M.P.C., lxxvii (27 Nov. 1878), p. 437.

119 Freeman’s Journal, 2 Nov. 1878.

120 Ibid.

121 Irish Times, 6 Nov. 1878.

122 Annual Report of the Ladies’ National Association, 1878.

123 Irish Times, 6 Nov. 1878.

124 Freeman’s Journal, 2 Nov. 1878.

125 Ibid.

126 Irish Times, 4 Nov. 1878.

127 D.M.P.C., lxxvii (27 Nov. 1878), p. 437.

128 D.M.P.C., xxvii (30 Apr. 1879), pp 342–3.

129 Freeman’s Journal, 2 Nov. 1878.

130 Irish Times, 4 Nov. 1878.

131 Freeman’s Journal, 2 Nov. 1878.