Part 9

_Précis of Circulars issued in the Quartermaster General's Department regarding the adoption of stringent Measures to reduce the chances of Venereal Disease spreading more widely amongst the Soldiers of the Army._ -----------------+------------------------------------------------------ Number and Date | PURPORT. of Circular. | -----------------+------------------------------------------------------ No. 43, dated | I. Officers commanding troops on the line of march to 20th July 1870. | ensure the effective inspection of prostitutes | attached to their regimental bazars. | | II. When any woman is found to be diseased, measures | are to be adopted for her isolation on the march, | and her transfer to the first or nearest Lock | Hospital for treatment. | No. 87, dated | Forwards a copy of a report by the Sanitary 20th November | Commissioner with the Government of India, reviewing 1871. | the working of the rules for the prevention of | venereal disease amongst British troops for the year | 1870, and calls special attention to the necessity | of officers commanding stations affording more | efficient and energetic means for preventing the | admission of casuals to the vicinity of the | barracks. | | Any increase of disease should at once be met by | increased energy on the part of Station and | Regimental authorities, and especially of Regimental | Police. | No. 51, dated | Forwards copy of a communication from the Government 23rd August | of India to that of Bombay, regarding the disposal 1872. | of incurable women attending Lock Hospitals, in | which the former approves of a proposal to employ an | incurable woman on small wages in the duties of the | hospital at Mhow. | No. 80, dated | Directs that the practice of levying registration 30th September | fees from prostitutes be discontinued. 1873. | | No. 90, dated | Calls attention to Circular No. 87 of 1871, and 8th July 1875. | strongly impresses upon Officers Commanding | Divisions, Districts, and Stations, the necessity | for strengthening the regimental police of corps | when venereal is on the increase at a station, it | being the general impression that the disease is | not, as a rule, contracted from the registered | women, but from unlicensed prostitutes who wander | about the lines as hawkers, or are employed as | coolies by the Public Works Department. | | 2. Requests that it may be pointed out to regimental | Commanders, and the Lock Hospital Sub-Committees, | whose special duty it is to supervise the working | of the Lock Hospital rules, how important it is that | they should more actively exert themselves to check | the prevalence of this disease. | No. 35, dated | The Commander in Chief in India having had under 8th May 1876. | review the annual reports on the working of the Lock | Hospitals at certain stations, His Excellency | regrets to find that the results are not | satisfactory when compared with those of previous | years. | | 2. The Lock Hospital rules, as they stand, appear | to meet all requirements, but it is considered that | much greater vigilance and interest on the part of | the local authorities is required for their | efficient working. | | 3. The authorities most concerned in working out | these rules are Commanding Officers of Regiments | and Batteries, their Medical Officers, and the | Sub-Committees, and their attention is called to | the following points:-- | | I. The number of women on the register is not | in proportion to the number of men who visit | them. |

[Transcriber's Note: The following text is the transcription of a page of a multi-part document.]

COPY OF CIRCULAR MEMORANDUM -----------------+------------------------------------------------------ Number and Date | PURPORT. of Circular. | -----------------+------------------------------------------------------ | No. 35, dated | II. The improvement of the conditions under which 8th May 1876 | the women ply their trade, such as greater --_contd._ | privacy, facilities for ablution, &c. &c. | | III. The kind treatment of the women and every | reasonable inducement being held out to them | to attend the Lock Hospital when suffering | from disease. | | 4. Commanding Officers of regiments and batteries | are to report at once to the General Officer | Commanding, when any increase of venereal disease | occurs amongst their men. Such reports to show the | supposed causes of the increase, and the measures | adopted for its suppression, and after remark by | the Deputy Surgeon General to be forwarded to the | Quartermaster General's Office. | | 5. The Lock Hospital Sub-Committee are to be | assembled at least once a month, and their reports | forwarded to General Officers Commanding. | | 6. It is considered that a Careful attention to these | points will contribute considerably towards checking | the spread of venereal disease, and His Excellency | hopes that no effort will be spared by either | Regimental, Medical, or Local authorities to ensure | more satisfactory results than have hitherto been | obtained. | No. 67, dated | The annual reports on the working of Lock Hospitals 19th August | during the year 1875, show that much venereal 1876. | disease was contracted when on the line of march; | Commanding Officers' attention should therefore be | called to Circular No. 43 of 1870, and to the | Medical Regulations which direct the Medical | examination for venereal disease of every unmarried | soldier on the day of his arrival at a new station | from the line of march; and the effective inspection | of the prostitutes accompanying the regimental | bazars. | No. 11, dated | As it would appear that the great increase which 28th February | prevails in a regiment on the line of march is 1878. | attributable in a great measure to illicit | prostitution, requests that the necessity for the | exercise of greater care and vigilance on the line | of march may be urged upon regimental authorities. | | 2. If necessary, some restriction should be placed | on the men going out of camp, by posting picquets | in different directions, and strengthening them | when cases of venereal increase. | No. 68, dated | Draws attention to Circular No. 67 of 1876, and 24th November | requests that the instructions therein contained 1880. | regarding the medical examination of all unmarried | soldiers on first arrival at a new station may be | carried out, care being taken that the examination | of the men is conducted with the utmost decency. | | 2. These medical examinations are of importance in | detecting the existence and arresting the spread | of venereal disease. | No. 23, dated | Forwards for information and guidance an extract from 23rd April | a ruling of the Chief Court, Punjab, regarding the 1883. | registration of women convicted of practising | illicit prostitution. | No. 69, dated | The Commander in Chief requests that careful 26th November | attention of Cantonment Committees and Lock Hospital 1883. | Sub-Committees may be directed to the following | points, wherever free quarters for registered women | have been, or may hereafter be, established:-- | | 2. Where cantonment funds can afford it, experienced | and reliable Dhais should be employed to supervise | the registered women. |

[Transcriber's Note: The following text is the transcription of a page of a multi-part document.]

RELATING TO CONTAGIOUS DISEASES (EAST INDIA) -----------------+------------------------------------------------------ Number and Date | PURPORT. of Circular. | -----------------+------------------------------------------------------ | No. 69, dated |3. Such Dhais should be well paid if the fund can 26th November | afford it, and they should be held responsible 1883 | that:-- --_continued._ | | I. The women under their charge consort with none | but Europeans. | | II. That they do not entertain a man in any house | but the one allotted them as quarters; | | III. That a woman is sent to hospital immediately | she is found to be diseased; | | IV. To ensure the latter, the Dhai should examine | the women daily between the periodical inspections | of the medical officer. | | 4. Soldiers who have been diseased by registered | women, have been frequently known to attribute it | to women met in their walks outside the bazaar, | and the diseased woman has thus been allowed to | practise her trade in this state for sometime | without detection. | | 5. Every house should therefore be numbered outside, | or in some conspicuous spot inside, and a soldier on | reporting himself sick should not be required to | personally point out the woman from whom he | contracted the disease, but merely to give the | number of her house. | | 6. If the Dhai does her duty, these measures should | lead to the early detection of disease amongst | registered women. | | 7. Each house should be provided with a urinal and | means of ablution, and such other preventive | measures, within the means of the Cantonment Fund, | as suggest themselves to local committees should be | freely resorted to. | | 8. His Excellency will be prepared to sanction any | reasonable expenditure from cantonment funds on the | measures therein suggested. | No. 42, dated | Requests that the attention of Officers Commanding 12th July | Stations may be drawn to the desirability when 1884. | constructing free quarters for registered women, | of providing houses that will meet the wishes of | the women. | | 2. Unless their comfort and the convenience of those | who consort with them is considered, the results | will not be satisfactory. | -----------------+------------------------------------------------------

Appendix B.

[Transcriber's Note: The following text is the transcription of a two-part document. In this first part, text surrounded by the tilde ("~") character indicates it is handwritten in this document.]

FAC-SIMILE OF A REGISTRATION TICKET OF EXAMINATION

Issued to a Prostitute in India, in 1892, notwithstanding the Resolution of the House of Commons of June 5, 1888, condemning such registration. The form employed is the one authorized by the East India Contagious Diseases Act of 1866, which was repealed in 1888.

* * * * *

~1892~

Ticket of Registered Prostitutes in the Cantonment of Meean Meer,--

Name, _________~Begum 1st~_________________________________________

Caste ______~Mohamedun~____________________________________________

Registered number, ____~1~_________________________________________

Place of residence in Cantonment, ___~Sudder Bazar~________________

Date of Registry, ______~4-3-90~___________________________________

Personal appearance, ______________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

~signature~

~offs.~ Cantonment Magistrate, Meean Meer, A. B. P., S. B., M. M. ~DMM~

[Transcriber's Note: In this second part, text surrounded by the tilde ("~") character indicates it is handwritten in this document. The string "~initial~" represents the undecipherable initials or signature of an examining Medical Officer.]

+---------------------------------------------------+--------- | _Date of Medical Examination and_ | | _Signature of Medical Officer._ | Year +------------+-----------+--------------+-----------+ and | Date of | | Date of | |Remarks. Month. | inspection | Signature | inspection | Signature | | in the 1st | of Medical| in the second| of Medical| | half month.| Officer. | half month. | Officer. | ----------+------------+-----------+--------------+-----------+--------- 18~92~ | | | | | | | | ~15./92~ | | January | ~1st~ | | ~23./92~ | | | | | ~27 /92~ | | | | | | | February | ~1st~ | ~initial~ | ~15 /92~ | ~initial~ | | | | | | | | | | | March | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | April | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | May | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | June | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | July | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | August | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | September | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | October | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | November | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | December | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------+------------+-----------+--------------+-----------+---------

Appendix C.

LETTER TO LORD GEORGE HAMILTON.

The following is the full text of the letter of retractation which Lady Henry Somerset addressed to Lord George Hamilton, January 27, as it appeared in the London daily papers of February 8, 1898:--

EASTNOR CASTLE, LEDBURY, _Jan. 27, 1898_.

DEAR LORD GEORGE HAMILTON,--Your lordship invited me ten months ago to give you my view of the dispatch that has been addressed to the Government of India on the health of the army, and in a letter in which I did so I ventured to suggest some methods, moral and disciplinary, which seemed to me the only ones likely to succeed, because they had at least the merit of being logical.

I was led to do so by two considerations: first, the dispatch in question seemed to imply that the Government would give every encouragement to every form of elevating agency, and so emphasize the altered spirit in which the subject was approached, and that such suggested supervision would only affect an incorrigible minimum; and second, that the system I had in mind would be so drastic and penal in its nature as to make State interference odious and finally impossible. That was ten months ago; and in that time nothing has been done of which the public has heard to strengthen the forces that make for moral improvement.

What has been done, viz., the repeal of the Indian Acts of 1895, which prohibited inspection, has been in a direction exactly opposite. It seems to have been the object of the Government to obtain the maximum of impunity, with the minimum of protest, from those who desire to see the State shape its actions according to Christian views of ethics. I need not tell your lordship I am not writing to say how strongly I am still opposed to the course which the Government has taken; but I find that my letter to your lordship of last year has been taken by many to mean that I am on the side of the accepted view of State regulation, and I am from time to time quoted as a sympathizer with such views. I am therefore writing to withdraw any proposals made in that letter for this reason--that the events of the past year have convinced me of the inadvisability and extreme danger of the system that in April last I thought might be instituted.

The absence of any serious effort by the Government to bring about a higher standard in the army is a final proof to me that, as long as regulation of any kind can be resorted to as a remedy, it will always be regarded as the one and only panacea. My view was that it would be instituted as an odious but possibly effective auxiliary to moral efforts. I find it will always be accepted as a convenient substitute. I take the liberty of addressing this explicit withdrawal of an endorsement in whatever form of the principle of regulation; because it was in a letter to your lordship that I originally incurred the responsibility. I trust, therefore, to your lordship's indulgence to forgive me for troubling you further in the matter.--I remain, my lord, yours very truly,

(Signed) ISABEL SOMERSET.

* * * * *

The following comments on the above letter appeared in _The Christian_ (London), February 17, 1898:

REGULATION NO REMEDY.

In our last issue we inserted in full the letter of Lady Henry Somerset, in which she withdrew from her unfortunate position in relation to the State regulation of vice in India. We refrained, for the time being, from comment, that her retractation might speak for itself. We feel, therefore, the more free to remark upon it now.

We rejoice, in the first place, that it has come at all, for it justifies the principles for which we and other repealers have contended all these years. Lady Henry is convinced of "the inadvisability and extreme danger" of her former proposals, and recognises now that "as long as regulation of any kind can be resorted to as a remedy, it will be regarded as the one and only panacea ... [and] will always be accepted as a convenient substitute [for moral reform]."

It is therefore with thankfulness that we note her ladyship's "explicit withdrawal of an endorsement in whatever form of the principle of regulation."

This is all good so far as it goes, but it does not go far enough; and, alas! it comes too late, for it can never undo the fearful harm her action last year was the means of doing.

A public retractation is a hard and painful process, and we sympathize with Lady Henry in the mental strain which it must have cost her. But she has not been the only sufferer. It were no small thing to cause division and discord in so gigantic an organization as that over which she presided, so that at the present time the movement is crippled and its machinery out of gear. This might well have elicited an expression of regret, which we hope may yet be forthcoming in some communication to the Association she has so grievously wronged.

But more than this. Encouraged by her act, the Government claimed the women of England as its supporters, defied moral sentiment, and, on the crest of the wave of this unhappy dissension, carried the re-enactment of the infamous C. D. Acts among our sisters in India. It will take long and weary years of uphill work to undo the mischief that her ill-advised and hasty action wrought. Meantime, how many Indian women will have succumbed to a shameful life and gone down to a dishonoured grave?