Lurking on the lands near Aldershot is a slice of history that has been largely – if not completely – forgotten. And its a history that tells a multitude of stories, covering social attitudes and Victorian beliefs that today are – to be quite frank – almost unbelievable.

The existence of now lost cluster of buildings at Ceasars Camp is revealed on the 1888~1913 Ordnance Survey 6-Inch maps of the area and referred to as a Lock Hospital.

This threw up quite a few questions; What on earth was a Lock Hospital? Why was one located at Aldershot? When was it built and why did it fall out of use and disappear?

There were a few surprises on the journey of discovery.

It was a bit of a shocker to find out the Lock Hospitals were venereal disease (VD) prisons enabled by an Act of Parliament, and every inmate detained was exclusively a woman. The reasons for their founding are, on reflection, less of a surprise. VD was rife within the Victorian British Army and the Aldershot Garrison but the statistics of the day detailing infection rates were eye-watering. The methods used to control the disease were poorly conceived group-think echo chamber based promoting discrimination and prejudice enforced by the wrong arm of the law.

So how did it all begin?

Contagious Diseases

Following the acquisition of lands in 1854 the Aldershot garrison expanded. But there was a problem in the form of venereal disease infecting up to 40% of those who served and by 1859 the medical journal The Lancet was calling for control over prostitution and the establishment of special hospitals to treat prostitutes.

Three Acts of Parliament followed that permitted routine examination and any woman (yes you read that right, just women) found to be diseased would be forced into a Lock Hospital for treatment until they were cured.

Why just detention for women?

It takes two to tango and share a sexually transmissible disease but the belief at the time held true the “fact” that venereal disease could only be passed from a woman to a man. Apparently chaps could catch it but not pass it on. In a Parliament made up of exclusively white males, blaming someone else for what is a joint enterprise was not going to be challenged, or if it was the majority were not about to agree. The military doctors were onboard with this message too, claiming regular inspections of nether regions “would destroy the men’s self respect”.

Any woman refusing treatment would be imprisoned and any brothel keeper knowingly sheltering an infected prostitute fined £10. The Aldershot Lock Hospital was constructed solely for the purpose of controlling VD that was running rampant in the army.

Morally Disgusting and Unworkable

The general health of the army had been exposed as poor and it took the crisis of the Crimea war to really raise the public profile. Public outrage at military and ministerial incompetence (some things never change) in running a war sought changes, which in the end saved the soldiers from the suffering inflicted by their employer.

Florence Nightingale, who had witnessed the squalor and filthy environment first hand in hospitals, had helped expose the simple fact that soldiers died at double the rate of the average civilian male. The War Office was negligent.

But on the subject of forced examination and controlling VD with a regime aimed at solely at imprisoning women Florence was blunt:

“Morally disgusting, unworkable in practice, and unsuccessful in results”

Florence Nightingale, Lancet – 1863

But the issue could not be resolved by male virtue alone and providing alternative entertainment facilities for soldiers did nothing to check the spread of disease. In 1861 an estimated 33,000 from a total of 91,000 soldiers stationed in the UK were admitted to hospital for venereal disease treatment. Monotony of barracks life was enough to “drive men to intemperance and debauchery”.

Thus the Contagious Disease Control Act of 1864 was born. Ill conceived legislation rarely works and this one failed to deliver its aims when hospitals refused to cooperate and civilian doctors complained at the miserly rate of pay for examinations.

In 1866 the Act For The Better Prevention of Contagious Diseases (no we are not making this up) was passed and amended the 1864 Act, beefing it up adding powers that could see any prostitute within 5 mile radius of garrison towns detained by a constable and marched off for medical examination, and certified hospitals would offer moral and religious instruction.

The plans for the Aldershot Lock Hospital are dated 1871 and the 1881 census recorded 38 female occupiers, or most likely detained prisoners. The hospital was a busy place with the the medical officer in charge reporting 1,494 examinations over a 77 day period in 1871, of which 138 women detained. Liberty was refused until cured, or in the case of syphilis the 9 months legal detention period was up.

Repeal And Change

Eventually the Acts were – quite rightly – recognised as deeply objectionable and repealed in the CD Acts of 1886. Prostitution didn’t end in 1886 but the morally repugnant and dreadfully sexist chunk of Victorian legislation was condemned. The need to treat venereal disease remained and in the 1891 census with the Aldershot Lock Hospital recording 15 female patients with their occupations listed as anything but prostitutes. Forced detention was no longer permitted.

The plans were amended and corrected in 1888 and the buildings used as a store before later being condemned. The main site plans are marked demolished 17/11/22.

Today society has thankfully moved on. VD is still circulating but penicillin has revolutionised treatment with both responsibility, education and treatment aimed fairly and squarely at both sexes.

To visit the site today reveals very little evidence of what was but visible in the ground are brick footings and a few sections of wall that hint at what was.

Irrespective of what remains the history of the lands remains important. The cultural and social ties to the lands are strong – although we would agree few would see a VD prison as the most palatable subject. Nevertheless, as an archaeological site the area remains an example of mid-to-late Victorian attempts at social healthcare and disease control. Preservation of what lie below the surface is unknown but may turn into a treasure trove of deeper insight.

The objection to poorly drafted legislation and misguided belief to used to control a social disease is on a massively different scale to any Byelaws review. Any attempt at comparisons between historic laws to control VD and military byelaws gets short shrift for its impossible to draw parallels between the impact on the lives of anyone held in a prison for the bad luck of catching a dose of the clap versus recreational access.

But there is another comparison we can all draw an experience from. From March 2020 lockdowns lead to state-enforced confinement with the single purpose of containing a contagious disease. All of us, to a greater or lesser degree, will be carrying the memory and experiences of what it was like to see liberty and freedoms removed for greater public health.

Sound familiar?

Pride and Prejudice

History demonstrates how opinions and attitudes change. Discriminatory, misguided and prejudiced legislation can be removed from the statute books if enough voices call foul, refuse to accept the normalisation of locked gates and empty spaces and choose – if necessary – to take a path of open dissent and non-cooperation.

The best bit? The local community need not wait for an Act of Parliament.

The current Aldershpot byelaws can be (and have) amended for certain groups with illegality removed with the stroke of the pen.

Its right there in Section 8(3) of the byelaws.

The potential for positive delivery against the Social Value Act is immense. One of the metrics (MAC 1.4) directly measures the benefits of any public tender spend against the simple objective of improving the mental health outcomes of those affected by COVID-19 confinement and its aimed at supporting businesses and communities alike.

And those impacted by COVID confinement are right here, in the local community. There is a very good chance mental health is being improved right now just by someone walking, jogging or riding a bicycle on the lands.

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”

American writer Upton Sinclair

Currently the agreement between DIO and TAG – the one which is recorded in writing but not accepted as tangible – remains the best we can secure. Meanwhile the attempted ban on cycling implemented in the 1976 byelaws has persisted. This now makes every ride a protest at a law that remains an archaic and out of touch nonsense that serves no one.

Individually the protest is an insignificant expression against what is going wrong.

Collectively the Strava heat maps reveal a massive, persistent and ongoing act of civil disobedience.

It’s right there, hiding in plain sight. Personal and collective protest at arrogance, denial and misguided prejudice.

With government policy directly supporting and investing money into cycling and encouraging more to ride it really looks like the vast majority of MPs should be backing cycling. Yet none in the civil service or political classes are able to grasp the simple fact horse riding just isn’t where recreation is for the masses.

How people use the lands is supported by some hard metrics. The number of equestrian licenses issued to ride on military lands over a two year period was just 140. Compare that to the 4,577 people who listed cycling as a military land pastime in the recent survey. Whilst we can all support horse riders with better access it just makes no sense to ignore and marginalise a significantly larger and more active part of the community.

Rational education is well overdue, to help everyone understand – often from the solider’s perspective – why we support the primacy of military training and what we can all do our bit to help make it happen.

With respect to public access, and in particular cycling on the lands, we should expect and demand education and evidence to deliver a just outcome for the byelaws and legal certainty in the meantime. For now the community remain subject to political inaction or indifference combined with civil servant bias, ego and prejudice. Why civil servants are permitted to behave like this – contrary to Nolan Principles – is beyond reason.

In the same way attitudes to VD changed, it’s high time misplaced and misguided beliefs give way to evidence based legislation and behavior. What do we focus on? Criminalising a perfectly legitimate and highly beneficial activity? Or embrace cycling and promote very positive Social Value outcomes?

“Misuse of training areas by civilians (e.g. civilian motorcyclists, cyclists, fly-tippers, etc) should be reported to Hants/Surrey Police on 101 and SE Trg Estates Room as soon as possible…”

Aldershot Training Area Standing Orders – 12. Civilian Access To MOD Training Land

Sometimes the easiest thing is to stop digging a hole. The benefits for all are right there. No spend required.

References:

Standing Orders Aldershot Training Areas and Miscellaneous Training Facilities Version 1.0 Dated 31 March 2021:

Blanco, Richard L. “THE ATTEMPTED CONTROL OF VENEREAL DISEASE IN THE ARMY OF MID-VICTORIAN ENGLAND.” Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, vol. 45, no. 184, 1967, pp. 234–41. JSTOR, .

Article by Gill Picken, Aldershot Historical and Archaeological Society

National Archives; WO 33/24 & WO 78/2843

Byelaws Review survey – Community use of the Aldershot Military Lands: