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Anni Donaldson, Honorary Research Fellow, University of Strathclyde

The Glasgow Lock Hospital for Unfortunate Females was supposed to help vulnerable girls and women in the 19th century – instead it continued their abuse

Volodja1984/Shutterstock

Nine-year-old Annie McGuire and seven-year-old Elizabeth Martin were among thousands of women and girls admitted to the Glasgow Lock Hospital for Unfortunate Females, one of a network of Lock hospitals built across Britain and its colonies in the 19th century, between 1846 and 1947.

Established to diagnose and treat women and girls for venereal diseases, the hospital lay at the heart of the notorious Glasgow System – the Scottish city’s response to the Contagious Diseases Act (CDA).

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