Venereal Disease in Interwar Northern Ireland

Abstract

The first comprehensive attempt to discover the prevalence of venereal diseases (VD) in the United Kingdom took the form of a Royal Commission on Venereal Disease (RCVD), which was established in 1913 and made its report in 1916. The final report of the RCVD recommended that centres should be set up for the treatment of VD, with 75 per cent of the cost to be met by central government and the remainder from local rates.1 The establishment of clinics relied on cooperation between local authorities and voluntary hospitals, but this was to prove a problematic relationship in Northern Ireland,2 as it had done in other parts of the United Kingdom.3 The situation in Northern Ireland, however, was exacerbated due to the complex political situation, particularly the establishment of the new state of Northern Ireland. The 1920 Government of Ireland Act partitioned Ireland and set up two governments and two parliaments, one for the six counties that were to form Northern Ireland and another for the 26 southern counties that became the Irish Free State. The Anglo-Irish treaty, which was signed in December 1921, brought to an end the three-year conflict between the British forces and those fighting for independence. The treaty gave Ireland the status of a dominion within the British Commonwealth and established the Irish Free State. Northern Ireland was permitted to opt out of the agreement and retain its status granted in 1920, to remain part of the United Kingdom.KeywordsVenereal DiseaseCounty CouncilRoyal Victoria HospitalHome AffairPublic ToiletThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.