Syphilis epidemic struck Ireland in the 1930s new survey shows

Maybe the arrest of the woman was for their own protection. Since their is no such law that permits the arrest of woman for their own protection. The charge of drunken disorderly was used.

Thanks for the words Barneykx,can you tell me where I can get the Prosperous album.

LOCKE HOSPITAL As I was a-walking down by the Locke Hospital Cold was the morning and dark was the day I spied a young squaddie wrapped up in old linen Wrapped up in old linen as cold as the day Ch.: So play the drums slowly and play the fifes lowly Sound a dead march as you carry him along And over his coffin throw a bunch of white laurels For he's a young soldier cut down in his prime. Oh mother, dear mother, come sit ya down by me Sit ya down by me and pity my sad plight For my body is injured and sadly disordered All by a young girl my own heart's delight Get six of me comrades to carry my coffin Get six of me comrades to carry me on high And let every one hold a bunch of white roses So no-one will notice as we pass them by And over his headstone these words they were written "All ye young fellows take warning from me. Beware of the flash girls that roam through the city For the girls of the city were the ruin of me." --------------------------------------------------------- recorded by Christy Moore on "Prosperous" (1972) Christy writes: "There have been many British garrisons around the world through the years and each one has had its own Locke Hospital for soldiers who caught the dreaded disease. I believe this is a Dublin song, but if not its musical origins are certainly Irish." One of countless songs of the Unfortunate Rake family. While each telling a completely different story, they all share the description of the funeral (here chorus and verse 3). This version is probably very close to the original version. American versions include "The Streets Of Laredo" and "St. James Infirmary", British versions are "The Unfortunate Rake" and "When I Was On Horseback" and many more. There is a Folkways record ("The Unfortunate Rake", FS 3805) dedicated exclusively to this family.

Thank you Jacers for that explanation. The more things change the more they stay the same.

(...more) But for MikeRock I hafta add this bit more... 80 yrs on, the problem of STDs is on the rise again in Dublin and elsewhere in Ireland, despite preventative measures. Many college students are prostituting on the quiet to pay for college fees, accommodation and their *cough* hugely spiralling social life costs (check that with ICentral’s Gaelic Girls blogs). So too are some women in homes devastated by unemployment, unable to pay the family mortgage while they or their husbands, or both, are out of work. Yes, Mike, it is relevant today. Monto’s tradition lives on... There are two hotels still in the old Monto district today that are known to ply, or at least suspected of plying the trade and many girls using them as places “of employ” are immigrants from Africa and Eastern Europe, under control of pimps, despite being raided many times by the police. We need a new Frank Duff mentality on Dublin’s streets. (Google or bing for info on Frank Duff and the 10m strong world-wide Legion of Mary).

(...more) A devout lay Catholic Dublin man, Frank Duff, who, in 1921, founded the now world-famous lay religious organisation, The Legion of Mary, launched a campaign to have the brothels in Monto and other ship-harbouring places like Dún Laoghaire closed down, saying no woman should be forced into prostitution or treated less than human. Through his and others efforts, the brothels disappeared and the incidence of syphilis and gonorrhoea dropped off considerably as a result. Duff was especially concerned for prostitutes who became unmarried mothers and opened a hostel in Dublin for them, called Regina Coeli (still there today, still providing the same care), leaving many mainstream Catholics of the time aghast at that; they frowned on unmarried mothers and tended to lock them secretly away in convents. There’s many a culchie man, single or married, who came “up to Dublin”, my own dear city, for the All-Irelands, who lost his virginity in Monto and brought STDs back to his hometown gals, or... wife. And, much as it might (or not) surprise people, even as a wee Dublin kid, I knew of a “massage parlour” under the Amiens St railway bridge that catered for ... wait for it... a clique of RCC priests. (more...)

Mike Rock doesn’t realise the importance of this story in this day and age and James O’Shea doesn’t know his history. Dublin was once regarded as having the biggest ‘red light’ district in Europe in the early 1900s through to the ‘50s. It was called Monto (after a street called Montgomery St) and was immortalised in the song #Take her up to Monto, Monto...lange-er-roo, to you! #. A popular version was sung by Ronnie Drew and the Dubliners. The Monto district was located beside where today’s Connolly (railway) Station is in Amiens Street, which is only a couple of hundred yards away from what was back then Dublin’s ship-docking area (e.g. Custom House Quay and the Point Depot). You have to remember that poverty was rife in Dublin from the early 1900s through the ‘30s, '40s and '50s. Women fell into prostitution to feed their families with income gleaned from visiting sailors and from British soldiers stationed in Dublin up to the time they left. It was they who brought syphilis to Ireland (sez I, tongue in cheek) and spread it amongst the Dublin womenfolk of Monto. (More...)

80 years ago. Is that relevant today? Must be slow at the office, O'Shea.

Arrest figures would just reflect that the stout men of the DMP just it easier to pick on women!

There is a song called the Loch Hospital about this.