London Lock Hospital

The London Lock Hospital, which opened on 31 January 1747, was the first venereal disease clinic and the most famous and first of the Lock Hospitals. The Lock Hospitals were developed for the treatment of syphilis following the end of the use of lazar hospitals, as leprosy declined. The hospital later developed maternity and gynaecology services before being incorporated into the National Health Service in 1948, and finally closed in 1952. A charitable society had been working to establish this hospital since July 1746. In November of that year a house was bought for this purpose in Grosvenor Place, London, near Hyde Park Corner. The founder of the hospital was William Bromfield. After opening in January 1747, the hospital treated...