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The United Kingdom (UK) was the scene of early efforts to promote male circumcision. It influenced the adoption of male circumcision in other English-speaking nations. Later it was the scene of efforts to reduce and eliminate the practice.
While Jews reding in the UK practiced ritual circumcision of boys on the eighth day of life in accordance with the Abrahamic covenant, the practice was nearly unknown among gentiles.
Contents
Introduction of circumcision as a medical practice
French physician Claude-François Lallemand (1790 – 1854) recommended circumcision as a treatment for spermatorrhea (excessive, involuntary ejaculation), which was then believed to be a disease. Lallemand influenced later English physicians such as William Acton.[1]
Edward H. Dixon (1845) advocated circumcision to prevent masturbation.[2]
Sir Jonathan Hutchinson (1828 – 1913) was an English surgeon, dermatologist, ophthalmologist, pathologist and venereologist.[3] Darby describes Hutchinson as a puritanical and gloomy Quaker who disapproved of masturbation on moral grounds.[4] Sir Jonathan advocated circumcision to prevent syphilis.[5]
Nathaniel Heckford, a pediatrician at the East London Hospital for Children, wrote Circumcision as a Remedial Measure in Certain Cases of Epilepsy, Chorea, etc. (1865), in which he argued that circumcision acted as an effective remedial measure in the prevention of certain cases of epilepsy and chorea.[6]
Sir Jonathan Hutchinson started to promote circumcision to prevent masturbation in 1890.[4] He first published A Plea for Circumcison,[7], followed by On circumcision as a preventive of masturbation.[8]
Sir Jonathan was not yet done. He published yet another article On Circumcision in 1893.[9]
Sir Frederick Treves (1853 – 1923), a prominent Harley Street surgeon, who is known to us by The Elephant Man film, wrote an operative manual in 1903 to educate other surgeons in the performance of the circumcision amputation.[10] The practice of male circumcision was well established in the United Kingdom as the nineteenth century ended.
The royal family and circumcision
There is a long-standing legend or legends about the royal family and its alleged practice of male circumcision that has long been circulated in the print media and orally. According to the legend:
- Queen Victoria believed that she was descended from the Jewish King David of the Bible. She had her sons circumcised in accordance with Jewish practice. After Queen Victoria's death succeeding generations of the royal family continued the practice.
- Both Edward VIII, later Duke of Windsor, and Prince Charles were ritually circumcised by Dr. Jacob Snowman, a medical doctor and mohel. The practice ended when Prince Charles and Princess Diana had children. Princess Diana objected to the practice, so Princes William and Harry were not circumcised. Prince George also was not circumcised.
Robert Darby and John Cozijn thoroughly investigated the legend and were unable to verify any of it. Moreover, they showed evidence that it cannot be true.[11]
Although this long standing legend cannot be proved to be true, it was generally believed to be true. It is probable therefore, that many parents had their sons circumcised because the royal family was believed to do it.
Twentieth century
Sir Jonathan Hutchinson (1900) opened the twentieth century with an article advocating male circumcision as a way to decrease the pleasure of sex, and hence to discourage sexual immorality.[12]
Cockshut (1935) published a letter in the British Medical Journal that urged circumcision of all male infants because the "glans of the circumcised rapidly assumes a leathery texture less sensitive than skin." The advantage, according to Cockshut, is that masturbation would be reduced.[13]
Rickwood et al. (2000) reported that the incidence of boys circumcised reached 35 percent by the early 1930s.[14]
References
- ↑
Darby, Robert. Pathologizing Male Sexuality: Lallemand, Spermatorrhea, and the Rise of Circumcision. J Hist Med Allied Sci. July 2005; 60(3): 283-319. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
- ↑
Dixon, Edward H. (1845): A Treatise on Diseases of the Sexual Organs. New York: Stringer & Co. Pp. 158-165. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
- ↑
Zhang, Gary (2020). Jonathan Hutchinson
, Life in the Fast Lane. Retrieved 4 September 2021. - ↑ a b Darby, Robert.
The crotchets of Sir Jonathan Hutchinson
, The History of Circumcision. Retrieved 4 September 2021. - ↑ Hutchinson, Jonathon. On the Influence of Circumcision in Preventing Syphilis. Medical Times and Gazette. 1855; 32(844): 542-543. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
- ↑ Heckford N. Circumcision as a remedial measure in certain cases of epilepsy and chorea. Clinical Lectures and Reports by the Medical and Surgical Staff of the London Hospital. 1865; 2: 58-64.
- ↑ Hutchinson, Jonathan. A plea for circumcision. Archives of Surgery. 1890; II: 15. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
- ↑ Hutchinson, Jonathan. On circumcision as a preventive of masturbation. Archives of Surgery. 1890; II: 267-9. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
- ↑ Hutchinson, Jonathan. On circumcision. Archives of Surgery. 1893; IV: 379-80. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
- ↑ Treves, Frederick (1903):
Chapter VI
, in: Circumcision. Work: A Manual of Operative Surgery, II.. London: Cassell. Pp. 670-3. Retrieved 4 September 2021. - ↑ Darby, Robert, Cozijn, John. The British Royal Family’s Circumcision Tradition: Genesis and Evolution of a Contemporary Legend. Sage. 13 October 2013; DOI. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
- ↑ Hutchinson J. The advantages of circumcision. The Polyclinic. September 1900; 3(9): 129-131. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
- ↑ Cockshut RW. Circumcision. BMJ. 19 October 1935; 2(3902): 764. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
- ↑ Rickwood AMK, Kenny SE, Donald SC. Towards evidence based circumcision of English boys: survey of trends in practice. BMJ. 2000; 321: 792-3. PMID. PMC. DOI. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
