Wolves in women's clothing: Baby-farming and the British medical journal, 1860-1872

Journal of Family History

Volumn 26, Issue 3, 2001, Pages 350-372

  Homrighaus, Ruth Ellen ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; CHILD WELFARE; CULTURAL FACTOR; DOCTOR NURSE RELATION; ECONOMICS; EDUCATION; ETHNOLOGY; FEMALE; HISTORY; HISTORY OF MEDICINE; HUMAN; INFANT; INFANT WELFARE; INFANTICIDE; LAW; LEGAL ASPECT; NEWBORN; PHYSICIAN; POLICY; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; PUBLISHING; SOCIAL CLASS; SOCIAL JUSTICE; SOCIAL PROBLEM; SOCIOECONOMICS; UNITED KINGDOM;

CHILD, UNWANTED; CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS; GREAT BRITAIN; HISTORY OF NURSING; HISTORY, 19TH CENTURY; HUMANS; INFANT; INFANT WELFARE; INFANT, NEWBORN; INFANTICIDE; JOURNALISM, MEDICAL; LEGISLATION AS TOPIC; PHYSICIAN-NURSE RELATIONS; PHYSICIANS; PUBLIC POLICY; SOCIAL CLASS; SOCIAL JUSTICE; SOCIAL PROBLEMS; SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS; WOMEN, WORKING;

EID: 0035402459     PISSN: 03631990     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/036319900102600303     Document Type: Article

References (198)

1. According to Cowan, Jeanette became pregnant after she was "outraged" by the husband of a woman she was visiting. "Summary of This Morning's News, "Pall Mall Gazette (London), June 28, 1870. See also "Extraordinary Baby-Farming Case, "Daily News (London), June 14, 1870, and other newspaper coverage of Margaret Waters's trial for details.
2. According to Cowan, Jeanette became pregnant after she was "outraged" by the husband of a woman she was visiting. "Summary of This Morning's News, "Pall Mall Gazette (London), June 28, 1870. See also "Extraordinary Baby-Farming Case, "Daily News (London), June 14, 1870, and other newspaper coverage of Margaret Waters's trial for details.
3. Adoption was enshrined in English law in the Adoption Acts of 1926 (England) and 1930 (Scotland).
4. The number of deaths attributed to Waters varies from one source to the next. She was initially accused of murdering five infants, but newspapers often insinuated that she was responsible for the deaths of eighteen or more infants whose bodies were found in the area surrounding her home. Waters admitted that about forty infants had passed through her establishment during the four years that she took infants to "adopt, "and she was unable or unwilling to account for the whereabouts of most of these children. "The Alleged Baby Murders, "Times (London), August 13, 1870; "The So-Called Baby Farming Case Has Ended, "Times (London), September 24, 1870; George K. Behlmer, Child Abuse and Moral Reform in England, 1870-1908 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1982), 28.
5. The number of deaths attributed to Waters varies from one source to the next. She was initially accused of murdering five infants, but newspapers often insinuated that she was responsible for the deaths of eighteen or more infants whose bodies were found in the area surrounding her home. Waters admitted that about forty infants had passed through her establishment during the four years that she took infants to "adopt, "and she was unable or unwilling to account for the whereabouts of most of these children. "The Alleged Baby Murders, "Times (London), August 13, 1870; "The So-Called Baby Farming Case Has Ended, "Times (London), September 24, 1870; George K. Behlmer, Child Abuse and Moral Reform in England, 1870-1908 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1982), 28.
6. The number of deaths attributed to Waters varies from one source to the next. She was initially accused of murdering five infants, but newspapers often insinuated that she was responsible for the deaths of eighteen or more infants whose bodies were found in the area surrounding her home. Waters admitted that about forty infants had passed through her establishment during the four years that she took infants to "adopt, "and she was unable or unwilling to account for the whereabouts of most of these children. "The Alleged Baby Murders, "Times (London), August 13, 1870; "The So-Called Baby Farming Case Has Ended, "Times (London), September 24, 1870; George K. Behlmer, Child Abuse and Moral Reform in England, 1870-1908 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1982), 28.
7. The term "baby-farming" is of indeterminate origin. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), "baby farm" is "a derogatory term for a place where the lodging and care of babies is undertaken for profit." The earliest use of the term I have found is in the October 19, 1867 issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ). "Baby-farming" also referred to arrangements in which the nurse was paid to care for infants by the week and thus had a greater incentive to keep them alive. This meaning of the term, however, entered only tangentially into discussions of criminal baby-farming. Initially, the definition of "baby-farming" was fairly fluid, encompassing both meanings noted above as well as the activities of midwives, the proprietors of lying-in establishments, abortionists, and informal adoption practices that did not result in infant death. By 1870, it had narrowed to the meaning cited by the OED. "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, October 19, 1867.
8. For one example of this argument, see "The Verdict of the Coroner's Jury, "Times (London), July 4, 1870.
9. Ibid, ("mercenary"); "The So-Called Baby Farming Case" ("depraved, "wicked").
10. Ibid, ("mercenary"); "The So-Called Baby Farming Case" ("depraved, "wicked").
11. Stanley Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers (Oxford: Martin Robertson, 1980), 9, 16-17.
12. Circulation figures, although somewhat unreliable, indicate a fairly low readership in the early 1860s. The BMJ was provided free to the 2, 500 members of the British Medical Association who regularly paid their membership dues. After Ernest Hart assumed editorship in 1867, circulation increased to approximately 20, 500 and the BMJ vied with the Lancet as the widest-circulating medical periodical. P.W.J. Bartrip, Mirror of Medicine: A History of the British Medical Journal (Oxford: Clarendon, 1990), 71.
13. "Public Nurseries, "Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature 46 (October 1850): 398. Also Margaret Arnot, "Infant Death, Child Care and the State: The Baby-Farming Scandal and the First Infant Life Protection Legislation of 1872, "Continuity and Change 9, no. 2 (1994): 290-91.
14. "Public Nurseries, "Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature 46 (October 1850): 398. Also Margaret Arnot, "Infant Death, Child Care and the State: The Baby-Farming Scandal and the First Infant Life Protection Legislation of 1872, "Continuity and Change 9, no. 2 (1994): 290-91.
15. Supported by contributions and small fees, the ideal public nursery would provide a place for working mothers to leave their infants in the care of certified nurses during the day. "Public Nurseries"; "Poor People's Children, "Chambers' Journal of Popular Literature 68 (April 1855): 244; "An English Crèche, "Times (London), April 8, 1868; "Babies by the Day, "Chambers' Journal of Popular Literature 271 (March 1869).
16. Supported by contributions and small fees, the ideal public nursery would provide a place for working mothers to leave their infants in the care of certified nurses during the day. "Public Nurseries"; "Poor People's Children, "Chambers' Journal of Popular Literature 68 (April 1855): 244; "An English Crèche, "Times (London), April 8, 1868; "Babies by the Day, "Chambers' Journal of Popular Literature 271 (March 1869).
17. Supported by contributions and small fees, the ideal public nursery would provide a place for working mothers to leave their infants in the care of certified nurses during the day. "Public Nurseries"; "Poor People's Children, "Chambers' Journal of Popular Literature 68 (April 1855): 244; "An English Crèche, "Times (London), April 8, 1868; "Babies by the Day, "Chambers' Journal of Popular Literature 271 (March 1869).
18. Supported by contributions and small fees, the ideal public nursery would provide a place for working mothers to leave their infants in the care of certified nurses during the day. "Public Nurseries"; "Poor People's Children, "Chambers' Journal of Popular Literature 68 (April 1855): 244; "An English Crèche, "Times (London), April 8, 1868; "Babies by the Day, "Chambers' Journal of Popular Literature 271 (March 1869).
19. Kingsley told the Ladies' Sanitary Association in 1859 that upper-class women were uniquely suited to help the poor. "You might save several lives a piece, if you chose, "he explained, without "interfering with your daily business, or with your daily pleasure." According to Anna Davin, the Ladies' Sanitary Association (founded in 1857) "saw infant mortality as particularly a woman's concern; in their tracts of advice and moral stories the importance of being a good mother continually recurs." Kingsley, quoted in "Second Annual Report of the Ladies' National Association for the Diffusion of Sanitary Knowledge, "English Woman's Journal 3, no. 18 (August 1, 1859): 387; Anna Davin, "Imperialism and Motherhood: Population and Power, "History Workshop Journal 5 (1978): 52. Also "Poor People's Children"; C., "Mothers v. Nurses, "English Woman's Journal 2 (February 1858): 283-84.
20. Kingsley told the Ladies' Sanitary Association in 1859 that upper-class women were uniquely suited to help the poor. "You might save several lives a piece, if you chose, "he explained, without "interfering with your daily business, or with your daily pleasure." According to Anna Davin, the Ladies' Sanitary Association (founded in 1857) "saw infant mortality as particularly a woman's concern; in their tracts of advice and moral stories the importance of being a good mother continually recurs." Kingsley, quoted in "Second Annual Report of the Ladies' National Association for the Diffusion of Sanitary Knowledge, "English Woman's Journal 3, no. 18 (August 1, 1859): 387; Anna Davin, "Imperialism and Motherhood: Population and Power, "History Workshop Journal 5 (1978): 52. Also "Poor People's Children"; C., "Mothers v. Nurses, "English Woman's Journal 2 (February 1858): 283-84.
21. Kingsley told the Ladies' Sanitary Association in 1859 that upper-class women were uniquely suited to help the poor. "You might save several lives a piece, if you chose, "he explained, without "interfering with your daily business, or with your daily pleasure." According to Anna Davin, the Ladies' Sanitary Association (founded in 1857) "saw infant mortality as particularly a woman's concern; in their tracts of advice and moral stories the importance of being a good mother continually recurs." Kingsley, quoted in "Second Annual Report of the Ladies' National Association for the Diffusion of Sanitary Knowledge, "English Woman's Journal 3, no. 18 (August 1, 1859): 387; Anna Davin, "Imperialism and Motherhood: Population and Power, "History Workshop Journal 5 (1978): 52. Also "Poor People's Children"; C., "Mothers v. Nurses, "English Woman's Journal 2 (February 1858): 283-84.
22. "Perilous Philanthropy, "BMJ, April 18, 1868.
23. W. Tyler Smith, "Address on Infanticide and Excessive Infant Mortality Delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Harveian Society, "BMJ, January 12, 1867.
24. Ernest Hart, in House of Commons, "Report from the Select Committee for the Protection of Infant Life, "Sessional Papers, July 20, 1871, vol. 7, 10-13.
25. For a more thorough commentary on medical professionalization and its intersection with women's and children's health issues, see Arnot, "Infant Death, "286-87; Anne Digby, Making a Medical Living: Doctors and Patients in the English Market for Medicine, 1720-1911, Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy, and Society in Past Time, vol. 24 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994); Ann R. Higginbotham, "Sin of the Age: Infanticide and Illegitimacy in Victorian London, "Victorian Studies 32 (Spring 1989): 324; Ornella Moscucci, The Science of Woman: Gynaecology and Gender in England, 1800-1929, Cambridge History of Medicine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
26. For a more thorough commentary on medical professionalization and its intersection with women's and children's health issues, see Arnot, "Infant Death, "286-87; Anne Digby, Making a Medical Living: Doctors and Patients in the English Market for Medicine, 1720-1911, Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy, and Society in Past Time, vol. 24 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994); Ann R. Higginbotham, "Sin of the Age: Infanticide and Illegitimacy in Victorian London, "Victorian Studies 32 (Spring 1989): 324; Ornella Moscucci, The Science of Woman: Gynaecology and Gender in England, 1800-1929, Cambridge History of Medicine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
27. For a more thorough commentary on medical professionalization and its intersection with women's and children's health issues, see Arnot, "Infant Death, "286-87; Anne Digby, Making a Medical Living: Doctors and Patients in the English Market for Medicine, 1720-1911, Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy, and Society in Past Time, vol. 24 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994); Ann R. Higginbotham, "Sin of the Age: Infanticide and Illegitimacy in Victorian London, "Victorian Studies 32 (Spring 1989): 324; Ornella Moscucci, The Science of Woman: Gynaecology and Gender in England, 1800-1929, Cambridge History of Medicine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
28. For a more thorough commentary on medical professionalization and its intersection with women's and children's health issues, see Arnot, "Infant Death, "286-87; Anne Digby, Making a Medical Living: Doctors and Patients in the English Market for Medicine, 1720-1911, Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy, and Society in Past Time, vol. 24 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994); Ann R. Higginbotham, "Sin of the Age: Infanticide and Illegitimacy in Victorian London, "Victorian Studies 32 (Spring 1989): 324; Ornella Moscucci, The Science of Woman: Gynaecology and Gender in England, 1800-1929, Cambridge History of Medicine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
29. The Contagious Diseases Acts are one example well known to historians of British feminism. Judith Walkowitz, Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women, Class, and the State (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980).
30. Bartrip, Mirror of Medicine, 124-25.
31. Although the belief that infanticide was on the rise may have been founded on dubious statistical evidence, it is certainly true that infants were disproportionately at risk of murder in mid-Victorian London. Children under the age of one formed more than 60 percent of all homicide victims at a time when they made up only 2 to 3 percent of the population. In the context of the overall infant mortality rate, the rate of violent death was relatively low. In 1864, for example, 1.5 percent or 1, 730 of 112, 935 infant deaths in England were attributed to violence (including accidental and negligent deaths as well as homicides), while 22.4 percent or 25, 322 were caused by infectious diseases such as diarrhea, whooping cough, and smallpox. Most officials agreed, however, that infanticide was grossly underrepresented in official statistics. Looking at infanticide cases, George Behlmer noted that "the 203 verdicts of willful murder of children aged one year and under returned by coroners' juries in 1864 yield a rate of 27.4 murders per 100, 000 infants in their first year." Taken with figures from previous years (1838 and 1839, 52 cases; 1852-56, an average of 146 cases per year; and 1861-71, an average of 159.4 cases per year) Behlmer suggested that these statistics might "represent a level of infanticide significantly greater than any previous period for which we have continuous data." Edwin Lankester argued that "we cannot regard the verdicts of coroners' courts as the true indication of the amount of destruction of newly bom infant life"; the rate of infanticide was, in fact, much higher than the verdicts of coroners' juries suggested. It is also clear, however, that the remarkable increase in the number of infanticide verdicts made by coroners' juries had a great deal to do with the vigilance of committed infanticide reformers and coroners such as Lankester himself. That infanticide appeared to be increasing at an alarming rate, however, is indisputable. Particularly in London, the crowding of the impoverished working classes into West End neighborhoods and rapid population growth must have accentuated the visibility of the problem. In 1870, 276 infants were found dead in the streets of the London Metropolitan and City Police districts. Because these gruesome discoveries tended to cluster in public parks and near railroads in poor Middlesex parishes such as Marylebone and Paddington, the scale of child murder must have seemed particularly great to Londoners living or working in these areas. Still, the statistics cited by medical professionals were often exaggerated, such as Lankester's famous (and criticized) contention that some 12, 000 living London women had committed infanticide. Lionel Rose, The Massacre of the Innocents: Infanticide in Britain, 1800-1939 (Boston: Routledge, 1986), 8; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 18, and "Deadly Motherhood: Infanticide and Medical Opinion in Mid-Victorian England, "Journal of the History of Medicine 34 (October 1979): 422-24; Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "iv; Edwin Lankester, "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex, "BMJ, April 28, 1866; "Infanticide in London, "Lancet, June 12, 1869; "Coroner's Arithmetic, "BMJ, September 22, 1866.
32. Although the belief that infanticide was on the rise may have been founded on dubious statistical evidence, it is certainly true that infants were disproportionately at risk of murder in mid-Victorian London. Children under the age of one formed more than 60 percent of all homicide victims at a time when they made up only 2 to 3 percent of the population. In the context of the overall infant mortality rate, the rate of violent death was relatively low. In 1864, for example, 1.5 percent or 1, 730 of 112, 935 infant deaths in England were attributed to violence (including accidental and negligent deaths as well as homicides), while 22.4 percent or 25, 322 were caused by infectious diseases such as diarrhea, whooping cough, and smallpox. Most officials agreed, however, that infanticide was grossly underrepresented in official statistics. Looking at infanticide cases, George Behlmer noted that "the 203 verdicts of willful murder of children aged one year and under returned by coroners' juries in 1864 yield a rate of 27.4 murders per 100, 000 infants in their first year." Taken with figures from previous years (1838 and 1839, 52 cases; 1852-56, an average of 146 cases per year; and 1861-71, an average of 159.4 cases per year) Behlmer suggested that these statistics might "represent a level of infanticide significantly greater than any previous period for which we have continuous data." Edwin Lankester argued that "we cannot regard the verdicts of coroners' courts as the true indication of the amount of destruction of newly bom infant life"; the rate of infanticide was, in fact, much higher than the verdicts of coroners' juries suggested. It is also clear, however, that the remarkable increase in the number of infanticide verdicts made by coroners' juries had a great deal to do with the vigilance of committed infanticide reformers and coroners such as Lankester himself. That infanticide appeared to be increasing at an alarming rate, however, is indisputable. Particularly in London, the crowding of the impoverished working classes into West End neighborhoods and rapid population growth must have accentuated the visibility of the problem. In 1870, 276 infants were found dead in the streets of the London Metropolitan and City Police districts. Because these gruesome discoveries tended to cluster in public parks and near railroads in poor Middlesex parishes such as Marylebone and Paddington, the scale of child murder must have seemed particularly great to Londoners living or working in these areas. Still, the statistics cited by medical professionals were often exaggerated, such as Lankester's famous (and criticized) contention that some 12, 000 living London women had committed infanticide. Lionel Rose, The Massacre of the Innocents: Infanticide in Britain, 1800-1939 (Boston: Routledge, 1986), 8; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 18, and "Deadly Motherhood: Infanticide and Medical Opinion in Mid-Victorian England, "Journal of the History of Medicine 34 (October 1979): 422-24; Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "iv; Edwin Lankester, "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex, "BMJ, April 28, 1866; "Infanticide in London, "Lancet, June 12, 1869; "Coroner's Arithmetic, "BMJ, September 22, 1866.
33. Although the belief that infanticide was on the rise may have been founded on dubious statistical evidence, it is certainly true that infants were disproportionately at risk of murder in mid-Victorian London. Children under the age of one formed more than 60 percent of all homicide victims at a time when they made up only 2 to 3 percent of the population. In the context of the overall infant mortality rate, the rate of violent death was relatively low. In 1864, for example, 1.5 percent or 1, 730 of 112, 935 infant deaths in England were attributed to violence (including accidental and negligent deaths as well as homicides), while 22.4 percent or 25, 322 were caused by infectious diseases such as diarrhea, whooping cough, and smallpox. Most officials agreed, however, that infanticide was grossly underrepresented in official statistics. Looking at infanticide cases, George Behlmer noted that "the 203 verdicts of willful murder of children aged one year and under returned by coroners' juries in 1864 yield a rate of 27.4 murders per 100, 000 infants in their first year." Taken with figures from previous years (1838 and 1839, 52 cases; 1852-56, an average of 146 cases per year; and 1861-71, an average of 159.4 cases per year) Behlmer suggested that these statistics might "represent a level of infanticide significantly greater than any previous period for which we have continuous data." Edwin Lankester argued that "we cannot regard the verdicts of coroners' courts as the true indication of the amount of destruction of newly bom infant life"; the rate of infanticide was, in fact, much higher than the verdicts of coroners' juries suggested. It is also clear, however, that the remarkable increase in the number of infanticide verdicts made by coroners' juries had a great deal to do with the vigilance of committed infanticide reformers and coroners such as Lankester himself. That infanticide appeared to be increasing at an alarming rate, however, is indisputable. Particularly in London, the crowding of the impoverished working classes into West End neighborhoods and rapid population growth must have accentuated the visibility of the problem. In 1870, 276 infants were found dead in the streets of the London Metropolitan and City Police districts. Because these gruesome discoveries tended to cluster in public parks and near railroads in poor Middlesex parishes such as Marylebone and Paddington, the scale of child murder must have seemed particularly great to Londoners living or working in these areas. Still, the statistics cited by medical professionals were often exaggerated, such as Lankester's famous (and criticized) contention that some 12, 000 living London women had committed infanticide. Lionel Rose, The Massacre of the Innocents: Infanticide in Britain, 1800-1939 (Boston: Routledge, 1986), 8; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 18, and "Deadly Motherhood: Infanticide and Medical Opinion in Mid-Victorian England, "Journal of the History of Medicine 34 (October 1979): 422-24; Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "iv; Edwin Lankester, "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex, "BMJ, April 28, 1866; "Infanticide in London, "Lancet, June 12, 1869; "Coroner's Arithmetic, "BMJ, September 22, 1866.
34. Although the belief that infanticide was on the rise may have been founded on dubious statistical evidence, it is certainly true that infants were disproportionately at risk of murder in mid-Victorian London. Children under the age of one formed more than 60 percent of all homicide victims at a time when they made up only 2 to 3 percent of the population. In the context of the overall infant mortality rate, the rate of violent death was relatively low. In 1864, for example, 1.5 percent or 1, 730 of 112, 935 infant deaths in England were attributed to violence (including accidental and negligent deaths as well as homicides), while 22.4 percent or 25, 322 were caused by infectious diseases such as diarrhea, whooping cough, and smallpox. Most officials agreed, however, that infanticide was grossly underrepresented in official statistics. Looking at infanticide cases, George Behlmer noted that "the 203 verdicts of willful murder of children aged one year and under returned by coroners' juries in 1864 yield a rate of 27.4 murders per 100, 000 infants in their first year." Taken with figures from previous years (1838 and 1839, 52 cases; 1852-56, an average of 146 cases per year; and 1861-71, an average of 159.4 cases per year) Behlmer suggested that these statistics might "represent a level of infanticide significantly greater than any previous period for which we have continuous data." Edwin Lankester argued that "we cannot regard the verdicts of coroners' courts as the true indication of the amount of destruction of newly bom infant life"; the rate of infanticide was, in fact, much higher than the verdicts of coroners' juries suggested. It is also clear, however, that the remarkable increase in the number of infanticide verdicts made by coroners' juries had a great deal to do with the vigilance of committed infanticide reformers and coroners such as Lankester himself. That infanticide appeared to be increasing at an alarming rate, however, is indisputable. Particularly in London, the crowding of the impoverished working classes into West End neighborhoods and rapid population growth must have accentuated the visibility of the problem. In 1870, 276 infants were found dead in the streets of the London Metropolitan and City Police districts. Because these gruesome discoveries tended to cluster in public parks and near railroads in poor Middlesex parishes such as Marylebone and Paddington, the scale of child murder must have seemed particularly great to Londoners living or working in these areas. Still, the statistics cited by medical professionals were often exaggerated, such as Lankester's famous (and criticized) contention that some 12, 000 living London women had committed infanticide. Lionel Rose, The Massacre of the Innocents: Infanticide in Britain, 1800-1939 (Boston: Routledge, 1986), 8; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 18, and "Deadly Motherhood: Infanticide and Medical Opinion in Mid-Victorian England, "Journal of the History of Medicine 34 (October 1979): 422-24; Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "iv; Edwin Lankester, "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex, "BMJ, April 28, 1866; "Infanticide in London, "Lancet, June 12, 1869; "Coroner's Arithmetic, "BMJ, September 22, 1866.
35. Although the belief that infanticide was on the rise may have been founded on dubious statistical evidence, it is certainly true that infants were disproportionately at risk of murder in mid-Victorian London. Children under the age of one formed more than 60 percent of all homicide victims at a time when they made up only 2 to 3 percent of the population. In the context of the overall infant mortality rate, the rate of violent death was relatively low. In 1864, for example, 1.5 percent or 1, 730 of 112, 935 infant deaths in England were attributed to violence (including accidental and negligent deaths as well as homicides), while 22.4 percent or 25, 322 were caused by infectious diseases such as diarrhea, whooping cough, and smallpox. Most officials agreed, however, that infanticide was grossly underrepresented in official statistics. Looking at infanticide cases, George Behlmer noted that "the 203 verdicts of willful murder of children aged one year and under returned by coroners' juries in 1864 yield a rate of 27.4 murders per 100, 000 infants in their first year." Taken with figures from previous years (1838 and 1839, 52 cases; 1852-56, an average of 146 cases per year; and 1861-71, an average of 159.4 cases per year) Behlmer suggested that these statistics might "represent a level of infanticide significantly greater than any previous period for which we have continuous data." Edwin Lankester argued that "we cannot regard the verdicts of coroners' courts as the true indication of the amount of destruction of newly bom infant life"; the rate of infanticide was, in fact, much higher than the verdicts of coroners' juries suggested. It is also clear, however, that the remarkable increase in the number of infanticide verdicts made by coroners' juries had a great deal to do with the vigilance of committed infanticide reformers and coroners such as Lankester himself. That infanticide appeared to be increasing at an alarming rate, however, is indisputable. Particularly in London, the crowding of the impoverished working classes into West End neighborhoods and rapid population growth must have accentuated the visibility of the problem. In 1870, 276 infants were found dead in the streets of the London Metropolitan and City Police districts. Because these gruesome discoveries tended to cluster in public parks and near railroads in poor Middlesex parishes such as Marylebone and Paddington, the scale of child murder must have seemed particularly great to Londoners living or working in these areas. Still, the statistics cited by medical professionals were often exaggerated, such as Lankester's famous (and criticized) contention that some 12, 000 living London women had committed infanticide. Lionel Rose, The Massacre of the Innocents: Infanticide in Britain, 1800-1939 (Boston: Routledge, 1986), 8; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 18, and "Deadly Motherhood: Infanticide and Medical Opinion in Mid-Victorian England, "Journal of the History of Medicine 34 (October 1979): 422-24; Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "iv; Edwin Lankester, "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex, "BMJ, April 28, 1866; "Infanticide in London, "Lancet, June 12, 1869; "Coroner's Arithmetic, "BMJ, September 22, 1866.
36. Although the belief that infanticide was on the rise may have been founded on dubious statistical evidence, it is certainly true that infants were disproportionately at risk of murder in mid-Victorian London. Children under the age of one formed more than 60 percent of all homicide victims at a time when they made up only 2 to 3 percent of the population. In the context of the overall infant mortality rate, the rate of violent death was relatively low. In 1864, for example, 1.5 percent or 1, 730 of 112, 935 infant deaths in England were attributed to violence (including accidental and negligent deaths as well as homicides), while 22.4 percent or 25, 322 were caused by infectious diseases such as diarrhea, whooping cough, and smallpox. Most officials agreed, however, that infanticide was grossly underrepresented in official statistics. Looking at infanticide cases, George Behlmer noted that "the 203 verdicts of willful murder of children aged one year and under returned by coroners' juries in 1864 yield a rate of 27.4 murders per 100, 000 infants in their first year." Taken with figures from previous years (1838 and 1839, 52 cases; 1852-56, an average of 146 cases per year; and 1861-71, an average of 159.4 cases per year) Behlmer suggested that these statistics might "represent a level of infanticide significantly greater than any previous period for which we have continuous data." Edwin Lankester argued that "we cannot regard the verdicts of coroners' courts as the true indication of the amount of destruction of newly bom infant life"; the rate of infanticide was, in fact, much higher than the verdicts of coroners' juries suggested. It is also clear, however, that the remarkable increase in the number of infanticide verdicts made by coroners' juries had a great deal to do with the vigilance of committed infanticide reformers and coroners such as Lankester himself. That infanticide appeared to be increasing at an alarming rate, however, is indisputable. Particularly in London, the crowding of the impoverished working classes into West End neighborhoods and rapid population growth must have accentuated the visibility of the problem. In 1870, 276 infants were found dead in the streets of the London Metropolitan and City Police districts. Because these gruesome discoveries tended to cluster in public parks and near railroads in poor Middlesex parishes such as Marylebone and Paddington, the scale of child murder must have seemed particularly great to Londoners living or working in these areas. Still, the statistics cited by medical professionals were often exaggerated, such as Lankester's famous (and criticized) contention that some 12, 000 living London women had committed infanticide. Lionel Rose, The Massacre of the Innocents: Infanticide in Britain, 1800-1939 (Boston: Routledge, 1986), 8; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 18, and "Deadly Motherhood: Infanticide and Medical Opinion in Mid-Victorian England, "Journal of the History of Medicine 34 (October 1979): 422-24; Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "iv; Edwin Lankester, "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex, "BMJ, April 28, 1866; "Infanticide in London, "Lancet, June 12, 1869; "Coroner's Arithmetic, "BMJ, September 22, 1866.
37. Although the belief that infanticide was on the rise may have been founded on dubious statistical evidence, it is certainly true that infants were disproportionately at risk of murder in mid-Victorian London. Children under the age of one formed more than 60 percent of all homicide victims at a time when they made up only 2 to 3 percent of the population. In the context of the overall infant mortality rate, the rate of violent death was relatively low. In 1864, for example, 1.5 percent or 1, 730 of 112, 935 infant deaths in England were attributed to violence (including accidental and negligent deaths as well as homicides), while 22.4 percent or 25, 322 were caused by infectious diseases such as diarrhea, whooping cough, and smallpox. Most officials agreed, however, that infanticide was grossly underrepresented in official statistics. Looking at infanticide cases, George Behlmer noted that "the 203 verdicts of willful murder of children aged one year and under returned by coroners' juries in 1864 yield a rate of 27.4 murders per 100, 000 infants in their first year." Taken with figures from previous years (1838 and 1839, 52 cases; 1852-56, an average of 146 cases per year; and 1861-71, an average of 159.4 cases per year) Behlmer suggested that these statistics might "represent a level of infanticide significantly greater than any previous period for which we have continuous data." Edwin Lankester argued that "we cannot regard the verdicts of coroners' courts as the true indication of the amount of destruction of newly bom infant life"; the rate of infanticide was, in fact, much higher than the verdicts of coroners' juries suggested. It is also clear, however, that the remarkable increase in the number of infanticide verdicts made by coroners' juries had a great deal to do with the vigilance of committed infanticide reformers and coroners such as Lankester himself. That infanticide appeared to be increasing at an alarming rate, however, is indisputable. Particularly in London, the crowding of the impoverished working classes into West End neighborhoods and rapid population growth must have accentuated the visibility of the problem. In 1870, 276 infants were found dead in the streets of the London Metropolitan and City Police districts. Because these gruesome discoveries tended to cluster in public parks and near railroads in poor Middlesex parishes such as Marylebone and Paddington, the scale of child murder must have seemed particularly great to Londoners living or working in these areas. Still, the statistics cited by medical professionals were often exaggerated, such as Lankester's famous (and criticized) contention that some 12, 000 living London women had committed infanticide. Lionel Rose, The Massacre of the Innocents: Infanticide in Britain, 1800-1939 (Boston: Routledge, 1986), 8; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 18, and "Deadly Motherhood: Infanticide and Medical Opinion in Mid-Victorian England, "Journal of the History of Medicine 34 (October 1979): 422-24; Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "iv; Edwin Lankester, "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex, "BMJ, April 28, 1866; "Infanticide in London, "Lancet, June 12, 1869; "Coroner's Arithmetic, "BMJ, September 22, 1866.
38. In some rural districts, agricultural laborers were formed into itinerant, mixed-sex crews; were worked to the point of exhaustion; and were housed together. As Acton and Hunter explained, when sleeping in close proximity to men the overworked women's resistance to sexual advances broke down. The illegitimate birthrate rose in turn. After their infants were born, some mothers had trouble producing sufficient milk to keep them alive. Worse, others left their babies with inattentive family members or friends, abandoned them, or murdered them outright. William Acton, Prostitution (1857, 1870; reprint, New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969): 126; Hunter's 1864 report to the Privy Council on the ganging system, cited in Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 10; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; BMJ, October 1, 1864.
39. In some rural districts, agricultural laborers were formed into itinerant, mixed-sex crews; were worked to the point of exhaustion; and were housed together. As Acton and Hunter explained, when sleeping in close proximity to men the overworked women's resistance to sexual advances broke down. The illegitimate birthrate rose in turn. After their infants were born, some mothers had trouble producing sufficient milk to keep them alive. Worse, others left their babies with inattentive family members or friends, abandoned them, or murdered them outright. William Acton, Prostitution (1857, 1870; reprint, New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969): 126; Hunter's 1864 report to the Privy Council on the ganging system, cited in Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 10; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; BMJ, October 1, 1864.
40. In some rural districts, agricultural laborers were formed into itinerant, mixed-sex crews; were worked to the point of exhaustion; and were housed together. As Acton and Hunter explained, when sleeping in close proximity to men the overworked women's resistance to sexual advances broke down. The illegitimate birthrate rose in turn. After their infants were born, some mothers had trouble producing sufficient milk to keep them alive. Worse, others left their babies with inattentive family members or friends, abandoned them, or murdered them outright. William Acton, Prostitution (1857, 1870; reprint, New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969): 126; Hunter's 1864 report to the Privy Council on the ganging system, cited in Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 10; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; BMJ, October 1, 1864.
41. Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor (1851-52; reprint, with selections made and introduced by Victor Neuberg, 4 vols, in 1, London: Penguin, 1985), 181-82; Acton, Prostitution, 25, 130-36, 209; "The Charities and Poor of London, "Quarterly Review 97, no. 407 (September 1855): 429; Annie Besant, "The Law of Population: Its Consequences, and Its Bearing upon Human Conduct and Morals, "in "A Dirty, Filthy Book": The Writings of Charles Knowlton and Annie Besant on Reproductive Physiology and Birth Control and an Account of the Bradlaugh-Besant Trial, ed. S. Chandrasekhar (1878, 1884; reprint, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981): 161-75.
42. Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor (1851-52; reprint, with selections made and introduced by Victor Neuberg, 4 vols, in 1, London: Penguin, 1985), 181-82; Acton, Prostitution, 25, 130-36, 209; "The Charities and Poor of London, "Quarterly Review 97, no. 407 (September 1855): 429; Annie Besant, "The Law of Population: Its Consequences, and Its Bearing upon Human Conduct and Morals, "in "A Dirty, Filthy Book": The Writings of Charles Knowlton and Annie Besant on Reproductive Physiology and Birth Control and an Account of the Bradlaugh-Besant Trial, ed. S. Chandrasekhar (1878, 1884; reprint, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981): 161-75.
43. Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor (1851-52; reprint, with selections made and introduced by Victor Neuberg, 4 vols, in 1, London: Penguin, 1985), 181-82; Acton, Prostitution, 25, 130-36, 209; "The Charities and Poor of London, "Quarterly Review 97, no. 407 (September 1855): 429; Annie Besant, "The Law of Population: Its Consequences, and Its Bearing upon Human Conduct and Morals, "in "A Dirty, Filthy Book": The Writings of Charles Knowlton and Annie Besant on Reproductive Physiology and Birth Control and an Account of the Bradlaugh-Besant Trial, ed. S. Chandrasekhar (1878, 1884; reprint, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981): 161-75.
44. Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor (1851-52; reprint, with selections made and introduced by Victor Neuberg, 4 vols, in 1, London: Penguin, 1985), 181-82; Acton, Prostitution, 25, 130-36, 209; "The Charities and Poor of London, "Quarterly Review 97, no. 407 (September 1855): 429; Annie Besant, "The Law of Population: Its Consequences, and Its Bearing upon Human Conduct and Morals, "in "A Dirty, Filthy Book": The Writings of Charles Knowlton and Annie Besant on Reproductive Physiology and Birth Control and an Account of the Bradlaugh-Besant Trial, ed. S. Chandrasekhar (1878, 1884; reprint, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981): 161-75.
45. Charles Drysdale quoted in "Harveian Society of London, "BMJ, June 23, 1866. Also "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, October 22, 1870.
46. Charles Drysdale quoted in "Harveian Society of London, "BMJ, June 23, 1866. Also "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, October 22, 1870.
47. BMJ, March 30, 1861. See also August 3, 1861; April 19, 1862; May 3, 1862; September 20, 1862; May 30, 1863; September 26, 1863; August 20, 1864; October 1, 1864; October 14, 1865; April 7, 1866; January 12, 1867; and October 19, 1867.
48. Scholars are just beginning to consider the ways in which the imperial discourse of race was deployed against the working classes in England. Many of them point out that, in nineteenth-century Britain, race and class were not the discrete social categories they are today. Susan Thorne, Congregational Missions and the Making of an Imperial Culture in Nineteenth-Century England (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999), 82-88, and "'The Conversion of Englishmen and the Conversion of the World Inseparable': Missionary Imperialism and the Language of Class in Early Industrial Britain, "in Tensions of Empire: Colonial Cultures in a Bourgeois World, ed. Frederic Cooper and Ann Laura Stoler (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 238-62; Anna Clark, "Gender, Class, and the Nation: Franchise Reform in England, 1832-1928, "in Re-Reading the Constitution: New Narratives in the Political History of England's Long Nineteenth Century, ed. James Vernon (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Ann Laura Stoler, Race and the Education of Desire: Foucault's History of Sexuality and the Colonial Order of Things (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1995).
49. Scholars are just beginning to consider the ways in which the imperial discourse of race was deployed against the working classes in England. Many of them point out that, in nineteenth-century Britain, race and class were not the discrete social categories they are today. Susan Thorne, Congregational Missions and the Making of an Imperial Culture in Nineteenth-Century England (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999), 82-88, and "'The Conversion of Englishmen and the Conversion of the World Inseparable': Missionary Imperialism and the Language of Class in Early Industrial Britain, "in Tensions of Empire: Colonial Cultures in a Bourgeois World, ed. Frederic Cooper and Ann Laura Stoler (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 238-62; Anna Clark, "Gender, Class, and the Nation: Franchise Reform in England, 1832-1928, "in Re-Reading the Constitution: New Narratives in the Political History of England's Long Nineteenth Century, ed. James Vernon (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Ann Laura Stoler, Race and the Education of Desire: Foucault's History of Sexuality and the Colonial Order of Things (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1995).
50. Scholars are just beginning to consider the ways in which the imperial discourse of race was deployed against the working classes in England. Many of them point out that, in nineteenth-century Britain, race and class were not the discrete social categories they are today. Susan Thorne, Congregational Missions and the Making of an Imperial Culture in Nineteenth-Century England (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999), 82-88, and "'The Conversion of Englishmen and the Conversion of the World Inseparable': Missionary Imperialism and the Language of Class in Early Industrial Britain, "in Tensions of Empire: Colonial Cultures in a Bourgeois World, ed. Frederic Cooper and Ann Laura Stoler (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 238-62; Anna Clark, "Gender, Class, and the Nation: Franchise Reform in England, 1832-1928, "in Re-Reading the Constitution: New Narratives in the Political History of England's Long Nineteenth Century, ed. James Vernon (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Ann Laura Stoler, Race and the Education of Desire: Foucault's History of Sexuality and the Colonial Order of Things (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1995).
51. Scholars are just beginning to consider the ways in which the imperial discourse of race was deployed against the working classes in England. Many of them point out that, in nineteenth-century Britain, race and class were not the discrete social categories they are today. Susan Thorne, Congregational Missions and the Making of an Imperial Culture in Nineteenth-Century England (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999), 82-88, and "'The Conversion of Englishmen and the Conversion of the World Inseparable': Missionary Imperialism and the Language of Class in Early Industrial Britain, "in Tensions of Empire: Colonial Cultures in a Bourgeois World, ed. Frederic Cooper and Ann Laura Stoler (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 238-62; Anna Clark, "Gender, Class, and the Nation: Franchise Reform in England, 1832-1928, "in Re-Reading the Constitution: New Narratives in the Political History of England's Long Nineteenth Century, ed. James Vernon (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Ann Laura Stoler, Race and the Education of Desire: Foucault's History of Sexuality and the Colonial Order of Things (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1995).
52. Karen Halttunen has written that "in the context of the bourgeois 'civilizing process, ' compassion and a reluctance to inflict pain became identified as distinctively civilized emotions, while cruelty was labeled as savage or barbarous." Halttunen, "Humanitarianism and the Pornography of Pain in Anglo-American Culture, "American Historical Review 100, no. 2 (1995): 303. Also Behlmer, "Deadly Motherhood, "406.
53. Karen Halttunen has written that "in the context of the bourgeois 'civilizing process, ' compassion and a reluctance to inflict pain became identified as distinctively civilized emotions, while cruelty was labeled as savage or barbarous." Halttunen, "Humanitarianism and the Pornography of Pain in Anglo-American Culture, "American Historical Review 100, no. 2 (1995): 303. Also Behlmer, "Deadly Motherhood, "406.
54. BMJ, October 11, 1862. Also W. H. Clark, quoted in "Cure for Infanticide, "BMJ, September 23, 1865.
55. BMJ, October 11, 1862. Also W. H. Clark, quoted in "Cure for Infanticide, "BMJ, September 23, 1865.
56. Because English law did not differentiate infanticide from murder, juries were forced to condemn to death a woman who killed her infant, to imprison her only two years for "concealment of birth, "or to free her. Most juries chose the final option. It was difficult for prosecutors to get an infanticide conviction, in part because they were required to prove that an infant had been "wholly born" and had established circulation independent from its mother before being killed. For a fuller explanation of the status of infanticide law in the 1850s and 1860s, see William Burke Ryan, Infanticide: Its Law, Prevalence, Prevention, and History (London: J. Churchill, 1862), 3-16; G.K.H. Paterson, "On the Causes Which Tend to and Occasionally Endanger Foetal Life during Labor, with Some Remarks on Some of Their Medico-Legal Bearings, "BMJ, April 7, 1866; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "England-Infanticide amongst the Poor, "Nation, August 12, 1865; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 19-20; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 40-41.
57. Because English law did not differentiate infanticide from murder, juries were forced to condemn to death a woman who killed her infant, to imprison her only two years for "concealment of birth, "or to free her. Most juries chose the final option. It was difficult for prosecutors to get an infanticide conviction, in part because they were required to prove that an infant had been "wholly born" and had established circulation independent from its mother before being killed. For a fuller explanation of the status of infanticide law in the 1850s and 1860s, see William Burke Ryan, Infanticide: Its Law, Prevalence, Prevention, and History (London: J. Churchill, 1862), 3-16; G.K.H. Paterson, "On the Causes Which Tend to and Occasionally Endanger Foetal Life during Labor, with Some Remarks on Some of Their Medico-Legal Bearings, "BMJ, April 7, 1866; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "England-Infanticide amongst the Poor, "Nation, August 12, 1865; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 19-20; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 40-41.
58. Because English law did not differentiate infanticide from murder, juries were forced to condemn to death a woman who killed her infant, to imprison her only two years for "concealment of birth, "or to free her. Most juries chose the final option. It was difficult for prosecutors to get an infanticide conviction, in part because they were required to prove that an infant had been "wholly born" and had established circulation independent from its mother before being killed. For a fuller explanation of the status of infanticide law in the 1850s and 1860s, see William Burke Ryan, Infanticide: Its Law, Prevalence, Prevention, and History (London: J. Churchill, 1862), 3-16; G.K.H. Paterson, "On the Causes Which Tend to and Occasionally Endanger Foetal Life during Labor, with Some Remarks on Some of Their Medico-Legal Bearings, "BMJ, April 7, 1866; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "England-Infanticide amongst the Poor, "Nation, August 12, 1865; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 19-20; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 40-41.
59. Because English law did not differentiate infanticide from murder, juries were forced to condemn to death a woman who killed her infant, to imprison her only two years for "concealment of birth, "or to free her. Most juries chose the final option. It was difficult for prosecutors to get an infanticide conviction, in part because they were required to prove that an infant had been "wholly born" and had established circulation independent from its mother before being killed. For a fuller explanation of the status of infanticide law in the 1850s and 1860s, see William Burke Ryan, Infanticide: Its Law, Prevalence, Prevention, and History (London: J. Churchill, 1862), 3-16; G.K.H. Paterson, "On the Causes Which Tend to and Occasionally Endanger Foetal Life during Labor, with Some Remarks on Some of Their Medico-Legal Bearings, "BMJ, April 7, 1866; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "England-Infanticide amongst the Poor, "Nation, August 12, 1865; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 19-20; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 40-41.
60. Because English law did not differentiate infanticide from murder, juries were forced to condemn to death a woman who killed her infant, to imprison her only two years for "concealment of birth, "or to free her. Most juries chose the final option. It was difficult for prosecutors to get an infanticide conviction, in part because they were required to prove that an infant had been "wholly born" and had established circulation independent from its mother before being killed. For a fuller explanation of the status of infanticide law in the 1850s and 1860s, see William Burke Ryan, Infanticide: Its Law, Prevalence, Prevention, and History (London: J. Churchill, 1862), 3-16; G.K.H. Paterson, "On the Causes Which Tend to and Occasionally Endanger Foetal Life during Labor, with Some Remarks on Some of Their Medico-Legal Bearings, "BMJ, April 7, 1866; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "England-Infanticide amongst the Poor, "Nation, August 12, 1865; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 19-20; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 40-41.
61. Because English law did not differentiate infanticide from murder, juries were forced to condemn to death a woman who killed her infant, to imprison her only two years for "concealment of birth, "or to free her. Most juries chose the final option. It was difficult for prosecutors to get an infanticide conviction, in part because they were required to prove that an infant had been "wholly born" and had established circulation independent from its mother before being killed. For a fuller explanation of the status of infanticide law in the 1850s and 1860s, see William Burke Ryan, Infanticide: Its Law, Prevalence, Prevention, and History (London: J. Churchill, 1862), 3-16; G.K.H. Paterson, "On the Causes Which Tend to and Occasionally Endanger Foetal Life during Labor, with Some Remarks on Some of Their Medico-Legal Bearings, "BMJ, April 7, 1866; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "England-Infanticide amongst the Poor, "Nation, August 12, 1865; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 19-20; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 40-41.
62. On bastardy law reform, see Acton, Prostitution, 201; Arnot, "Infant Death"; Bartrip, Mirror of Medicine, 102; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 40, and "Deadly Motherhood, "417-18; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 27; Ryan, Infanticide, 41-44.
63. On bastardy law reform, see Acton, Prostitution, 201; Arnot, "Infant Death"; Bartrip, Mirror of Medicine, 102; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 40, and "Deadly Motherhood, "417-18; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 27; Ryan, Infanticide, 41-44.
64. On bastardy law reform, see Acton, Prostitution, 201; Arnot, "Infant Death"; Bartrip, Mirror of Medicine, 102; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 40, and "Deadly Motherhood, "417-18; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 27; Ryan, Infanticide, 41-44.
65. On bastardy law reform, see Acton, Prostitution, 201; Arnot, "Infant Death"; Bartrip, Mirror of Medicine, 102; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 40, and "Deadly Motherhood, "417-18; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 27; Ryan, Infanticide, 41-44.
66. On bastardy law reform, see Acton, Prostitution, 201; Arnot, "Infant Death"; Bartrip, Mirror of Medicine, 102; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 40, and "Deadly Motherhood, "417-18; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 27; Ryan, Infanticide, 41-44.
67. On bastardy law reform, see Acton, Prostitution, 201; Arnot, "Infant Death"; Bartrip, Mirror of Medicine, 102; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 40, and "Deadly Motherhood, "417-18; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 27; Ryan, Infanticide, 41-44.
68. "President's Address in the Public Health Department of the Social Science Association, "BMJ, October 4, 1864.
69. Although Winsor was twice consigned to be hanged, she was reprieved both times due to a legal technicality. She spent the remainder of her life in prison. "Spring Assizes: Western Circuit, Exeter, March 17, Crown Court (Before Mr. Baron Channell), "Times (London), March 20, 1865; Times (London), August 12, 1865; "Child Murder, "Spectator (London), August 5, 1865. For a full narrative of Winsor's tale, see Richard S. Lambert, When Justice Faltered: A Story of Nine Peculiar Murder Trials (London: Methuen, 1935), 92-107.
70. Although Winsor was twice consigned to be hanged, she was reprieved both times due to a legal technicality. She spent the remainder of her life in prison. "Spring Assizes: Western Circuit, Exeter, March 17, Crown Court (Before Mr. Baron Channell), "Times (London), March 20, 1865; Times (London), August 12, 1865; "Child Murder, "Spectator (London), August 5, 1865. For a full narrative of Winsor's tale, see Richard S. Lambert, When Justice Faltered: A Story of Nine Peculiar Murder Trials (London: Methuen, 1935), 92-107.
71. Although Winsor was twice consigned to be hanged, she was reprieved both times due to a legal technicality. She spent the remainder of her life in
72. Although Winsor was twice consigned to be hanged, she was reprieved both times due to a legal technicality. She spent the remainder of her life in prison. "Spring Assizes: Western Circuit, Exeter, March 17, Crown Court (Before Mr. Baron Channell), "Times (London), March 20, 1865; Times (London), August 12, 1865; "Child Murder, "Spectator (London), August 5, 1865. For a full narrative of Winsor's tale, see Richard S. Lambert, When Justice Faltered: A Story of Nine Peculiar Murder Trials (London: Methuen, 1935), 92-107.
73. Times (London), May 8, 1866.
74. Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 18-19 and 27. In the primary sources, see Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "vii, 27.
75. Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 18-19 and 27. In the primary sources, see Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "vii, 27.
76. George Eliot, Adam Bede (1859; reprint, Oxford World's Classics, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).
77. It is interesting to note that although Hetty was not a domestic servant she was in a very similar position. Living with the Poyser family, Hetty was an alien outsider of a slightly lower class. She performed domestic work for them. And, before she met her seducer, she aspired to become a lady's maid.
78. For examples, see Mayhew, London Labour, 93; Acton, Prostitution, 129, 199-200, 207; "Adam Bede-Foundling Hospitals, "Dublin Review 47 (September 1859); S.G.O., "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 5, 1865; J. B. Curgenven and Charles Drysdale, both quoted in "Harveian Society of London"; Edwin Lankester, quoted in "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex"; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 26, 1868. Also Françoise Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria: Sexuality, Class, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century London, trans. John Howe (L'Amour sous Victoria, Paris: Plon, 1989; New York: Verso, 1991); Behlmer, "Deadly Motherhood, "419-21; John R. Gillis, "Servants, Sexual Relations, and the Risks of Illegitimacy in London, 1801-1900, "Feminist Studies 5, no. 1 (1979): 142-73; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 18-19; Mariana Valverde, "The Love of Finery: Fashion and the Fallen Woman in Nineteenth-Century Social Discourse, "Victorian Studies 32 (Winter 1989).
79. For examples, see Mayhew, London Labour, 93; Acton, Prostitution, 129, 199-200, 207; "Adam Bede-Foundling Hospitals, "Dublin Review 47 (September 1859); S.G.O., "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 5, 1865; J. B. Curgenven and Charles Drysdale, both quoted in "Harveian Society of London"; Edwin Lankester, quoted in "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex"; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 26, 1868. Also Françoise Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria: Sexuality, Class, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century London, trans. John Howe (L'Amour sous Victoria, Paris: Plon, 1989; New York: Verso, 1991); Behlmer, "Deadly Motherhood, "419-21; John R. Gillis, "Servants, Sexual Relations, and the Risks of Illegitimacy in London, 1801-1900, "Feminist Studies 5, no. 1 (1979): 142-73; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 18-19; Mariana Valverde, "The Love of Finery: Fashion and the Fallen Woman in Nineteenth-Century Social Discourse, "Victorian Studies 32 (Winter 1989).
80. For examples, see Mayhew, London Labour, 93; Acton, Prostitution, 129, 199-200, 207; "Adam Bede-Foundling Hospitals, "Dublin Review 47 (September 1859); S.G.O., "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 5, 1865; J. B. Curgenven and Charles Drysdale, both quoted in "Harveian Society of London"; Edwin Lankester, quoted in "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex"; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 26, 1868. Also Françoise Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria: Sexuality, Class, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century London, trans. John Howe (L'Amour sous Victoria, Paris: Plon, 1989; New York: Verso, 1991); Behlmer, "Deadly Motherhood, "419-21; John R. Gillis, "Servants, Sexual Relations, and the Risks of Illegitimacy in London, 1801-1900, "Feminist Studies 5, no. 1 (1979): 142-73; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 18-19; Mariana Valverde, "The Love of Finery: Fashion and the Fallen Woman in Nineteenth-Century Social Discourse, "Victorian Studies 32 (Winter 1989).
81. For examples, see Mayhew, London Labour, 93; Acton, Prostitution, 129, 199-200, 207; "Adam Bede-Foundling Hospitals, "Dublin Review 47 (September 1859); S.G.O., "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 5, 1865; J. B. Curgenven and Charles Drysdale, both quoted in "Harveian Society of London"; Edwin Lankester, quoted in "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex"; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 26, 1868. Also Françoise Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria: Sexuality, Class, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century London, trans. John Howe (L'Amour sous Victoria, Paris: Plon, 1989; New York: Verso, 1991); Behlmer, "Deadly Motherhood, "419-21; John R. Gillis, "Servants, Sexual Relations, and the Risks of Illegitimacy in London, 1801-1900, "Feminist Studies 5, no. 1 (1979): 142-73; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 18-19; Mariana Valverde, "The Love of Finery: Fashion and the Fallen Woman in Nineteenth-Century Social Discourse, "Victorian Studies 32 (Winter 1989).
82. For examples, see Mayhew, London Labour, 93; Acton, Prostitution, 129, 199-200, 207; "Adam Bede-Foundling Hospitals, "Dublin Review 47 (September 1859); S.G.O., "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 5, 1865; J. B. Curgenven and Charles Drysdale, both quoted in "Harveian Society of London"; Edwin Lankester, quoted in "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex"; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 26, 1868. Also Françoise Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria: Sexuality, Class, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century London, trans. John Howe (L'Amour sous Victoria, Paris: Plon, 1989; New York: Verso, 1991); Behlmer, "Deadly Motherhood, "419-21; John R. Gillis, "Servants, Sexual Relations, and the Risks of Illegitimacy in London, 1801-1900, "Feminist Studies 5, no. 1 (1979): 142-73; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 18-19; Mariana Valverde, "The Love of Finery: Fashion and the Fallen Woman in Nineteenth-Century Social Discourse, "Victorian Studies 32 (Winter 1989).
83. For examples, see Mayhew, London Labour, 93; Acton, Prostitution, 129, 199-200, 207; "Adam Bede-Foundling Hospitals, "Dublin Review 47 (September 1859); S.G.O., "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 5, 1865; J. B. Curgenven and Charles Drysdale, both quoted in "Harveian Society of London"; Edwin Lankester, quoted in "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex"; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 26, 1868. Also Françoise Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria: Sexuality, Class, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century London, trans. John Howe (L'Amour sous Victoria, Paris: Plon, 1989; New York: Verso, 1991); Behlmer, "Deadly Motherhood, "419-21; John R. Gillis, "Servants, Sexual Relations, and the Risks of Illegitimacy in London, 1801-1900, "Feminist Studies 5, no. 1 (1979): 142-73; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 18-19; Mariana Valverde, "The Love of Finery: Fashion and the Fallen Woman in Nineteenth-Century Social Discourse, "Victorian Studies 32 (Winter 1989).
84. For examples, see Mayhew, London Labour, 93; Acton, Prostitution, 129, 199-200, 207; "Adam Bede-Foundling Hospitals, "Dublin Review 47 (September 1859); S.G.O., "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 5, 1865; J. B. Curgenven and Charles Drysdale, both quoted in "Harveian Society of London"; Edwin Lankester, quoted in "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex"; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 26, 1868. Also Françoise Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria: Sexuality, Class, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century London, trans. John Howe (L'Amour sous Victoria, Paris: Plon, 1989; New York: Verso, 1991); Behlmer, "Deadly Motherhood, "419-21; John R. Gillis, "Servants, Sexual Relations, and the Risks of Illegitimacy in London, 1801-1900, "Feminist Studies 5, no. 1 (1979): 142-73; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 18-19; Mariana Valverde, "The Love of Finery: Fashion and the Fallen Woman in Nineteenth-Century Social Discourse, "Victorian Studies 32 (Winter 1989).
85. For examples, see Mayhew, London Labour, 93; Acton, Prostitution, 129, 199-200, 207; "Adam Bede-Foundling Hospitals, "Dublin Review 47 (September 1859); S.G.O., "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 5, 1865; J. B. Curgenven and Charles Drysdale, both quoted in "Harveian Society of London"; Edwin Lankester, quoted in "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex"; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 26, 1868. Also Françoise Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria: Sexuality, Class, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century London, trans. John Howe (L'Amour sous Victoria, Paris: Plon, 1989; New York: Verso, 1991); Behlmer, "Deadly Motherhood, "419-21; John R. Gillis, "Servants, Sexual Relations, and the Risks of Illegitimacy in London, 1801-1900, "Feminist Studies 5, no. 1 (1979): 142-73; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 18-19; Mariana Valverde, "The Love of Finery: Fashion and the Fallen Woman in Nineteenth-Century Social Discourse, "Victorian Studies 32 (Winter 1989).
86. For examples, see Mayhew, London Labour, 93; Acton, Prostitution, 129, 199-200, 207; "Adam Bede-Foundling Hospitals, "Dublin Review 47 (September 1859); S.G.O., "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 5, 1865; J. B. Curgenven and Charles Drysdale, both quoted in "Harveian Society of London"; Edwin Lankester, quoted in "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex"; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 26, 1868. Also Françoise Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria: Sexuality, Class, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century London, trans. John Howe (L'Amour sous Victoria, Paris: Plon, 1989; New York: Verso, 1991); Behlmer, "Deadly Motherhood, "419-21; John R. Gillis, "Servants, Sexual Relations, and the Risks of Illegitimacy in London, 1801-1900, "Feminist Studies 5, no. 1 (1979): 142-73; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 18-19; Mariana Valverde, "The Love of Finery: Fashion and the Fallen Woman in Nineteenth-Century Social Discourse, "Victorian Studies 32 (Winter 1989).
87. For examples, see Mayhew, London Labour, 93; Acton, Prostitution, 129, 199-200, 207; "Adam Bede-Foundling Hospitals, "Dublin Review 47 (September 1859); S.G.O., "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 5, 1865; J. B. Curgenven and Charles Drysdale, both quoted in "Harveian Society of London"; Edwin Lankester, quoted in "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex"; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 26, 1868. Also Françoise Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria: Sexuality, Class, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century London, trans. John Howe (L'Amour sous Victoria, Paris: Plon, 1989; New York: Verso, 1991); Behlmer, "Deadly Motherhood, "419-21; John R. Gillis, "Servants, Sexual Relations, and the Risks of Illegitimacy in London, 1801-1900, "Feminist Studies 5, no. 1 (1979): 142-73; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 18-19; Mariana Valverde, "The Love of Finery: Fashion and the Fallen Woman in Nineteenth-Century Social Discourse, "Victorian Studies 32 (Winter 1989).
88. For examples, see Mayhew, London Labour, 93; Acton, Prostitution, 129, 199-200, 207; "Adam Bede-Foundling Hospitals, "Dublin Review 47 (September 1859); S.G.O., "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 5, 1865; J. B. Curgenven and Charles Drysdale, both quoted in "Harveian Society of London"; Edwin Lankester, quoted in "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex"; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 26, 1868. Also Françoise Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria: Sexuality, Class, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century London, trans. John Howe (L'Amour sous Victoria, Paris: Plon, 1989; New York: Verso, 1991); Behlmer, "Deadly Motherhood, "419-21; John R. Gillis, "Servants, Sexual Relations, and the Risks of Illegitimacy in London, 1801-1900, "Feminist Studies 5, no. 1 (1979): 142-73; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 18-19; Mariana Valverde, "The Love of Finery: Fashion and the Fallen Woman in Nineteenth-Century Social Discourse, "Victorian Studies 32 (Winter 1989).
89. For examples, see Mayhew, London Labour, 93; Acton, Prostitution, 129, 199-200, 207; "Adam Bede-Foundling Hospitals, "Dublin Review 47 (September 1859); S.G.O., "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 5, 1865; J. B. Curgenven and Charles Drysdale, both quoted in "Harveian Society of London"; Edwin Lankester, quoted in "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex"; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 26, 1868. Also Françoise Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria: Sexuality, Class, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century London, trans. John Howe (L'Amour sous Victoria, Paris: Plon, 1989; New York: Verso, 1991); Behlmer, "Deadly Motherhood, "419-21; John R. Gillis, "Servants, Sexual Relations, and the Risks of Illegitimacy in London, 1801-1900, "Feminist Studies 5, no. 1 (1979): 142-73; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 18-19; Mariana Valverde, "The Love of Finery: Fashion and the Fallen Woman in Nineteenth-Century Social Discourse, "Victorian Studies 32 (Winter 1989).
90. For examples, see Mayhew, London Labour, 93; Acton, Prostitution, 129, 199-200, 207; "Adam Bede-Foundling Hospitals, "Dublin Review 47 (September 1859); S.G.O., "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 5, 1865; J. B. Curgenven and Charles Drysdale, both quoted in "Harveian Society of London"; Edwin Lankester, quoted in "Third Annual Report of the Coroner for Central Middlesex"; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 26, 1868. Also Françoise Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria: Sexuality, Class, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century London, trans. John Howe (L'Amour sous Victoria, Paris: Plon, 1989; New York: Verso, 1991); Behlmer, "Deadly Motherhood, "419-21; John R. Gillis, "Servants, Sexual Relations, and the Risks of Illegitimacy in London, 1801-1900, "Feminist Studies 5, no. 1 (1979): 142-73; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 18-19; Mariana Valverde, "The Love of Finery: Fashion and the Fallen Woman in Nineteenth-Century Social Discourse, "Victorian Studies 32 (Winter 1989).
91. "Spring Assizes."
92. One author made this point, calling Mary Harris "a woman almost as guilty as Charlotte Winsor herself. She stood and saw her own child killed, killed 'barbarously, ' to use her own words, from a ghastly curiosity to see what its death would be like, and then helped to strip the poor infant, not yet cold, and pack it away in a rabbit-box, all apparently without a sigh, though her conscience or her fears afterwards awoke." "Child Murder."
93. Acton, Prostitution, 132.
94. Ibid., 129.
95. Mayhew, London Labour, 486.
96. To get a more realistic picture of working-class sexual mores, see Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria, 91; Liz Stanley, ed., The Diaries of Hannah Cullwick, Victorian Maidservant (London: Virago, 1984); John Burnett, ed., Useful Toil: Autobiographies of Working People from the 1820s to the 1920s (London: Allen Lane, 1974), 72, 217; Margaret Llewelyn Davies, ed., Life as We Have Known It: By Co-Operative Working Women (1931; reprint, London, Virago, 1977), 76; "England-Infanticide amongst the Poor."
97. To get a more realistic picture of working-class sexual mores, see Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria, 91; Liz Stanley, ed., The Diaries of Hannah Cullwick, Victorian Maidservant (London: Virago, 1984); John Burnett, ed., Useful Toil: Autobiographies of Working People from the 1820s to the 1920s (London: Allen Lane, 1974), 72, 217; Margaret Llewelyn Davies, ed., Life as We Have Known It: By Co-Operative Working Women (1931; reprint, London, Virago, 1977), 76; "England-Infanticide amongst the Poor."
98. To get a more realistic picture of working-class sexual mores, see Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria, 91; Liz Stanley, ed., The Diaries of Hannah Cullwick, Victorian Maidservant (London: Virago, 1984); John Burnett, ed., Useful Toil: Autobiographies of Working People from the 1820s to the 1920s (London: Allen Lane, 1974), 72, 217; Margaret Llewelyn Davies, ed., Life as We Have Known It: By Co-Operative Working Women (1931; reprint, London, Virago, 1977), 76; "England-Infanticide amongst the Poor."
99. To get a more realistic picture of working-class sexual mores, see Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria, 91; Liz Stanley, ed., The Diaries of Hannah Cullwick, Victorian Maidservant (London: Virago, 1984); John Burnett, ed., Useful Toil: Autobiographies of Working People from the 1820s to the 1920s (London: Allen Lane, 1974), 72, 217; Margaret Llewelyn Davies, ed., Life as We Have Known It: By Co-Operative Working Women (1931; reprint, London, Virago, 1977), 76; "England-Infanticide amongst the Poor."
100. To get a more realistic picture of working-class sexual mores, see Barrett-Ducrocq, Love in the Time of Victoria, 91; Liz Stanley, ed., The Diaries of Hannah Cullwick, Victorian Maidservant (London: Virago, 1984); John Burnett, ed., Useful Toil: Autobiographies of Working People from the 1820s to the 1920s (London: Allen Lane, 1974), 72, 217; Margaret Llewelyn Davies, ed., Life as We Have Known It: By Co-Operative Working Women (1931; reprint, London, Virago, 1977), 76; "England-Infanticide amongst the Poor."
101. If Winsor had not hamstrung her defense attorney by admitting her guilt and refusing to repent, the attorney may, perhaps, have attempted to explain her crimes in this way: Winsor was a poor woman with a husband and granddaughter to support. In order "to scrape together a shilling or two" to buy food for her destitute family, she cared for illegitimate infants for a pittance. All around her, she saw the children of the poor, especially bastard children, raised in abject poverty. Whether they died from a combination of starvation and disease or they lived to become paupers, Winsor witnessed the miserable lives these children led. She decided to help the infants and their mothers by sending their children on to God - a little early, perhaps, but while they were innocent and untouched by the world's suffering. Out of gratitude, the mothers paid her what they could. For the elements of this argument, see "Spring Assizes"; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 20-21; Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "45, 50, 54, 73; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; James Greenwood, The Seven Curses of London (London: Stanley Evers, 1868), 34; "Public Nurseries, "297-98; "Protestant London, "Dublin Review 29 (July 1870): 6; Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1914 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 184.
102. If Winsor had not hamstrung her defense attorney by admitting her guilt and refusing to repent, the attorney may, perhaps, have attempted to explain her crimes in this way: Winsor was a poor woman with a husband and granddaughter to support. In order "to scrape together a shilling or two" to buy food for her destitute family, she cared for illegitimate infants for a pittance. All around her, she saw the children of the poor, especially bastard children, raised in abject poverty. Whether they died from a combination of starvation and disease or they lived to become paupers, Winsor witnessed the miserable lives these children led. She decided to help the infants and their mothers by sending their children on to God - a little early, perhaps, but while they were innocent and untouched by the world's suffering. Out of gratitude, the mothers paid her what they could. For the elements of this argument, see "Spring Assizes"; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 20-21; Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "45, 50, 54, 73; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; James Greenwood, The Seven Curses of London (London: Stanley Evers, 1868), 34; "Public Nurseries, "297-98; "Protestant London, "Dublin Review 29 (July 1870): 6; Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1914 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 184.
103. If Winsor had not hamstrung her defense attorney by admitting her guilt and refusing to repent, the attorney may, perhaps, have attempted to explain her crimes in this way: Winsor was a poor woman with a husband and granddaughter to support. In order "to scrape together a shilling or two" to buy food for her destitute family, she cared for illegitimate infants for a pittance. All around her, she saw the children of the poor, especially bastard children, raised in abject poverty. Whether they died from a combination of starvation and disease or they lived to become paupers, Winsor witnessed the miserable lives these children led. She decided to help the infants and their mothers by sending their children on to God - a little early, perhaps, but while they were innocent and untouched by the world's suffering. Out of gratitude, the mothers paid her what they could. For the elements of this argument, see "Spring Assizes"; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 20-21; Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "45, 50, 54, 73; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; James Greenwood, The Seven Curses of London (London: Stanley Evers, 1868), 34; "Public Nurseries, "297-98; "Protestant London, "Dublin Review 29 (July 1870): 6; Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1914 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 184.
104. If Winsor had not hamstrung her defense attorney by admitting her guilt and refusing to repent, the attorney may, perhaps, have attempted to explain her crimes in this way: Winsor was a poor woman with a husband and granddaughter to support. In order "to scrape together a shilling or two" to buy food for her destitute family, she cared for illegitimate infants for a pittance. All around her, she saw the children of the poor, especially bastard children, raised in abject poverty. Whether they died from a combination of starvation and disease or they lived to become paupers, Winsor witnessed the miserable lives these children led. She decided to help the infants and their mothers by sending their children on to God - a little early, perhaps, but while they were innocent and untouched by the world's suffering. Out of gratitude, the mothers paid her what they could. For the elements of this argument, see "Spring Assizes"; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 20-21; Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "45, 50, 54, 73; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; James Greenwood, The Seven Curses of London (London: Stanley Evers, 1868), 34; "Public Nurseries, "297-98; "Protestant London, "Dublin Review 29 (July 1870): 6; Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1914 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 184.
105. If Winsor had not hamstrung her defense attorney by admitting her guilt and refusing to repent, the attorney may, perhaps, have attempted to explain her crimes in this way: Winsor was a poor woman with a husband and granddaughter to support. In order "to scrape together a shilling or two" to buy food for her destitute family, she cared for illegitimate infants for a pittance. All around her, she saw the children of the poor, especially bastard children, raised in abject poverty. Whether they died from a combination of starvation and disease or they lived to become paupers, Winsor witnessed the miserable lives these children led. She decided to help the infants and their mothers by sending their children on to God - a little early, perhaps, but while they were innocent and untouched by the world's suffering. Out of gratitude, the mothers paid her what they could. For the elements of this argument, see "Spring Assizes"; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 20-21; Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "45, 50, 54, 73; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; James Greenwood, The Seven Curses of London (London: Stanley Evers, 1868), 34; "Public Nurseries, "297-98; "Protestant London, "Dublin Review 29 (July 1870): 6; Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1914 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 184.
106. If Winsor had not hamstrung her defense attorney by admitting her guilt and refusing to repent, the attorney may, perhaps, have attempted to explain her crimes in this way: Winsor was a poor woman with a husband and granddaughter to support. In order "to scrape together a shilling or two" to buy food for her destitute family, she cared for illegitimate infants for a pittance. All around her, she saw the children of the poor, especially bastard children, raised in abject poverty. Whether they died from a combination of starvation and disease or they lived to become paupers, Winsor witnessed the miserable lives these children led. She decided to help the infants and their mothers by sending their children on to God - a little early, perhaps, but while they were innocent and untouched by the world's suffering. Out of gratitude, the mothers paid her what they could. For the elements of this argument, see "Spring Assizes"; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 20-21; Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "45, 50, 54, 73; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; James Greenwood, The Seven Curses of London (London: Stanley Evers, 1868), 34; "Public Nurseries, "297-98; "Protestant London, "Dublin Review 29 (July 1870): 6; Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1914 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 184.
107. If Winsor had not hamstrung her defense attorney by admitting her guilt and refusing to repent, the attorney may, perhaps, have attempted to explain her crimes in this way: Winsor was a poor woman with a husband and granddaughter to support. In order "to scrape together a shilling or two" to buy food for her destitute family, she cared for illegitimate infants for a pittance. All around her, she saw the children of the poor, especially bastard children, raised in abject poverty. Whether they died from a combination of starvation and disease or they lived to become paupers, Winsor witnessed the miserable lives these children led. She decided to help the infants and their mothers by sending their children on to God - a little early, perhaps, but while they were innocent and untouched by the world's suffering. Out of gratitude, the mothers paid her what they could. For the elements of this argument, see "Spring Assizes"; Behlmer, Child Abuse, 20-21; Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "45, 50, 54, 73; Smith, "Address on Infanticide"; James Greenwood, The Seven Curses of London (London: Stanley Evers, 1868), 34; "Public Nurseries, "297-98; "Protestant London, "Dublin Review 29 (July 1870): 6; Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1914 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 184.
108. Smith, "Address on Infanticide." Others called it "a private trade, "a large trade, "and a "scandalous traffic in baby flesh and blood." Winsor, it was said, "reduced" infanticide "to a system with regular practitioners and fixed fees." She made "a trade of the one great crime supposed to be stopped by civilization." "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 21, 1867; Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 3d ser., vol. 193 (July 28, 1868), cols. 1896-97; Greenwood, Seven Curses of London, 30; "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 2, 1865; "Child Murder."
109. Smith, "Address on Infanticide." Others called it "a private trade, "a large trade, "and a "scandalous traffic in baby flesh and blood." Winsor, it was said, "reduced" infanticide "to a system with regular practitioners and fixed fees." She made "a trade of the one great crime supposed to be stopped by civilization." "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 21, 1867; Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 3d ser., vol. 193 (July 28, 1868), cols. 1896-97; Greenwood, Seven Curses of London, 30; "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 2, 1865; "Child Murder."
110. Smith, "Address on Infanticide." Others called it "a private trade, "a large trade, "and a "scandalous traffic in baby flesh and blood." Winsor, it was said, "reduced" infanticide "to a system with regular practitioners and fixed fees." She made "a trade of the one great crime supposed to be stopped by civilization." "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 21, 1867; Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 3d ser., vol. 193 (July 28, 1868), cols. 1896-97; Greenwood, Seven Curses of London, 30; "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 2, 1865; "Child Murder."
111. Smith, "Address on Infanticide." Others called it "a private trade, "a large trade, "and a "scandalous traffic in baby flesh and blood." Winsor, it was said, "reduced" infanticide "to a system with regular practitioners and fixed fees." She made "a trade of the one great crime supposed to be stopped by civilization." "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 21, 1867; Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 3d ser., vol. 193 (July 28, 1868), cols. 1896-97; Greenwood, Seven Curses of London, 30; "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 2, 1865; "Child Murder."
112. Smith, "Address on Infanticide." Others called it "a private trade, "a large trade, "and a "scandalous traffic in baby flesh and blood." Winsor, it was said, "reduced" infanticide "to a system with regular practitioners and fixed fees." She made "a trade of the one great crime supposed to be stopped by civilization." "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, December 21, 1867; Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 3d ser., vol. 193 (July 28, 1868), cols. 1896-97; Greenwood, Seven Curses of London, 30; "Infanticide, "Times (London), August 2, 1865; "Child Murder."
113. "Child Murder." See also Times (London), August 10, 1865.
114. Arnot, "Infant Death, "285.
115. Andrew Gernon, in Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "31.
116. "Baby-Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, February 22, 1868; "Baby -Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, February 29, 1868.
117. "Baby-Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, February 22, 1868; "Baby -Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, February 29, 1868.
118. "Baby-Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, February 28, 1868.
119. Ernest Hart, "The Regulation of Baby Farms, "Pall Mall Gazette (London), July 2, 1870.
120. Arnot, "Infant Death, "284-85.
121. "Baby-Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, February 22, 1868; "Baby-Farming and Child-Murder, "BMJ, January 25, 1868; "Baby-Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, February 8, 1868; "Baby-Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, February 29, 1868.
122. "Baby-Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, February 22, 1868; "Baby-Farming and Child-Murder, "BMJ, January 25, 1868; "Baby-Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, February 8, 1868; "Baby-Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, February 29, 1868.
123. "Baby-Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, February 22, 1868; "Baby-Farming and Child-Murder, "BMJ, January 25, 1868; "Baby-Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, February 8, 1868; "Baby-Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, February 29, 1868.
124. "Baby-Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, February 22, 1868; "Baby-Farming and Child-Murder, "BMJ, January 25, 1868; "Baby-Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, February 8, 1868; "Baby-Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, February 29, 1868.
125. "Baby Farming and Baby Murder, "Times (London), February 22, 1868.
126. "Baby-Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, March 28, 1868. See also Hart, "Regulation of Baby-Farms."
127. "Baby-Farming and Baby-Murder, "BMJ, March 28, 1868. See also Hart, "Regulation of Baby-Farms."
128. See note 8. This jump in circulation was most likely not entirely due to baby-farming, but it was one of many social reform campaigns conducted by the journal that seem to have boosted its readership. In browsing issues of the BMJ from 1860 on, one notes that they become considerably more interesting around 1867. Lengthy articles on topics like the spleen begin to be replaced by "Medico-Parliamentary" columns and reports of committees dedicated to social reform.
129. Bartrip, Mirror of Medicine, 101.
130. Times (London), July 4, 1870; "Central Criminal Court, September 21, "Times (London), September 22, 1870.
131. Times (London), July 4, 1870; "Central Criminal Court, September 21, "Times (London), September 22, 1870.
132. Times (London), July 4, 1870; "Baby-Farming at Brixton, "Daily News (London), July 7, 1870. "Blood money" from A. B., "Baby Farming: To the Editor of the Times, "Times (London), July 14, 1870; "Baby Farming, "Times (London), July 14, 1870; "wilful neglect" from Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "211; Pall Mall Gazette (London), June 21, 1870.
133. Times (London), July 4, 1870; "Baby-Farming at Brixton, "Daily News (London), July 7, 1870. "Blood money" from A. B., "Baby Farming: To the Editor of the Times, "Times (London), July 14, 1870; "Baby Farming, "Times (London), July 14, 1870; "wilful neglect" from Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "211; Pall Mall Gazette (London), June 21, 1870.
134. Times (London), July 4, 1870; "Baby-Farming at Brixton, "Daily News (London), July 7, 1870. "Blood money" from A. B., "Baby Farming: To the Editor of the Times, "Times (London), July 14, 1870; "Baby Farming, "Times (London), July 14, 1870; "wilful neglect" from Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "211; Pall Mall Gazette (London), June 21, 1870.
135. Times (London), July 4, 1870; "Baby-Farming at Brixton, "Daily News (London), July 7, 1870. "Blood money" from A. B., "Baby Farming: To the Editor of the Times, "Times (London), July 14, 1870; "Baby Farming, "Times (London), July 14, 1870; "wilful neglect" from Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "211; Pall Mall Gazette (London), June 21, 1870.
136. Times (London), July 4, 1870; "Baby-Farming at Brixton, "Daily News (London), July 7, 1870. "Blood money" from A. B., "Baby Farming: To the Editor of the Times, "Times (London), July 14, 1870; "Baby Farming, "Times (London), July 14, 1870; "wilful neglect" from Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "211; Pall Mall Gazette (London), June 21, 1870.
137. Times (London), July 4, 1870; "Baby-Farming at Brixton, "Daily News (London), July 7, 1870. "Blood money" from A. B., "Baby Farming: To the Editor of the Times, "Times (London), July 14, 1870; "Baby Farming, "Times (London), July 14, 1870; "wilful neglect" from Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "211; Pall Mall Gazette (London), June 21, 1870.
138. "Baby Farming and Its Results, "Lancet, June 18, 1870; "The Baby-Farming Case, "Times (London), July 28, 1870.
139. "Baby Farming and Its Results, "Lancet, June 18, 1870; "The Baby-Farming Case, "Times (London), July 28, 1870.
140. "Monstrous trade" in A. B., "Baby Farming"; "Central Criminal Court, September 21."
141. "A Baby-Show, "BMJ, June 18, 1870.
142. "Unwashed" from poem quoted in Judith Knelman, Twisting in the Wind: The Murderess and the English Press (Buffalo, NY: University of Toronto Press, 1998), 170; "starving" from "Baby Farmers, Beware!" Lancet, October 1, 1870.
143. "Unwashed" from poem quoted in Judith Knelman, Twisting in the Wind: The Murderess and the English Press (Buffalo, NY: University of Toronto Press, 1998), 170; "starving" from "Baby Farmers, Beware!" Lancet, October 1, 1870.
144. "Central Criminal Court, September 21"; "A Baby-Show"; Relf, in Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "38.
145. "Striking terror" from Times (London), September 24, 1870; "Baby-Slaughter, "BMJ, October 15, 1870.
146. "Striking terror" from Times (London), September 24, 1870; "Baby-Slaughter, "BMJ, October 15, 1870.
147. Waters's background comes from her confession, which was summarized in "Baby Farming in London, "Times (London), October 7, 1870.
148. "Baby Farming, "Times (London), June 21, 1870; "Summary of This Morning's News, "Pall Mall Gazette (London), June 30, 1870; "Baby-Farming at Brixton"; "Central Criminal Court, "Daily News (London), September 24, 1870.
149. "Baby Farming, "Times (London), June 21, 1870; "Summary of This Morning's News, "Pall Mall Gazette (London), June 30, 1870; "Baby-Farming at Brixton"; "Central Criminal Court, "Daily News (London), September 24, 1870.
150. "Baby Farming, "Times (London), June 21, 1870; "Summary of This Morning's News, "Pall Mall Gazette (London), June 30, 1870; "Baby-Farming at Brixton"; "Central Criminal Court, "Daily News (London), September 24, 1870.
151. "Baby Farming, "Times (London), June 21, 1870; "Summary of This Morning's News, "Pall Mall Gazette (London), June 30, 1870; "Baby-Farming at Brixton"; "Central Criminal Court, "Daily News (London), September 24, 1870.
152. "Central Criminal Court, Sept. 24, "Times (London), September 28, 1870; "Baby Farming in London."
153. "Central Criminal Court, Sept. 24, "Times (London), September 28, 1870; "Baby Farming in London."
154. "Baby Farming, "Times (London), June 21, 1870; "Central Criminal Court, September 23"; "The Baby Farming Case, "Times (London), June 29, 1870.
155. "Baby Farming, "Times (London), June 21, 1870; "Central Criminal Court, September 23"; "The Baby Farming Case, "Times (London), June 29, 1870.
156. "Baby Farming, "Times (London), June 21, 1870; "Central Criminal Court, September 23"; "The Baby Farming Case, "Times (London), June 29, 1870.
157. Roger Smith, "The Boundary between Insanity and Criminal Responsibility in Nineteenth-Century England, "in Madhouses, Mad-Doctors, and Madmen: The Social History of Psychiatry in the Victorian Era, ed. Andrew Scull (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981), 372-73.
158. "Extraordinary Baby-Farming Case."
159. "Summary of This Morning's News, "Pall Mall Gazette (London), July 2, 1870; Times (London), July 8, 1870.
160. "Summary of This Morning's News, "Pall Mall Gazette (London), July 2, 1870; Times (London), July 8, 1870.
161. Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "38-43.
162. "Central Criminal Court, Sept. 21."
163. "Central Criminal Court."
164. Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (Boston: Routledge Kegan Paul, 1978), 2; C., "Mothers v. Nurses"; Anne McClintock, Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest (New York: Routledge, 1995), 152-54.
165. Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (Boston: Routledge Kegan Paul, 1978), 2; C., "Mothers v. Nurses"; Anne McClintock, Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest (New York: Routledge, 1995), 152-54.
166. Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (Boston: Routledge Kegan Paul, 1978), 2; C., "Mothers v. Nurses"; Anne McClintock, Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest (New York: Routledge, 1995), 152-54.
167. "Baby-Farming at Brixton."
168. "Congestion of the brain" referred to an excess amount of blood in the cranium or in the tissues of the brain. Dr. Puckle's testimony, in "The Baby-Farming Case, "Times (London), July 20, 1870. See also Dr. Puckle and Dr. Bullen, "The Wholesale Baby Farming, "Daily News (London), June 29, 1870; Mr. Carter and Dr. Bullen, "The Baby Farming Case at Brixton, "Pall Mall Gazette (London), July 1, 1870.
169. "Congestion of the brain" referred to an excess amount of blood in the cranium or in the tissues of the brain. Dr. Puckle's testimony, in "The Baby-Farming Case, "Times (London), July 20, 1870. See also Dr. Puckle and Dr. Bullen, "The Wholesale Baby Farming, "Daily News (London), June 29, 1870; Mr. Carter and Dr. Bullen, "The Baby Farming Case at Brixton, "Pall Mall Gazette (London), July 1, 1870.
170. "Congestion of the brain" referred to an excess amount of blood in the cranium or in the tissues of the brain. Dr. Puckle's testimony, in "The Baby-Farming Case, "Times (London), July 20, 1870. See also Dr. Puckle and Dr. Bullen, "The Wholesale Baby Farming, "Daily News (London), June 29, 1870; Mr. Carter and Dr. Bullen, "The Baby Farming Case at Brixton, "Pall Mall Gazette (London), July 1, 1870.
171. "Central Criminal Court, Sept. 22."
172. A. B., "Baby Farming."
173. A. B.'s missive had come into its hands, the Times explained, before the Waters case hit the press. But her chronological framework is a bit loose. She claimed to have undertaken her investigation "about two years ago, "which would have been in July of 1868, six months after the BMJ ran its baby-farming campaign. She also maintained, however, that "about six months" after she investigated baby-farming, "a physician connected with one of the medical journals undertook a similar task, and the results of his efforts were given to the public." A. B. is clearly referring to Hart and Wiltshire's baby-farming exposé. A few other pieces of internal evidence suggest that A. B.'s letter may have been a fraud, although they are minor points. First, she claims to have told her kitchen maid "how anxious I was to expose the system of baby-farming, "when in fact the term "baby-farming" was not popularly being used until after the BMJ's campaign. Second, she is told by various midwives that an abortion costs £50 and an adoption costs £60. The BMJ quotes a market price closer to £10 and £5, respectively. The first discrepancy can be explained if we concede that, while A. B.'s explorations took place in 1868, she did not write her letter until 1870, when the term "baby-farming" was widely in use. The second is perhaps due to her class position - she would have been quoted the price that she seemed to be willing to pay rather than a standard market price. The entire letter is so incredibly similar to the BMJ's accounts of its explorations, however, that I tend to believe that it is a complete fiction. A less cynical reader might be able to argue that while A. B.'s date of investigation is false, she did, indeed, undertake an exploration of baby-farming. It is interesting to speculate, however, about the implications of A. B.'s letter as a fictional document. Her attempt to carve out a space for women in the baby-farming campaign seems all the more strident if the letter is actually an elaborate fiction written to reverse the trend of public discourse.
174. Put in the context of the Times editorial that introduced it, the challenge to the BMJ's leadership of the baby-farming crusade becomes even more clear. The Times affirmed that philanthropy should be motivated by a "call, "based in emotional reactions to social problems. Women as well as men could feel the call, and mothers were especially susceptible to feel a pang at the thought of infanticide. The Times stressed that "private volunteer investigations" were the best way to detect and expose "these dreadful mysteries." In this way, it blatantly undermined the BMJ's claim that baby-farming was an "eminently medical" problem. The Times insisted, on the contrary, that social reform of this kind was "a public duty." Whereas the journal claimed to have "discovered" the prevalence of baby-farming, moreover, the Times insisted that the British people had known about it all along. "It is idle to deny that for many a day intelligent men must have suspected the existence among us of such a scheme of organized villainy as we now contemplate in all its ugliness, "the Times maintained. It was not that baby-farmers were clever or their deceptions masterful but that the upper classes had chosen to allow them to carry on their blatant trade. If this was the case, then the BMJ had nothing to expose; it was only dragging to the surface a practice that everyone was aware was in progress sub rosa. Times (London), July 4 and July 14, 1870.
175. On the latter two points, "Baby Farming, "BMJ, October 22, 1870; Mary Lyndon Shanley, Feminism, Marriage and the Law in Victorian England, 1850-1895 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989), 89-90.
176. On the latter two points, "Baby Farming, "BMJ, October 22, 1870; Mary Lyndon Shanley, Feminism, Marriage and the Law in Victorian England, 1850-1895 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989), 89-90.
177. "A Baby-Show."
178. "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, June 25, 1870; "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, July 9, 1870; "The Baby Farmers, "BMJ, October 1, 1870.
179. "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, June 25, 1870; "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, July 9, 1870; "The Baby Farmers, "BMJ, October 1, 1870.
180. "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, June 25, 1870; "Baby-Farming, "BMJ, July 9, 1870; "The Baby Farmers, "BMJ, October 1, 1870.
181. Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 101.
182. Bartrip, Mirror of Medicine, 102.
183. Behlmer, Child Abuse, 32-33.
184. Ibid., 36; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 108.
185. Ibid., 36; Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 108.
186. Shanley, Feminism, Marriage, 87.
187. The committee consisted of "Mr. Selater-Booth. Dr. Brewer. Mr. Jacob Bright. Mr. Charley. Sir Thomas Hesketh. Mr. Illingworth. Mr. Keown. Mr. Kinnaird. Mr. William Johnston. Viscount Mahon. Mr. Melly. Dr. Lyon Playfair. Mr. Raikes. Mr. Richard Shaw. Mr. W. M. Torrens. Mr. Walpole. Mr. Winterbotham." Commons, "Report from the Select Committee, "ii.
188. Ibid., vii.
189. Rose, Massacre of the Innocents, 110.
190. Quoted in "The Infant Life Protection Act, "Lancet, October 26, 1872.
191. George Behlmer, Child Abuse or Friends of the Family: The English Home and its Guardians, 1850-1940 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998). On the infant welfare movement and eugenics, see Roger Cooler, In the Name of the Child: Health and Welfare, 1880-1940 (New York: Routledge, 1992); Jo Garcia, Robert Kilpatrick, and Martin Richards, The Politics of Maternity Care: Services for Childbearing Women in Twentieth-Century Britain (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990); Jane Lewis, The Politics of Motherhood: Child and Maternal Welfare in England, 1900-1939 (London: Croom Helm, 1980); Richard Soloway, Demography and Degeneration: Eugenics and the Declining Birthrate in Twentieth-century Britain (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995).
192. George Behlmer, Child Abuse or Friends of the Family: The English Home and its Guardians, 1850-1940 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998). On the infant welfare movement and eugenics, see Roger Cooler, In the Name of the Child: Health and Welfare, 1880-1940 (New York: Routledge, 1992); Jo Garcia, Robert Kilpatrick, and Martin Richards, The Politics of Maternity Care: Services for Childbearing Women in Twentieth-Century Britain (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990); Jane Lewis, The Politics of Motherhood: Child and Maternal Welfare in England, 1900-1939 (London: Croom Helm, 1980); Richard Soloway, Demography and Degeneration: Eugenics and the Declining Birthrate in Twentieth-century Britain (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995).
193. George Behlmer, Child Abuse or Friends of the Family: The English Home and its Guardians, 1850-1940 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998). On the infant welfare movement and eugenics, see Roger Cooler, In the Name of the Child: Health and Welfare, 1880-1940 (New York: Routledge, 1992); Jo Garcia, Robert Kilpatrick, and Martin Richards, The Politics of Maternity Care: Services for Childbearing Women in Twentieth-Century Britain (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990); Jane Lewis, The Politics of Motherhood: Child and Maternal Welfare in England, 1900-1939 (London: Croom Helm, 1980); Richard Soloway, Demography and Degeneration: Eugenics and the Declining Birthrate in Twentieth-century Britain (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995).
194. George Behlmer, Child Abuse or Friends of the Family: The English Home and its Guardians, 1850-1940 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998). On the infant welfare movement and eugenics, see Roger Cooler, In the Name of the Child: Health and Welfare, 1880-1940 (New York: Routledge, 1992); Jo Garcia, Robert Kilpatrick, and Martin Richards, The Politics of Maternity Care: Services for Childbearing Women in Twentieth-Century Britain (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990); Jane Lewis, The Politics of Motherhood: Child and Maternal Welfare in England, 1900-1939 (London: Croom Helm, 1980); Richard Soloway, Demography and Degeneration: Eugenics and the Declining Birthrate in Twentieth-century Britain (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995).
195. George Behlmer, Child Abuse or Friends of the Family: The English Home and its Guardians, 1850-1940 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998). On the infant welfare movement and eugenics, see Roger Cooler, In the Name of the Child: Health and Welfare, 1880-1940 (New York: Routledge, 1992); Jo Garcia, Robert Kilpatrick, and Martin Richards, The Politics of Maternity Care: Services for Childbearing Women in Twentieth-Century Britain (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990); Jane Lewis, The Politics of Motherhood: Child and Maternal Welfare in England, 1900-1939 (London: Croom Helm, 1980); Richard Soloway, Demography and Degeneration: Eugenics and the Declining Birthrate in Twentieth-century Britain (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995).
196. "Baby-Slaughter, "BMJ, October 15, 1870.
197. George Behlmer confirms that child protection activity of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was carried on by a separate group of people from the medical men who campaigned against baby-farming. "Through their exposure of baby-farming, J. B. Curgenven and Ernest Hart had demonstrated that the abuse of infants was sometimes both premeditated and systematic. They had shown further that the traffic in unwanted children fed upon the privacy surrounding domestic relations. Even so, it was one thing to advocate burdening a comparatively small segment of the female population with periodic inspection of their home-based trade and quite another to propose sweeping restraints on the freedom of all parents to rear their children as they saw fit. Significantly, neither Mundella nor his co-sponsors [who introduced the first bill for the better defense of children] had been active in the [Infant Life Protection Society] case." Child Abuse, 42.
198. Quote from Davin, "Imperialism and Motherhood, "13.