Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Baby farming
Baby farming is the historical practice of accepting custody of an infant or child in exchange for payment in late-Victorian Britain and, less commonly, in Australia, New Zealand and the United States. If the infant was young, this usually included wet-nursing (breast-feeding by a woman not the mother). Some baby farmers "adopted" children for lump-sum payments, while others cared for infants for periodic payments.
The use of foster care in 18th-century Britain by middle-class parents was described by Claire Tomalin in her biography of Jane Austen, who was fostered in the 1760s in this manner, as were all her siblings, from when they were a few months old until they were toddlers. Tomalin emphasizes the emotional distance this created.
Important historical context for the practice is the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, which denied the poor the right to subsistence. In particular, single mothers were then forced to work in prison-like workhouses.
In late-Victorian Britain (and, less commonly, in Australia and the United States), baby farming was the practice of accepting custody of an infant or child in exchange for payment.[citation needed] Though baby farmers were paid in the understanding that care would be provided, the term "baby farmer" was used as an insult, and improper treatment was usually implied. Illegitimacy and its attendant social stigma were usually the impetus for a mother's decision to put her children "out to nurse" with a baby farmer, but baby farming also encompassed foster care and adoption in the period before they were regulated by British law in the mid 19th century.[citation needed] Wealthier women would also put their infants out to be cared for in the homes of villagers.[citation needed]
Particularly in the case of lump-sum adoptions, it was more profitable for the baby farmer if the infant or child she adopted died, since the small payment could not cover the care of the child for long. Some baby farmers adopted numerous children and then neglected them or murdered them outright (see infanticide). Several baby farmers were tried for murder, manslaughter, or criminal neglect and were hanged. Margaret Waters (executed 1870) and Amelia Dyer (executed 1896) were two infamous British baby farmers, as were Amelia Sach and Annie Walters (executed 1903). The last baby farmer to be executed in Britain was Rhoda Willis, who was hanged in Wales in 1907.
The only woman to be executed in New Zealand, Minnie Dean, was a baby farmer, although in 1926, a male baby farmer, Daniel Cooper, was executed for the death of his pregnant first wife and two subsequent infants. In Australia, baby-farmer Frances Knorr was executed for infanticide in 1894. Although John and Sarah Makin were also convicted of infanticide, only John Makin had been executed a year earlier (1893) in Sydney for this crime.
In Scandinavia there was a euphemism for this activity: änglamakerska (Swedish, including Hilda Nilsson)[citation needed] and englemagerske (Danish, including Dagmar Overby), both literally meaning a "(female) angel maker".
An undercover investigation of baby-farming, reported in 1870 in a letter to The Times, concluded that "My conviction is that children are murdered in scores by these women, that adoption is only a fine phrase for slow or sudden death".
Hub AI
Baby farming AI simulator
(@Baby farming_simulator)
Baby farming
Baby farming is the historical practice of accepting custody of an infant or child in exchange for payment in late-Victorian Britain and, less commonly, in Australia, New Zealand and the United States. If the infant was young, this usually included wet-nursing (breast-feeding by a woman not the mother). Some baby farmers "adopted" children for lump-sum payments, while others cared for infants for periodic payments.
The use of foster care in 18th-century Britain by middle-class parents was described by Claire Tomalin in her biography of Jane Austen, who was fostered in the 1760s in this manner, as were all her siblings, from when they were a few months old until they were toddlers. Tomalin emphasizes the emotional distance this created.
Important historical context for the practice is the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, which denied the poor the right to subsistence. In particular, single mothers were then forced to work in prison-like workhouses.
In late-Victorian Britain (and, less commonly, in Australia and the United States), baby farming was the practice of accepting custody of an infant or child in exchange for payment.[citation needed] Though baby farmers were paid in the understanding that care would be provided, the term "baby farmer" was used as an insult, and improper treatment was usually implied. Illegitimacy and its attendant social stigma were usually the impetus for a mother's decision to put her children "out to nurse" with a baby farmer, but baby farming also encompassed foster care and adoption in the period before they were regulated by British law in the mid 19th century.[citation needed] Wealthier women would also put their infants out to be cared for in the homes of villagers.[citation needed]
Particularly in the case of lump-sum adoptions, it was more profitable for the baby farmer if the infant or child she adopted died, since the small payment could not cover the care of the child for long. Some baby farmers adopted numerous children and then neglected them or murdered them outright (see infanticide). Several baby farmers were tried for murder, manslaughter, or criminal neglect and were hanged. Margaret Waters (executed 1870) and Amelia Dyer (executed 1896) were two infamous British baby farmers, as were Amelia Sach and Annie Walters (executed 1903). The last baby farmer to be executed in Britain was Rhoda Willis, who was hanged in Wales in 1907.
The only woman to be executed in New Zealand, Minnie Dean, was a baby farmer, although in 1926, a male baby farmer, Daniel Cooper, was executed for the death of his pregnant first wife and two subsequent infants. In Australia, baby-farmer Frances Knorr was executed for infanticide in 1894. Although John and Sarah Makin were also convicted of infanticide, only John Makin had been executed a year earlier (1893) in Sydney for this crime.
In Scandinavia there was a euphemism for this activity: änglamakerska (Swedish, including Hilda Nilsson)[citation needed] and englemagerske (Danish, including Dagmar Overby), both literally meaning a "(female) angel maker".
An undercover investigation of baby-farming, reported in 1870 in a letter to The Times, concluded that "My conviction is that children are murdered in scores by these women, that adoption is only a fine phrase for slow or sudden death".