The Past and Present Society

Secret Births and Infanticide in Seventeenth-Century England

Author(s): Laura Gowing
Source: Past & Present, No. 156 (Aug., 1997), pp. 87-115
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present Society
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 SECRET BIRTHS AND INFANTICIDE IN
SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND*
Childbirthin earlymodernEnglandtookplacein a femaleworld
ofritualandsecrecy.The privatebutcommunal eventofa lying-
in,wherefemalecompanionship andhelpstoodbetweenthenew
mother andthemaleworldoutside,couldalso,ithasbeenargued,
constitutea timeof rarefemalepower,even 'festiveinversion':
labouringwomenwereto be givenwhattheydesired,and the
bondsbetweenwomencreatedan exclusively femalecommunity
andculture.1 Butthereareothersidesto thehistory ofpregnancy
and childbirth thanthis. For unmarriedwomen,the stateof
pregnancy wasoneinwhichotherwomen- neighbours, friends,
and midwives- were not companions, but threats;one from
whichmalepartnerswerelargelyabsent;and one wherepreg-
nancywasan activeproblemforthehouseholdandthecommun-
ity,aroundwhichwerebuiltstrategies of secrecy,exposureand
confrontation.Here,theboundaries between women'sbodiesand
a watchful were
community constantly to
open question,andthe
secretsofthebodydividedwomenmorethantheyunitedthem.
In Skelton,a Yorkshiremarkettown,in 1664,SissilyLinscale
saw hercousinAnngivebirthto a child,helpedby hersisters
and a midwife.The childwas eitherstillborn or killedand then
buried,the womenthreatening Sissilyneverto speak of it: 'if
thoudostwe are all undone'.Sissily,hersuspicionsarousedby
Ann'srefusalofa shareofhercakeat noon,hadpushedherway
intothehouse,wherethewomeninside'did lookstrangely upon
* I am gratefulto MirandaChaytor,TrishCrawford, Diane Purkiss,LyndalRoper
and SarahWatersforcommentsand discussions.Researchforthisarticlewas funded
by a BritishAcademyPostgraduateResearchFellowshipin 1993-5.
1 AdrianWilson,'The Ceremonyof Childbirthand its Interpretation', in Valerie
Fildes (ed.), Womenas Mothersin Pre-Industrial England(London, 1990); see also
PatriciaCrawford,'The Construction and Experienceof Maternityin Seventeenth-
CenturyEngland', ibid.; Linda Pollock, 'Embarkingon a Rough Passage: The
Experienceof Pregnancyin EarlyModernSociety',ibid.Ulinka Rublack's workon
earlymodernGermanyhas stressed,in contrast,the significant roles thathusbands
played duringpregnancyand labour, and the fraughtand importantrelationship
betweentheunbornchildand themother'swidersocialand politicalcontext:Ulinka
Rublack, 'Pregnancy,Childbirthand the Female Body in EarlyModernGermany',
Past and Present,no. 150 (Feb. 1996).

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88 PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER156

her,and did shutthedoorandkeptherin'. She sawthemidwife

give Annsomething froma bottleand paperand bringfortha
childwith'a littlelifein it' butmissinga leg and somefingers;
thenshe saw Annwrapthe child'sbodyin a rag,and later,at
sunset,buryit, whileSissilywatched'and criedoverit'. After
themidwife's threatthat'ifsheheardanywordsheshouldspeak
of it she wouldbe the deathof her', Sissilywentback to her
master'shouseand keptquiet fornearlya year,untildisputes
betweenhercousinsand hermastermadehertellhimthestory.
So, at least,she toldhermasterand, later,theJusticeof the
Peace; and havingsharedthe storywithher master,she was
emboldened to confront theauntand cousinwhothreatened her
on theirwaypastthehouse.'Thereare twodoors',one of them
said to her,'and if we had theeout at eitherof themwe would
pullthythroat out'.Sissilylookedoutofthewindowandanswered:
'Em is thisnottruethatI havesaid,did I notsee theeand thy
sisterPeggburythechildhardbywherethoustandest, I praygod
I mayneversee sucha sightagain'.Theydidnotreply.2 Whether
or not hertale was true- thereis no recordof a bodybeing
found,andAnndeniedit- Sissily's testimony illuminatesa female
worldofdangerous secretsandexclusions. Living outas a servant
in herhometown,Sissilytoldthestoryofa female, familialdrama
fromwhich,as a marginalmemberof the familyand a single,
probably young,woman,shewasexcluded.It wasa plausibletale,
echoing secretsand fearsthathad a realpowerbothin women's
daily livesand in theirimaginations.
Infanticide is, is generally
it argued,a productof exceptional
mentalconditions.3 But it was also,in thisperiodas in others,a
productof unexceptional economicand social circumstances,
whereunmarried womenmightverywell see no wayin which
theycouldbearandkeepa child.4Examinations andinformations
PRO), ASSI 45 7/2/77-8,
2
PublicRecordOffice,London(henceforth informations
of HenrySole, Skelton,Yorks.,10 July1665, and SissilyLinscale,8 May 1665.
3 The term'infanticide' argued,anachronistic
is, as MarkJacksonhas recently and
MarkJackson,New-BornChildMurder:Women,
oftenill-defined: and the
Illegitimacy
Courtsin Eighteenth-Century England(Manchester,1996), 5-6; I use it hereonlyfor
accusationsof murderof new-borninfants.
4 Keith Wrightson, 'Infanticidein EarlierSeventeenth-Century England', Local
PopulationStudies,xv (1975). ReginaSchulte'sworkon late eighteenth-century and
early nineteenth-century Bavaria roots infanticidefirmlyin the contextof farm
servants'everydayworkinglives: Regina Schulte, The Village in Court: Arson,
Infanticideand Poachingin the CourtRecordsof UpperBavaria, 1848-1910, trans.
BarrieSelman(Cambridge,1994),87-118. Manyofthecircumstances typicalto early
(cont.onp. 89)

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 SECRET BIRTHS AND INFANTICIDE IN ENGLAND 89

survivefor seventycases of neonatalinfanticide triedat the

NorthernCircuitAssizesbetween1642 and 1680,fromacross
Yorkshire,Northumberland, Cumberlandand Westmorland.5
Mostof thewomenaccusedofmurdering theirnew-borns were
servants,livingin, usuallyin agricultural communities, working
at a varietyof tasksincludingspinning,lookingafteranimals,
pickingcropsand makingdairyproducts.Somelivedwiththeir
parents,withotherwomen,or alone;manyledfairly mobilelives
duringpregnancy, stopping in servicefor short periodsandplan-
ning to move on to friends,family or some potentialharbour
elsewhere. All,when of
suspicions pregnancy arose,foundthem-
selvesin different positions.Who noticed thesignsofpregnancy
and who ignoredthem,and whethertheywouldbe confronted,
dependedon theirage, socialpositionand livingsituation.
Whenformal, legalinvestigationsintothedeathofa new-born
began,suspects and theirneighbours, employers or familytold
storiesthatobscureas muchas theyreveal.Boththewitnesses'
informations and the examinations of suspectshave theirown
deceptions and omissions, and theirown narrative agendas;both
also represented storieswhichhad probablybeentoldalreadyin
otherlocalcontexts andwhichwouldcontinue to circulate.
Sissily
Linscale'sstorysuggests thepeculiarsignificance thatthisprocess
of constructing a narrative had in casesof infanticide.Storiesof
secretbirthor suspectedinfanticide werepartofthecurrency of
oralculture,particularly amongwomen.Popularliterature, bal-
lads and dramafurnished storiesof thenurturing and killingof
olderchildren, but rarelypresentedthefarmorecommonneo-
natalmurdersby servantsand spinsters; womenmusthavetold
storiesthatwerebasedinsteadon localtales.The testimonies of
(n. 4 cont.)
moderncases are discussedin R. W. Malcolmson,'Infanticidein the Eighteenth
Century',in J. S. Cockburn(ed.), Crimein England,1500-1800(Princeton,1977).
5 The surviving examinations
arebyno meansa completerecordofall prosecutions.
Indictmentfileswhichsurviveusuallycontainat least another25 per cent of cases.
For the frequencyof cases in seventeenth-century England,see P. E. Hofferand
N. E. H. Hull, Murdering
Mothers:Infanticide inEnglandandNewEngland,1558-1803
(New Yorkand London,1981),21-4; Wrightson, in EarlierSeventeenth-
'Infanticide
CenturyEngland'; GarthineWalker, 'Gender, Crime and Social Order in Early
Modern Cheshire'(Univ. of LiverpoolPh.D. thesis,1994), 126-7. On the debated
incidenceof neonatalinfanticide,
see also J. S. Cockburn,'The Natureand Incidence
of Crimein England,1559-1625: A Preliminary Survey',in Cockburn(ed.), Crime
in England,1500-1800,58; AngusMcLaren, Reproductive Rituals: The Perception
of
Fertilityin Englandfromthe SixteenthCenturyto theNineteenth Century(London,
1984), 129-35.

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90 PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER156
witnessesgive some idea of how such troublingstorieswere
shaped,howtheyended,andhow,likethestoriesincheapprint,
theynegotiatedguilt,sympathy and pathos.What shapesthe
suspects'storiesmost ofall is themaintenance ofsecrecy,central
to understandings of infanticide in law as well as in popular
culture.6The storywithwhicha suspectwas confronted was one
whichshe had foundit impossibleto tell: to herself,to her
neighbours, to heremployers or to herfamily.
A history ofreproduction thatfocusesentirely on thelegitimate
and theacknowledged willerasemanyof theanxieties, conflicts
and dramasthatwerepartof theearlymoderncultureof child-
birth.The historiesofpregnancies thatwerehiddenor endedin
suspected infanticide
exposeanother historyofchildbirth, charac-
terizedby narratives of concealment, fear,confrontation and
exposure.The socialhistory of pregnancy is, I wantto suggest,
moreambiguousthanhistorians have tendedto acknowledge;
women'sexperiences of secretpregnancies, laboursand alleged
infanticideswereshapedby someprofoundculturaland social
tensionsaboutthereproductive bodyand aboutmaternity.

I
THE PREGNANT BODY
Whensecretpregnancies and birthsweresuspected,womenand
some men attempted to make the body of the femalesuspect
revealitssecrets.But thesignsofpregnancy, and eventhesigns
of havinggivenbirth,could be ambiguousones. Nothingwas
certainuntila childwas born: if some neighbours watcheda
womanwholookedpregnant, manyothersignoredheror denied
knowledgeof her situation.Pregnantwomenthemselves mar-
shalleda varietyof explanations fortheirswellingbelliesand
breasts,formomentsof pain and sickness.Withinand outside
the femaleworldof gynaecological experienceand knowledge,
was
pregnancy very oftena disputedconditionwhosesignscould
be guessed,and contradicted, watchedor ignored,and which
madethebodiesofcertainwomenopentovariouskindsofpublic
scrutinyand inspection.

6 The link betweensecretpregnanciesand infanticidehad been made explicitby

the statuteof 1624,whichmade the concealmentof an infant'sdeaththe essenceof
the crime;at least some commentatorssaw the failureto engagehelp in labouras
evidenceof guiltyintent:Jackson,New-BornChildMurder,32.

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 SECRET BIRTHS AND INFANTICIDE IN ENGLAND 91

Neighbourly surveillance
focusedon watchingwomen'sstom-
achs and, more definitively,on inspectingtheirbreasts.'The
formaltestofpregnancy usedby juriesofmatrons- squeezing
the breastsforsignsof milk- was also used at a muchless
formallevel:withno officialprompting womenaskedto see each
other'sbreasts,or squeezedthemwithoutasking.8IsabelBarton
was visitedat hermother'shouseby firsttwo,thenfourmore,
villagewomen,who toldherthatshe shouldlet herbreasts'be
seen drawn'to clearherselfof the rumoursthatshe was with
child. She refused,saying'none shouldsee her breasts',but
eventuallyshowedthem'one of herbreastheads,butverycov-
ertly,whichthisexaminate[one of thewives]saw to be black
and purpled,so thatshefearedthemore,and desiredtheneigh-
bours thatwere there,to draw her breasts';Isabel then'did
hastilyput up her breasts,and said thatnone of themshould
drawthem,but if hermotherwerethereshe couldsay more'.
That nightIsabel leftthe townand returnedonlytwo months
later,confessing tohavinghada miscarriage
eventually justbefore
the women'svisit.9When Mary Ryley,a thirty-two-year-old
woman,fromHettonintheNorthRiding,wasaccusedofinfanti-
cideforthesecondtimeintwelveyears,shewasjustas unwilling.
The midwifetoldhermother,'I chargetheeto look to herand
to herbirth,forwithchildsheis', butMary'did neitherconfess,
norabsolutely denyherbeingthenwithherchild,butaskedthis
and the restof the wiveswhattheyintendedif theymeantto
makeher,tomakeherself away'.LikeIsabel,Maryslippedaway,
but was laterfound,in herfather'sbarn,thoughshe continued
to denyhavingbornea child."'
7 Although
'therisingof theapron'was a well-establishedmetaphorforpregnancy
and the stomachsof women suspectedof pregnancywere certainlywatched by
neighbours,clothingseems bothto have disguisedpregnancyto some extentand to
have made stomachsmore difficult of access than breasts.It also seems that,here,
touchingthebreastsofa womanwhomightbe pregnantwas culturally moreacceptable
thantouchingherstomach;earlymodernwomenwerealso likelyto gainless weight
thanmodernwomenand theweightgainofpregnancy mighthaveremainedunnoticed
forlonger.
8 Sinceat leastsomepeople expectedmilkto be present in thebreastsfromaround
the fourthmonthof pregnancy,the testservedto checkfora currentpregnancyas
well as a recentbirthor miscarriage:AudreyEccles, Obstetrics and Gynaecologyin
Tudorand StuartEngland(London, 1982), 153.
9 PRO, ASSI 45 7/1/11, informationof KatherineStorr,HurronBushel,Yorks.,8
Mar. 1663/4.
10 PRO, ASSI 45 7/2/119, informationof FrancesCockit,Hetton,Yorks., 13 Feb.
1664/5;forthe earliercase, ASSI 45 4/3/25,examinationof Mary Broughton,alias
Ryley,Hetton,Yorks.,8 Oct. 1653. No indictment survivesforthesecondtrial.

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92 PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER 156
It was crucialto thesesortsof interventions thattherewas
someonethereto be 'charged'withthe womanand her birth.
Daughterswholivedathomeand,especially, servantsweremuch
likelierto be confronted and forcedto revealtheirbodiesthan
widowsand oldersinglewomen.Servants werethemostvulner-
able to rumour,as well as thelargestgroupof womenaccused
of infanticide.Theirlivingsituationsand theirmaterialand eco-
nomiccircumstances madethemespeciallyopento intervention
and observation.Their employerswere frequently exercised
about theirsituations and questionedor confronted them,but
thereseemsalso to havebeena sensein which,morethanwith
girlslivingwiththeirmothers, theirsexualitywaspublicproperty
and a publicthreat.The economicand domesticsituationsof
servants madethemthemostlikelytoproducechildren whothey
couldnotsupportand to becomeindigent themselves,and their
potential or actualmobilitygave rise to fearsthattheymight
disappearleavinga child,or have leftthe child'sfatherso far
behindthathe couldnotbe traced.The case of IsabelTrooit,a
servantin WestAyton,was typical.Her mistress suspectedshe
was pregnantand questionedher. Isabel denied'thatany man
had had to do withher'but'affirmed thatshehadnotherhealth
as formerly',andthreemonths laterhermistress,findingevidence
of a miscarriage or birthin herbed, forcedIsabel to showher
breasts,and she confessed thatshe had 'partedwitha childlong
beforeher time',whichshe had thrownintothe riverby the
house'whileherdamewas at Scarborough market'.1"The lifeof
femaleservantswas one in whichsearchesof bothbodiesand
bedchambers weretakenforgranted.
It was notalwaysclear,though,whosewas theauthority over
the suspiciousbodies of women in service. Families' and
employers'interestsand responsibilities mightconflict.When
Isabel Nicholson'sfamilysuspectedshe was pregnant, hermis-
tressMaryHolmepersuadedIsabel'ssisterthatshe was notand
allegedlystoppedIsabel's motherfromexaminingher breasts:
Isabel's mother'demanded ... what was become of the whore
her daughter,and desired if she mightsee her breasts . . . but
Mary Holme replied ... saying"Let's see who dare be so bold

information
11 PRO, ASSI 45 6/2/112, Yorks.,15
of RobertStorr,WestAyton,
Mar.1661/2.

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 SECRET BIRTHS AND INFANTICIDE IN ENGLAND 93

as viewhermaid'sbreastswithoutherconsent"'.'2 Alongwith
herresponsibility fora maid'sbehaviourand reputation, a mis-
tressmightalso claimauthority over herbody- an authority
whichmightbe supportive and protective.
Whilemenalso knewand watchedforthesignsofpregnancy,
theyrarelyclaimedthe authority to interpret thosesigns.One
accountofa youngwoman'spregnancy in a largelymalehouse-
holdrevealsthedifference in thewayswomenand menwatched
and noticedthesignsofpregnancy. AnnWright, householdser-
vantto WilliamWriglesworth, was twicesuspectedofpregnancy
and concealment of a birth,in 1679and 1681.ThomasSuckett,
a labourerworkingforWilliam,toldhimthat'AnnWrightwas
heavyand wentheavily',and he responded,'yes she had been
tradingwithsomebodyforherbellywas as big and largeas his
mare'.Thomasreportedhearingand seeingAnnin labour,but
he intervened neitherthennorlater;instead,he lefttheparlour
whereshewas 'sickand cryingofpain',whichhe tookto be 'in
travailand painsofchildbirth', and lookedthrough thewindow,
wherehe saw her witha childhe thoughtwas alive. He told
neighbours, but 'neitherthisinformant noranyotherneighbour
durstat all meddleto searchor busythemselves aboutthematter
by reason the said WilliamWriglesworth her masterwas a
troublesome man'. Less thantwo yearslaterhe suspectedAnn
was withchildagain:'she broughtthisinformant his dinnerto
the hall garthhe beingthenmowingforWilliamWriglesworth
and herbodicebeingcloseand hardtiedthisinformant thensaw
milkcome out of her breastsand come throughher shiftand
downherbodice'.13NeitherofthesementouchedAnn'sbreasts
or stomach, butwatchedthempressagainstherclothes.To them
she lookedlike a mare,and the metaphor - 'trading'- used
by her master transposes the sexual act into anotherkind of
sphere. There was no possibility here of the kind of physical
confrontations andinterventions thatwomenused.Mastersmight
also be less enmeshedin the networksof communalauthority
and responsibility thatseemto haveshapedmistresses' relation-
shipswiththeirpregnant servants: AnneSmithsaidthat,a month
aftergivingbirthto a stillborn childwhichtheyconcealed,she
12
PRO, ASSI 45 8/1/81,informationof Ann Porter, Hawkesdale, Cumb.,
13 May 1666.
13 PRO, ASSI 45 13/2/105,
examinationof Ann Wright,Rigton,Yorks.,20 Feb.
1681/2.

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94 PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER156
askedhermasterwhatto do, and he toldhersimply'it was best
to fleeaway',so she did.14
Olderspinsters andwidowsmaintained firmer rightsovertheir
bodiesand a greaterfreedomto refusesearches.JaneBrown,a
Yorkwidow,refusedto let thewomanwhoshareda housewith
her see her breasts,saying'she wouldhumournoneso much',
and readilyexplainedherbigbody:'she had beenlongtroubled
witha dropsyand couldnotgetanycureforit,and said further
thatifshewerewithchildit shouldtroubleno body,butshewas
clear'. Suspicionsin suchcases tendedto crystallize ratherinto
informal rumours.Sara Whitfield, whogave birthalonebecause
'no womanwas thennearheror in thehouse',saidthatshe 'had
heardtherewas a reportshe was withchildbutnobodydid say
anything toherselfaboutit'.15Suchreportsmighttakethelength
ofthepregnancy to culminate whichcould,for
in confrontations
thosewomenwho managedto resistsearcheswhiletheywere
pregnant, be turnedawaywithambiguous answers.In Rotherham
in 1671,GertrudeLaw respondedto rumoursaroundMilngate
that'ifshewas withchild,it wouldcometo light';whenneigh-
bouringwomennoticedshe was 'suddenlygrownless in her
body'and a manchallenged her,'thouwas withchildbutthou
art swampe[flat]now', she replied'thereweresomethatsaid
so; butwhereis it now?'."16Her answers,at leastas reported,are
confident ratherthanevasions,althoughtheymightalso
retorts
be readas a challengeto findthelostchild- a challenge which,
in othercases,neighbouring womenas well as authorities were
readyto takeup.
In Hull threeyearsearlierthecase of SusannaVales,a widow
whohadlosta suckingchildsixyearsbefore,revealsa littlemore
of theextentand limitsofsuchlocaltalk,and thewaysthatthe
subjectsof rumourtriedto confoundit. Like the tale told by
SissilyLinscale,Susanna'sstoryspreadand lasted.Afterlocal
talkculminated enquiriesanda child'sbodywas found
in official
thrownintotheharbour,SusannaValeswentto prison.She was
stillthereeightmonthslaterwhentheteenagedaughterof her
next-door neighbourbegan - like Sissily Linscale - to talk.

examination
14 PRO, ASSI 45 5/1/106, ofAnneSmith,Aike,Yorks.,31 Jan.1653/4.
15 PRO, ASSI 45 11/1/42,information of MargaretGlanes,York, 17 Apr. 1674;
ASSI 45 11/2/255,examinationof Sara Whitfield,Brighouse,Yorks.,13 Apr. 1675.
16 PRO, ASSI 45 10/1/59,
information of Sarah Shaw,Rotherham,Yorks.,1 Aug.
1671.

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 SECRET BIRTHS AND INFANTICIDE IN ENGLAND 95

KatherineThompson,a servantagedaroundseventeen, one day

tooktoo muchale which'got intoherhead' and was senthome
to her mother,who lived next to SusannaVales. Katherine's
motherthreatened to havehersentto thehouseofcorrection for
leaving her service,but Katherineresponded, 'if you will have
me to the house of correction you mustgo to prisonto that
womanthatis there',meaning,she said, SusannaVales. 'She
knowethnothingof her own knowledge',Katherinedeposed
later,becauseshewasawayinservicewhenSusannawasaccused,
butshe 'hathheardFrancesEarattand otherneighbours saythat
hermotherJoanThompsoncouldnotbutknowsomething con-
cerningthechildthatSusannaValeshad borne'.It was a potent
accusationfroma daughter againsthermother.'Thereis some-
thingpricksmyconscience', Katherinesaidtotheneighbour who
came in in the middleof theirfuriousargument and reproved
herfor'so cursinghermother'.Like SissilyLinscale,Katherine
was a servanton themarginsof a local dramaof secretbirth,a
youngwomanlivingmostly awayfromhomeandwithpotentially
fraught relationshipswithher close kin. Bothwereapparently
prickedby conscienceintopubliclyvoicingsuspicions, rumours
or dramaticstories.Suchconsciencewassurelyalsoan expression
of theirown angersand anxietiesaroundfamilies, absencesand
conflicts.
Therewasmorethanonematernal relationship at issue.
The talkthatbroughtSusannaintoquestionstartedin church,
in the streetand at market.There,Susanna'sneighbours told
each otherto 'look at SusannaVales forshe was verygrown',
and exchangedtellingand double-edged comments: 'she thought
that Susanna Vales was with child, if ever she ... had had a
child';'she couldnottell,butwishedit werenotso'; 'she toldit
to a friendas a friendmighttellher'; 'I thinkshe is withchild,
but durst not ascertainit'. Withoutany directaccusations,
Susannaand thereputedfather ofthechildheardoftherumours
from'thepeopleat thefarendofthelane' and,in different ways,
refutedthem.He toldanotherwoman'whatifI did [father it],
mybackis broadenough'.Susanna'sdenialwas so muchfirmer
thatherinterested neighboursendedup givingherflatteringhints
or expressions of neighbourly concern,insteadof makingdirect
allegations. At thetimeof thebirthshe toldSibellWalkerthat
'she had takensomething thenightbeforeto sweaton' and was
'up, but . . . not verywell'; a week latershe was tellingSibell
'she hadbeena walkingoutofthegates',and Sibell,noticing her

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96 PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER156

bodywas smaller,was tellingher 'she lookedveryhandsome'.

To Susanna'smother,Sibell'tookoccasionto speak' 'aboutthe
sweatshe took. . . and hermothersaid . . . thatshehad blamed
heroftenfortakingofthings'."WhenGraceBarrowcliffe, Mary
Harrison,FrancesEarattand two midwivesformally searched
Susanna'sbody and foundthat'her milkis sweet',theycon-
cluded,presumably prompted by her,thatthemilkmighthave
been occasionedby menstruation, and whenone of them'put
some questions'to Susanna,she answered'she was alwaysso',
although thesearchernotedthat'womendo notalwaysuse to be
so, butsheknoweth notherconstitution'.'8 How exactlywomen
'alwaysuse to be' was clearlyto somedegreenegotiable.'19
Susanna'sinsistenceon interpretingthe signsof herbodyin
herownwayconstituted perhapshersoledefenceagainstneigh-
bourhoodenquiry.Otherwomenmarshalled a seriesofexplana-
tionsforthe signsof pregnancy.Colic or wind was the most
popular.In YorkJaneBrownetoldneighbours andthecourtthat
'the reasonherbellywas so greatwas thatshe had ill keeping
and ill lodgingand wentwetofherfeetwhichputup herbelly',
and that'she worea doubleblanketupon herbodyduringthe
coldestpartsand timesof winterand thatshe put thesameoff
notuntilabouta weekortendayssince'.Likesomeotherwomen,
she explainedthestainson herbedclothes as thoseof menstru-
ation- 'the commoncourseof naturewithotherwomenthat
haveno children'- and notofbirth,butmidwivesfoundfresh
milkin herbreastsand saidsheappearedto be 'a green[recently
delivered]woman'.20
The storiesthat women told to neighbours,familyand
employers werenotsimplywaysofconcealing pregnancy as long
as possible.At one level, it made sense to see pregnancy as
disease:thiswas how mostcurrent thinking conceptualized it.2'
17 Presumablyabortifacients; Susanna's mothersaid her daughterhad admitted
taking'a pennyworth of powder',but wouldnot tellherwhereshe got it.
18 PRO, ASSI 45 9/1/119-27, informations of Philippa Bedell, Mary Freeman,
et al., Kingston-upon-Hull, n.d.; Susanna Doughty,27 July1668; Sibell Walker,
3 July1668; KatherineThompson,8 Mar. 1667/8;JaneHarbert,8 Mar. 1667/8.
19 Some believedit possibleforwomenwho had neverbeen pregnantto have milk
in theirbreasts;in Susanna'scase it mightalso have followedpreviousmiscarriages.
20 PRO, ASSI 45/11/1/42-6, informations of Margaretand EdwardGlanes,17 Apr.
1674; Mary Bouill, 18 Apr. 1674; examinationof Jane Browne, 18 Apr. 1674;
information of JaneTopham, 18 Apr. 1674.
21 Gail Kern Paster, TheBodyEmbarrassed: Drama and theDisciplinesofShamein
EarlyModernEngland(Ithaca, 1993), 182.

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 SECRET BIRTHS AND INFANTICIDE IN ENGLAND 97

Forothers,thespecific disorderstheyidentifiedmayhaverepres-
entedthe onlyway in whichthe changesin theirbody made
sense to them:wind, colic or dropsy;neverpregnancy.Re-
interpretationsand concealments of pregnancy, though,could
also workat a muchsubtlerlevel,and it is thislevelwhichwe
mostneed to understand in orderto makesenseof the bodily
and mentalworldsof concealedpregnancy. Womenwho kept
theirpregnanciessecrethad littleor no access to the shared
knowledgeand accumulated experienceof local mothers.Single
womenlike SissilyLinscaledid not normally witnessbirths;it
was not just the secrecyof the event,but her positionas an
unmarried womanthatmade the women'look strangely' upon
herwhensheintruded. Theirexclusionfromtheworldoffemale
knowledge madeithardforsinglewomento speakoftheexperi-
ence ofpregnancy in thewaysthatmarriedwomenand widows
did. AnnaBeardall,a Sowerbywidowwhohad alreadyhad two
children,
illegitimate was able to judgethat'she thoughtit [the
child]was dead on Fridaybefore,she was so soreand so heavy'.
She claimedthatit was stillbornbecauseAbrahamRyleyhad
refusedto let herhave a bit of a beefcollopa weekbeforethe
birth;and thatshe 'was notso in thebearingof thisas she was
in thebearingofherformer children'.22
Singlewomenhadneither thiskindofpersonalexpertise, nor,
it seems,accessto the knowledgeand loresharedamongother
womenwho had bornechildren.They did, however,sharethe
particularperceptionsofconception andpregnancy ofthisperiod,
and thesemusthave lentthemselves to someinterpretations of
especialuse to them:thebeliefthatthechildin thewombdid
notquickenuntilthefourthmonthcouldextendto a refusalto
acknowledgepregnancy or the prospectof bearinga live child
rightthrough thepregnancy.23 For womenwhodid notwantto
be pregnant,thefirstfourorfivemonths ofpregnancy, sometimes
more, could be interpretedin termsofmissingmenstrual periods
whichmightbe resumed,or a swollenbodythatmightfallflat
again,and abortifacients fromherbsor steelfilings, or letting
bloodfromthefootwerespokenof simplyas waysofrestoring
22
PRO, ASSI 45 13/2/14,examinationof Anna Beardall, Sowerby,Yorks., 6
Mar. 1681/2.
23
For thisbeliefamongeighteenth-century Germanwomenand its implications,
see BarbaraDuden, The WomanbeneaththeSkin,trans.ThomasDunlap (Cambridge,
Mass., 1991), 158-61; see also her Disembodying
Women:Perspectives
on Pregnancy
and theUnborn(Cambridge,Mass., 1993).

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98 PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER156

menstruation. Gertrude Law toldtheJPsexamining herthatshe

was 'muchswelledin herbodyby reasonthatforthespace of
eighteenweeksbeforethattimeshe had nothad thebenefitof
natureafterthecustomofwomen',butdeniedthatshehadborne
a child.Isabel Bartonconfessedthat'aboutmidsummer lastas
she was comingfromScarborough market'a manpulledheroff
herhorseand ravishedher,'afterwhichherbodydidgrowbig':
butshewasnever'withquickchild',andthemiscarriage shehad
six monthslater had no shape.24There were manyways of
explaining pregnancy, withoutusingthephrase'withchild'.Anne
Peace of Billingley, searchedby midwiveswhofoundfreshmilk
in herbreasts,criedand toldthemthata monthbefore,as she
was goingto Barnsleymarket,'she coured[crouched]downto
makewaterAndthenand theredid pass fromherbodya thing
like a gristle'.It 'put herto verymuchpain', but whatit was
'she couldnottell'.However,shewas to confessunderexamina-
tionthatit was 'a manchilddeadandstillborn, beingthenabout
thehalfbirth',and thatshe had 'neverfeltthesaid childalive
or stirin her said body'.25Women'sperceptionof conception
and pregnancy couldbe complicated, and opento
contradictory
reinterpretations, both consciousand to suittheir
sub-conscious,
circumstances.

II
SECRET LABOURS
Aftera hiddenpregnancy, themomentof illegitimate birthwas
a pointofconfirmation or revelation bothforneighbours, family
and employers, and forpregnant womenthemselves. The legal
positionmadethisevenmoreso: infanticide wastreated as murder
only ifthelive childwas out
fully of the bodywhen it died.The
lengthoftimeduringwhichpregnancy couldbe presumedto be
uncertain,and the legal as well as socialweightplaced on the
momentof birth, shaped women's perceptionsand self-
representationsof thetimeof labourin someunexpected ways.
Womenrecounting secretbirthswere compelledto erase the
experience oflabourand to retellit in otherways.
24
PRO, ASSI 45 7/1/10A, of Isabel Barton,HuttonBushel,Yorks.,9
examination
Mar. 1663/4.
25
PRO, ASSI 45 5/7/74-5,examinationof Anne Peace, Billingley,Yorks., 7
Mar. 1659/60.

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 SECRET BIRTHS AND INFANTICIDE IN ENGLAND 99

For legitimate motherslabourwas a periodto be plannedfor

and managedin the semi-publicfemaleworldof neighbourly
support.26For illegitimate mothers it was exactlytheopposite:a
timeto hideand afterwards deny.Althoughpreparing forbirth
couldconstitute weighty evidence in favourofthe mother's inno-
cence,only two women in the samplegroup claimed to have
prepared clothes or linenfor their
infants.27None of thesewomen
lay in. One or two spenta noticeableamountof timein their
roomsor in bed, but mostgave birthin secretand, at leastin
theirsubsequentaccounts,quickly.Labour, it seems,was so
identifiedwiththeritualsof legitimate childbirth thatit had to
be erasedfromthestoryof illegitimate birth.This was obvious
in the legal context:a storyof a short,painlessor unexpected
labourwas the safestone fora womanaccusedof killingher
child,as it couldexplainwhyshehad notcalledforhelp.It was
also establishedknowledgethatpoor women,and in particular
the mothersof bastards,bore theirchildrenquicklyand more
easilythanthosefullypreparedfora lying-in: storiesofillegitim-
atebirthsandthemurder ofnew-borns createda cultureinwhich
such labourswere meantto be shamefully easy.28But it also
seemsto have been trueat a neighbourhood level,in the talk
exchanged between suspectedwomen and their neighbours or
households.Even whentheyhad admittedgivingbirth,women
whoseinfants hadbeenfounddeaddidnottalkaboutthelabour.
The labourthatendeda concealedpregnancy wasas unspeakable
as thepregnancy itself.
Whatmightsucha labourstoryhavebeen?Whatlittlesurvives
of earlymodernwomen'sown accountsof childbirth contains
few detaileddescriptions of the actualtimeof labour.29Some
tracesof an oral cultureof women'stalkaboutlabourremain.
26 Wilson,'Ceremonyof Childbirth'.
27 The bestpreparedwas AnnaBeardall,who was also unusualin beingmoreopen
about herpregnancy.She had 'an old shirtwhichwas her formerchild'sa littlepair
of bigginsa littlecoifeor two thatwere too littleforher formerchild and a few
headbandsand fora lappingshe intendedto pull her old coat in pieces for'. PRO,
ASSI 45 13/2/16, informationof Anne Oates, Sowerby,Yorks., 6 Mar. 1682/3.By
theeighteenth century,thepreparation
ofclotheswasa standarddefence:Malcolmson,
'Infanticidein the EighteenthCentury'.
and Gynaecology,
28 Eccles, Obstetrics 86; Tess Cosslett,WomenWriting Childbirth:
ModernDiscourses ofMotherhood(Manchester,1994), ch. 1, discussestheprevalence
of imagesof 'naturalwomen'in childbirth literature.
29 Alice Thornton'saccountsof herlaboursare an exception:TheAutobiography of
Mrs Alice Thornton ofEast Newton,Co. York,ed. CharlesJackson(SurteesSoc., lxii,
Durham, 1875), 141.

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100 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 156

For single women whose pregnancywas known,labour was the

time at which theywere questionedforthe father'sname: mid-
wives deposed that theyhad purposefullymade use of the time
of greatestpain to force out the truthfromlabouringwomen.
The reportedwords of women in labour in this situationrecord
a vivid and frightening commonlanguage of childbirth:prayers
'thatthe child and she mightneverpartif he were not the father
of it', or that'she mightneverbe deliveredthereof'conjuredup
a vision of labour thatcould end only with death.30 For legitim-
ately pregnantwomen, though,labour was not just about pain
but about work. An earlyseventeenth-century London midwife,
defending herself against charges of professionalmisconduct,
complainedthather clienthad been 'so dull and slow in her pains
and so unapt or unwillingto help herselfand to set forwardthe
productionof her child that her child was born very weak and
feeble'.31The honest,hard labour expected here is echoed in the
testimony of Elizabeth Armytage in Liversedge in 1682.
Examined several days afterthe birth,she deposed:
on Thursday lastat nightaboutmidnightwhensheawakedofherfirst
sleepshewasso takenthatshecouldnotstiroffthebed ifit hadbeen
onfireunderherandthatshecalledoutas loudas shecouldbutnobody
cameat herandsayssheboreherchildwithin halfan hourafterbutit
wasdeadanddidneither or moveandat mornthefirst
crybreathe that
cametoherwasyoungLydiaBlezardandshecreptonherhandsandher
kneesto openhera littledoorand desiredherto go to EllenLeachto
desirehertocometoherandspeakwithherandwhenshecameshetold
hershehadhada nightwouldhavekilleda horse.32
This labourfollowedan acknowledged,thoughillegitimate, preg-
nancy: Elizabeth had told two other women of her pregnancy
and prepared clothes for the child, and she said she only gave
birthalone because the child came early. Her relativefreedom
fromthe suspicionattendanton more carefullyconcealed births
seems to have allowed her, both at the time of childbirthand
laterwhen she was examined,to tella storyof labour thatechoed
somethingof the hard pain otherwomen understood.

30 See, for example,GuildhallLibrary,London, MS 9057/1,fo. 111', deposition

of Mary Holland, 12 May 1636; GreaterLondon Record Office,DL/C/230,fo. 93',
depositionof BennettCradell,22 June1626.
31 GreaterLondonRecordOffice,DL/C/194,fo. 83', personalanswersofElizabeth
Besy, 10 May 1631.
32
PRO, ASSI 45 13/2/4, examinationof ElizabethArmytage,
Liversedge,Yorks.,
13 May 1683. One witness,though,suggestedthather servantswould have heard
Elizabeth'scalls if theyhad been awake.

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 SECRET BIRTHS AND INFANTICIDE IN ENGLAND 101

Such storiesseemto have been inaccessibleformostwomen

who had concealedtheirpregnancies. Even thosewhoadmitted
giving birthrarelymentioned labour pains.MaryDotchin,who
wastooweaktocarryherchildhomeaftergivingbirth,neverthe-
less said simplythat'she was deliveredof a womanchildin the
commonfield'.The dayaftershegavebirth,DorothySteelesaid
that'yesterday nightaboutsevenoftheclocksheboretheinfant
nowlyingdeadin thebrewhouse ofhermasterRobertBeckand
thatshe carriedthe said infantto the quaysideand laid her
betwixttwo clogs'. Mary Brownegave birthin her own bed
without, sheasserted,
theknowledge ofthechildwhowassharing
it.33The ultimatedenial,though,was a refusalto admitthata
child had been born: in effect,a literalinterpretationof the
illegitimate mother'sprayer'thatthe childand I mightnever
part'.A weekaftershe seemsto havegivenbirthin May 1666,
IsabelNicholsondeposed'thatshehadborneno childas yet,but
thatshe is withchildby a youngmanunmarried ... and being
demandedwherethechildwas, whichthemidwifeand theten
womendid sayshehad borneheranswerwas,thatsheneverdid
bearany,but thatshe willbe deliveredof one, beforeLammas
nexteitheralive or dead'. She tolda concernedneighbour the
same. She was laterto admitbothto theneighbour and theJP
thatshehadbornea child,sayingthat,afraidtoshamethefather,
she had swornneverto confesshis name,'forshe was sureto
die and enoughto suffer'.34
At thesametimethesewomen,examinedbyJPsor talkingto
theirneighbours, oftenmanagedto tellsomekindofstoryofthe
time and pain of labour,turningit into somethingelse but
retaining shape- as theyhad doneforthesignsof
itsnarrative
pregnancy. Mary Coatesof Beverleyansweredthe enquiriesof
neighbours who knew she was'sicklyandweak'withreassurances
thatshe was 'prettylightsome', althoughtherainhad madeher
legs painful;though one of the womenhad heardher 'bemoan
herselfsore',Marysaid that'she herselfhad had a prettygood
nightbut thatthe said Francesher motherhad had a woeful
night'.They disbelievedher and, eventually, whentheycon-

33 PRO, ASSI 45 9/2/31,

examination
of MaryDotchin,15 July1669;ASSI 8/1/114,
examinationof DorothySteele,Newcastleupon Tyne, 30 Jan. 1666/7;ASSI 9/3/17,
examinationof MaryBrowne,Beverley,Yorks.,6 Mar. 1669/70.
34 PRO, ASSI 45 8/1/79,examinationof Isabel Nicholson, Dalston, Cumb.,
9 May 1666.

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102 PASTANDPRESENT NUMBER156
fronted heragain,Francesfellon herkneesand confessedthat
herdaughterhad givenbirthto a dead child.35 SusannaVales's
tale of havingthe colic and vomiting shapedexactlyto fit
was
theprocessoflabourand birththatherneighbours believedshe
was hiding:thecolic 'tookherand heldher'fromaroundthree
in the afternoon to nine or ten at night,at whichpointshe
vomited'and thenwas betterand so she fellto rest'. This, if
Susannahad reallybeen in labour,neatlyrecastsone familiar
bodilyexperienceto coveranother.36 Still,none of thesetales
reflecttheidea of birthas workthatwas expectedof legitimate
mothers; rather,theyretellconcealedlabouras something else.
The actual eventsof singlewomen'slabourswere entirely
differentfromthewell-prepared ritualsestablishedformarried
women and theircommunities. Most describedgivingbirth
entirelyalone,oftenleavingsharedroomsor housesto givebirth
in secret.JaneMewers,whohad stoppedat Howickon herway
fromserviceto hersister'shouse,'thinking she had notbeenso
nearhertime',wentto bed withhertwobedfellows and in the
sameroomas a manbutgotup withoutdisturbing themduring
thenight;beingin 'sucha distractionsheknewnotwhatshedid'
she gave birthamongthe coals. Her bedfellows knewnothing
untilthenextafternoon." SusanSmithtestified thatshelaywith
hersisterMarythenightthatsheboreherchildandall theweek
after:'Marymade the bed alwaysherselfand did herworkall
thattimeas sheusedto do' andshesuspectednothing. Maryhad
givenbirthwhileSusanwas out of theroom,keptthestillborn
childin the bed all nightand buriedit in the gardenin the
morning.38 Occasionally, womengavebirthin thesameroomor
thesamebed as others,allegedly without theirknowledge. Isabel
Nicholsoneventually to
admitted bearing her childin the same
and
roomas hermaster mistress; gotup she and buried it after
had
hermaster risen, a before
little daybreak.39
Onlyrarelydidthewomenwholodgedwiththeaccusedrecord
35 PRO, ASSI 45 11/2/58-9, of MargaretBreerwoodand examination
information
of MaryCoates,Beverley,Yorks.,7 May 1675.
36 PRO, ASSI 45 9/1/122, examinationof Susanna Vales, Kingston-upon-Hull,
1 July1668.
37 PRO, ASSI 45 8/1/70, examinationsof Jane Richardsonand Jane Mewers,
Howick,Northumb.,6 Dec. 1666.
38 PRO, ASSI 45 10/1/118, of Susan Smithand examinationof
120, information
MarySmith,Hipperholme,Yorks.,22 Feb. 1670/1.
39 PRO, ASSI 45 8/1/79.

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 SECRET BIRTHS AND INFANTICIDE IN ENGLAND 103

any suspicions:it was saferto have knownnothing.Barbary

Howlandfoundherself suspiciousofherfellowservant, butsaid
she did not knowwhy.Althoughshe shareda bed withMary
Green,she 'did notknowthesaid MaryGreento be withchild:
forshe did workand spinwithouttroubleand eat hermeatand
victualsand complainednotof pain or distempers'. After'pre-
tending herhead ached' one evening,Marygave birthwhileher
two bedfellowswere sleepingand decidedto leave the house,
theirmistress beingaway.Barbaryrefusedto lethergo, 'finding
a fearand jealousyuponherselfbutthecausethereof she knew
not', and when theirmistress returnedtheyfound thatMaryhad
thedead childwrappedin a petticoat.40 Barbary'ssuspicions did
not have to meana concealedbirth;she mightalso have been
thinking of theft,the otherobviousexplanationfora servant
wishing leave suddenlywitha strangebundle.But she, and
to
theotherbedfellows whotestified, mightalsohavebeencollabor-
ating, at some level,in a collaborative
projectof denial.If they
hadanysuspicion thattheirbedfellowswerepregnant, theymight
hope,as thepregnant womenmustthemselves have done,that
thebirthwouldneverhappen.
In morepublicbirths,therolethatwitnessesplayedmarked
the starkdifference betweenlegitimate and illegitimatelabour.
Forsinglewomeninlabour,otherwomenfeatured notas support,
butas threats.Midwivesweretherenotjustto givehelpbutto
examinethetruthand to withhold, ifnecessary,theirhelpuntil
the motherconfessedthe father'sname.Some womenor their
familiesor householdswereunwilling to fetchhelp,hopingfor
an uncomplicated and secretbirth.SusannaWatkinmayhave
beenin thisposition.A neighbour heardhercallingfora midwife
'or elseknockmeon thehead',andhermaster, thechild'sfather,
wasreported to haverefusedto sendfor'anotherwomanor two'
afterthechildwas stillborn: 'he wouldnotforhe had a mindto
concealit in thisworldand in thenextlethimandhershiftit'.41
Evenifotherswerethere,theydidnotnecessarily help.Dorothy

40
PRO, ASSI 45 11/1/83,
information of BarbaryHowland,Newcastleupon Tyne,
26 Aug. 1674.
41 PRO, ASSI 45 13/2/100,information of ElizabethLawman, Thorne, Yorks.,
7 July1681. AlthoughSusannasaid no one was present,otherreportsrecordher
masterand a femaleneighbouras havingbeen at the birth,and she mayhave been
shieldingthem;otherbirthsmightalso have been less secretthantheyappearhere.

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104 PASTANDPRESENT NUMBER156
Steelesaidthathermistress was at herlabour,'butdid notat all
helpher in her and
travail, did leavehertobringforth herbirth'.42
Ambivalent and equivocalfigures,mistresseswereas likelyto
threaten as to helppregnant servants.Masters,evenwhenthey
were the fathers,appearto have had farless powerover the
bodiesoftheirservants and thetalkoftheneighbourhood: it was
mistresseswho examinedwomen'sbreasts,confronted them,
mediatedbetweenthemand concernedneighbours or parents,
and choseto revealor concealwhattheyknew.Isabel Sowden,
a Yorkshire servant, refusedto admitherpregnancy to hermis-
tressand,whenshewentintolabour,escapedhermistress's care,
wentto thebackofthehouse,climbedup somescaffolds outof
her reachand gave birththere.43 JaneCowper,who confessed
givingbirthto twinsin Stanley, Yorkshire,in 1682,saidthather
mistress,MargaretMason, was alone withher in her labour,
refusingto let anyoneelse near.She claimedthatMargaretwas
responsible fortheinfants'deaths,andthatafterwards sheforced
herto situp forthenexttwodaysand go to thedoorto show
herselfto the neighbours and stop any questions.Hers is the
mostdetailedaccountofanylabour:
on Sundaymorninglastaboutsevenoftheclockshedidbearandbring
forthtwofemaleinfants by one William
beinga bastardand begotten
Simsonof Woodhall... whenshe lived withhim as a servantand saith
nobodywas withherwhenshe borethembut Margaret Masonwho
helpedherinherlabour,andalthough ofthe
shecriedoutat thebearing
thesaidMargaret
first, wouldletnonecomeat her,butsaidifshecried
outshewouldstabherandwhenthefirst wasbornshethesaidMargaret
withherrighthandandwhenshe
tookit and grippedit by thethroat
was bearingthesecond,she puthersomewaterintoherand thesaid
Margaret laidherlefthandon herthesaidJane'smouthto hinderher
forcryingout, and bid her put down her pain and she says she knows
nothowsheborehersecondchild,butsoonafterit wasbornMargaret
bid hergo to the door and shewherself,but it was so cold she could not
stayandthesaidMargaretmadehersitup all dayon Sundayandall day
on Mondayandsaidtheyshouldnotknowat thenexthouse,andifher
sisterAllencamein shewouldstickher.
MargaretMason's refusalto allow her servanta morepublic,
assistedbirth- something
morelikethebirthsofotherillegitim-
ate mothers - runsrightthrough labourto birthand itsafter-

42
PRO, ASSI 45 8/1/110,examinationof DorothySteele,Newcastleupon Tyne,
4 May 1666. This may,of course,also have been a way of protectingher mistress
fromallegationsof complicity.
43 PRO, ASSI 45 9/2/112, informationof JaneWilson,Monk Frystone,Yorks.,
4 May 1669.

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 SECRET BIRTHS AND INFANTICIDE IN ENGLAND 105

math.At everystage,Jane'sparturition is keptsecret,and it is

thissecrecywhichendangers theinfants'lives.
JaneCowper'sexceptionally detailedaccountis also theonly
one to attributethe allegedmurderto someoneelse. Her story
makesofhermistress an extraordinary almostakinto
villainess,
thoseofthepopularliterature ofmurdering mothers. The child's
father,she said,'did notwishherto makeawayherbairnwhen
he gotit butsaidhe wouldkeepit'- althoughall womenasked
thisquestionansweredthatthefatherhad notencouraged them
to killtheinfant, veryfewsaid he had guaranteed to keepit -
and she added, 'the said MargaretMason had been in Ireland
and said she had put childrenon spearpointsthere'.She had
wantedto makeherpregnancy knowntheweekbeforethebirth,
she said, but Margaretwould not let her, saying'that Mr
Bunneyman got themaidwithchildand gave hermercury and
oil to makeher vomit,but she the said Margarethad a better
medicineforher forshe had steelfilingsin a bottlethatshe
wouldgive her'. To the otherwitnesseswho eventually found
the bodies of the children,Margaretappeared almost as
threatening, cursingthemand Janeand denying,as she did in
her examination,that she knew anythingabout the birth.
Howevertrueit was, whatthisstorywithits stresson herown
passivityand innocencedid forJanewas enableher to tell,as
fewotherwomendid,ofa birththatendedin death."
Most women'sexaminations stickto a narrativemodelthat
suppresses detailsof the birthand deathin the sameway as it
does thoseof pregnancy, thusallowingwomento say thatthey
did notexpectthebirth,did notlookat thechild,did notsee if
it was alive and assumedit was stillborn.Rarelydid mothers
accusedof neonatalinfanticide confessto activelyharming their
children.We mightreadthisas a typicalexampleofthekindof
passivelanguageof violenceused by women.Natalie Zemon
Davis'sanalysisofsixteenth-century Frenchwomen's pardontales
for murderhas stressedthe shortageof wordsand narrative
modelsthatwomenhad forhomicidalviolenceand justifiable
rage.45Therewere,though,modelsforinfanticide. Seventeenth-
century broadsides and dramasdepicted'unnatural mothers'and
44 PRO, ASSI 45 13/2/32, examinationof JaneCowper, Stanley,Yorks., 9 Feb.
1681/2.
45 Natalie Zemon Davis, Fictionin theArchives:Pardon Tales and theirTellersin
France(Oxford,1987), 81-3.
Sixteenth-Century

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106 PASTANDPRESENT NUMBER
156
'bloodymothers'withabandon;but thesemotherskilled,with
graphicviolence,winsometoddlers andyoungchildren, notnew-
borns.46 Sensationalizedmurders involved engagement, at some
level,between victimand murderer; theydepicted a conflictwith
two clearsubjects,even if one was dependentupon the other.
Butneonatalinfanticide involveda quitedifferent understanding
of individuality,subjectivity and dependence.47 It involveda
problematic, blurredboundary between mother and dependent
infant, anditwasunderstood to be a crimenotofviolentactivity
but of passivityor neglect.The languagethatsomedefendants
used reflectedthis.GraceWard,a Yorkshire servant,confessed
that'she did not apprehendherselfin labour,tillthechildfell
fromheras she was standingby herbedside,and . . . she said
she knewnotwhether it had lifein it or not,butthatso soonas
shewasdelivered shelaidituponsomestrawandthrewa coverlet
overit,anddidnotlookafterittillthemorning hermastercalled
herdownto herwork,and thenthechildwas dead'.48This is a
childwhois bornaccidentally andunacknowledged, whosedeath
is theresultsimplyof 'notlookingafterit'.
In a fewcases,the storyof passiveneglectwas notpossible.
Infants'bodieswerediscoveredwiththeirmouthsbound,their
headscovered,and sometimes withwoundson theirthroatsor
chests;one haditstonguecut.Defendants oftendescribedwrap-
pingup or coveringa new-bornchild;theydo notsay whether
thewrapping wasmeanttowarm,shroudorstifle it.Somerefused
to know.FrancesWebster,a servantwho gotup lateone night
fromtheroomwheretwochildren and theirnurseweresleeping
to givebirthin thekitchen, said 'whether thechildwas livingor
dead sheknoweth notbutconfesseth shedidputa pieceofcloth
in the child'smouthand wrappedit up in a piece of woollen
cloth'.49Behindherinsistence on notlookingforthesignsoflife
is an admissionof preventing lifein the commonest way. The
46 For
example,N. Partridgeand J.Sharp,BloodforBlood: or,JusticeExecuted
for
InnocentBlood-Shed(London, 1670, STC P630); MurtherWill Out: or,A Trueand
FaithfulRelationof a HorribleMurtherCommitted ThirtyThree YearsAgo, by an
UnnaturalMother,upontheBodyofherOwn Childabouta Year Old (London, 1675,
STC M3093).
47 Frances E. Dolan, DangerousFamiliars:Representationsof DomesticCrimein
England,1550-1700(Ithaca, 1994), ch. 4.
48 PRO, ASSI 45 9/1/130,examinationof Grace Ward, Kilham,Yorks., 19 Feb.
1667/8.
49 PRO, ASSI 45 10/2/125,examination of FrancesWebster,Kingston-upon-Hull,
21 Dec. 1672.

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 SECRET BIRTHS AND INFANTICIDE IN ENGLAND 107

distinctionsbetweenmiscarriage, stillbirth,neglect,and active

violencewereopen to varyinginterpretations, bothforthelaw
and forthemother.The womenwho hid theirpregnancies and
theirbirthsto theend werepushingtheearlymodernmodelof
foetaldevelopment to its furthest limits:theyrefusedto allow
thefoetusany'quickening'.
Hiding and denyingpregnancyand birth can be partly
explainedbythemedicalmodelofa 'dissociative reaction',when
themotheris mentally unableto acknowledge eitherpregnancy
or birth.5"The womenwho gave birthin priviesand leftthe
new-borns there,likewaste,andthewomenwhospokeofgiving
birthto a 'gristle'or unrecognizable mattereven when their
pregnancies had been carried to, or close to, fullterm,seemto
havebeenunabletoacknowledge pregnancy at anylevel." There
were clearmaterialreasonsforthis.Infantswho died at their
mothers'handsor througha lack of help at the birthdid so
becausetherewas no economicplace fortheirsurvival:it was
materiallyand sociallyimpossiblefor many pregnantsingle
womento imaginethemselves as mothers.Suchscenariosmight
alsoseemtointensify thewaysthatbirthandpregnancy complic-
ate establishedideasofpersonhood and subjectivity.52 Childbirth
involvesthe productionof anothersubject;childbirth in these
circumstances and withtheseresultsmightmeanthe denialof
thatpossibility,andthetranslation oftheinfant subjectintowhat
Kristevahas termedthe'abject',all thatthebodyrejects.53
In the specificcontextof earlymodernmedicaland popular
modelsof thebody,acknowledgement of pregnancy couldbe a
fairlyflexible
business.Mostofthesepregnancies wereconcealed,
but notnecessarily unknown;fewof thesewomenactuallysaid
theywereunawareoftheirpregnancy. To a degreewhichis now
hardto imagine,suspicionsof pregnancy mightnotbe testedor
firmly established.'Denial' is too simplistic: it maybe, rather,
thatthesewomendid nothaveto denypregnancy, becausethey
50 Hoffer and Hull, Murdering Mothers,147; fortheuse of thismodelin a modern
legaldefence,see JulieWheelwright, 'A Momentas Mother',Guardian,13 May 1995,
12, on the CarolineBeale case.
51 For an analysisof such understandings of birth,see Schulte,Villagein Court,
104-5; similarstoriesare discussedin Malcolmson,'Infanticidein the Eighteenth
Century',and the same patternis documentedin cases in the Old Bailey Sessions
Papers(e.g. the case of Ann Traherne,6-8 April1687).
52 JuliaKristeva,'Stabat Mater', in The KristevaReader,ed. Toril Moi (Oxford,

1986); Cosslett,WomenWriting ch. 4.

Childbirth,
53 JuliaKristeva,PowersofHorror,trans.Leon Roudiez (New York, 1981).

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108 PASTANDPRESENT NUMBER156
did nothaveto acknowledge it. Nevertheless,
notknowingwas
notsimple.Pregnantand recently deliveredwomen'sdenialsof
theirconditioninvolvednot so mucha dissociation fromthe
or
child, a refusal
to allowthe infantsa separatelife, a battle
but
betweenacknowledgement and suppression ofthefactsofpreg-
nancy and birth.
What happened aftera secretbirthand death
makesthatstruggle clearer.

III
FINDING THE BODY
Aftera secretbirth,some womenattemptedto continuethe
shapingand rewriting of eventsthathad beenpossiblein preg-
nancy,refusing to admit thata childhad been born.Unborn
childrenwerestillpartofthemother; theywerenot,yet,separate
legalsubjectswhocouldbe injured,andtheycouldstillbe repres-
entedas childrenwaitingto be born,or symptoms of goutor
wind.The refusalto admitthata childhad alreadybeen born
and had died was shaped by the complicatedand negotiable
association betweenmotherand child.
Womenwho kepttheirpregnancies and birthssecret,whose
refusalto knowtheircondition seemsto denytheirfoetusesany
subjectivity oftheirownbeforeor afterbirth,werenonetheless
oftenunableto simplyabandonor concealthe bodiesof their
new-born infants.The lifethathadbeendeniedor loststillmade
a persistent,pressingdemand,perhapsmoreofone thana newly
deliveredwomanhad expected.Disposingof the child'sbody
poseda culturalandemotional problemas wellas a practical one.
Whethertheirdeathswere suspicious not, or the bodies of
dead infants were not in general treatedlike thoseof adults or
olderchildren.Customary burialpracticetreatedstillbornchil-
dren, because they had died without baptism,differently from
adults.Midwiveswereswornsimplyto disposeofinfants' bodies
in suitable'secretplaces',keepingthemfromanimalsand outof
publiclanes.54For womenwho had stillbirths secretly,as well
as, probably, both married and unmarried women who miscar-
ried,burialin a garden,yardor fieldwas theobviousoption,but
it couldbe practicallydifficultand psychologicallyproblematic.

Death,BurialandtheIndividualinEarlyModernEngland(London,
54 ClareGittings,
1984), 83.

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 SECRET BIRTHS AND INFANTICIDE IN ENGLAND 109

Their endeavoursto deal withthe bodiessuggestsomeof the

frustrations posedby established custom.
Rarely did women admit abandoning theirnew-borns.Even
birthsthatwerereferred to as miscarriagesor 'mentions'might
be endedwithsome ceremonyand help. SarahPeele, twenty-
two weekspregnant, 'had a miscarriage of a mentionof a child
not formedas it could be discernedwhetherit was a male or
femalechild.And saiththatit so ill happenedthatnobodybut
herselfwas in the housewhenshe had thismiscarriage, so she
lappedthesaid mentionofa childin a handkerchief and carried
it theday aftershe was delivered... to ... WilliamTennant'.
He was thefatherof thechildand 'tookit fromherlappedas
aforesaid in herhandkerchief andlaiditin hisownclose'."5Even
a birththatshe claimedhad been an unformed 'mention'still
had to be 'lapped' and buriedwithcare.
It was at thispointin thenarratives of secretbirthsthatthe
child'sfather, usuallyabsentor unnamed,mightreappear.Jane
Kendall,likeSarahPeele,tookherstillborn childto itsfatherto
bury,fivehoursafteritsbirth.56 Not all menwerereadyto play
thepartthatwomenwantedin acknowledging and dealingwith
a miscarriage or stillbirth.
AnneJackson, whosechildhad been
bornand died in her husband'sabsence,waitedforhis return
and help: she 'kept the childby heruntilhe came home' two
dayslater,'acquainting himwithit desiringhimto see it'; but,
he wouldnotlook,and answered'thatI mightdo whatI pleased
withit'. She askedhim'whatshe mightdo withit if she might
callin neighbours, and whereshemightburyit,and he gaveher
no answerat all, so thatshe beingdestitute of helpafterburied
itin a garden'."Thosefathers whowerealsomasters hadcreated
conflicting roles and which,
responsibilities almost inevitably,
failed the pregnantservant.AndrewWaterlow,a Yorkshire
yeoman,was readyto admithispaternity and SusannahWatkin-
son remainedin servicewithhimuntilthebirthand afterit. He
wasthecentralfigure inhernarrative oflabour,andsheexpected
helpand eventually marriagefromhim.At herinstruction, the
womanwithherwrappedthenew-bornchildup and put it in
55 PRO, ASSI 45 10/2/114,examinationof Sarah Peele, Northowram,Yorks., 10
Oct. 1672.
56 PRO, ASSI 45 6/1/92,examinationof Margaret Fletcher and Elizabeth
LittleStrickland,
Crackinthorpe, Westmoreland., 18 Mar. 1660/1.
57 PRO, ASSI 45 10/2/89, examinationof Anne Jackson,Yokefleet,Yorks., 8
Mar. 1671/2.

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110 PASTANDPRESENT NUMBER156
hermaster'sbed 'whichwas warmhe beingnewlyrisenout of
thesame'.In herstory,he wascommitted
to herandto thechild:
shetoldhimthatshehadbeendelivered ofa child,whichwasdeadand
thatitwasputintohisbedto tryiftheycouldgetitanylife,whomade
no answerbutweptoverher... aftershewas knownto be withchild
hermasterwaswillingtomarry herandsheverily believes
theyhadbeen
married,but thattherehappenedseveralgreatfloodswhichso much
troubledanddistracted
hermaster in takingcareforhiscornandcattle
thathe couldnotattendit.58
Most women,though,facedtheproblemof whatto do after
thebirthalone.MaryFalkiner'sattempt to buryherchildcame
as theculmination
ofa personalnarrative
inwhichherendeavours
to managepregnancyand parturition had been frustrated
at
everypoint:
Shebeinggreatwithchilddidgotoseveral housesinDarrington aforesaid
anddesiredharbour butwasdenied,andon Fridayafterin theevening
of thatdaydid fallintotravailin MaryWebster's lathe... and was
shortly ofa manchildthesameevening
delivered no personbeingthere
withherpresent ... Andon theSaturday followingthisexaminant saith
thatsheleftthesaidchildin herdame'slatheandwentintoherdame's
housewheresheremained allthatdayandintheevening thereofintended
to takea hackandthechild(whichthisexaminant saithwasstillborn)
and to have carriedthe sameto the outsideof the east partof the
churchyard ofDarrington aforesaid
andintended to havediggeda hole
whereshethisexaminant saithsheshouldhaveburiedhersaidchild.But
shethisexaminant failingin theperformance of herintentionsshethis
examinant brought backhersaid childto theplacewhereit was born
whereshethisexaminant leftthesameuntilWednesday thenextfollowing
Andthenlaidhersaidchildin thebushwhereitwasfound.59
The endeavourto burythe childjust outsidethe churchyard
suggestssomeoftheculturalexpectations surrounding thetreat-
mentofstillbirths: manywomen,andnotjustlegitimately
clearly,
pregnantones, expectedmorethanthe simpledisposalof the
bodythatwas prescribed to midwives.Butburial
in instructions
couldalso be problematic. The behaviourof otherwomensug-
geststhatmorethanpracticalfactorscouldcausethemto failin
theirintentionto burydead infants.
Manymothers, insteadof buryingtheirchild'sbody,keptit
by them, even when theywere up and workingagain. Jane
Lockwoodconfessed thatsheborea stillbornchildaloneand that
58 PRO,ASSI45 13/2/96,
97, 100,examinations LawmanandAndrew
ofElizabeth
Waterlow,Thorne,Yorks.,3, 7 July1682.Waterlow'slandwas on thereclaimed
peatmossofHatfield Chase.
59 PRO, ASSI 45 7/1/73-4, ofMaryFalkiner,
examination Yorks.,1
Darrington,
Oct. 1664.

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 SECRET BIRTHS AND INFANTICIDE IN ENGLAND 111

she leftit on herbed, intending to buryit,butthatherfather's

dogspulledit off:'she was muchto blame',she admitted, 'she
did notacquainthermotherand neighbours therewith', and she
put it backin thebed intending to buryit.60Servantsput their
infantsin theirchestsor boxes,one of the fewpersonalplaces
theyhadin sharedroomswithopendoors.JaneHardy,a widow,
confessed thatshehadgivenbirthto twins,bothdead,and 'kept
themby her,abouta week'sspace' beforeshe laid themin the
earthof her floor."6For thesewomen,the aftermath of secret
birthsmeantan agonizingand irreconcilable tensionbetween
denyingor confessing theirmaternity.
The burialor disposalofa deadchild'sbodyusuallytookplace
secretly;thesearchthatmightfollowwas veryoftena collective
drama.In a way thatthe actualbirthcouldneverbe, it was a
public event,unitingneighbours in a fraughtand frightening
enterprise. Secret
pregnancies, when theywerediscovered, ended
in a dramathatwas the preciseoppositeof, and the substitute
for,the public,acknowledged birthsof legitimatemothers.In
cases like these,midwivesand womenworkednot to help to
separatemotherand childthroughlabour,but to reunitethem
afterthechild'sdeath.
The projectofreuniting motherand child,officially andeven-
tuallythelaw's responsibility,was also a neighbourhood enter-
prise.In Pontefract in 1649,RichardTownend,aged nine,and
RapheColborne,agedseventeen, wentto tellsomeoneaboutthe
deadchildthatRichardhadbeenfrightened byfinding ina bush.
TheyfoundMarthaPopple,aged forty-four, whodeposedlater
thattheboyshadcometo herand 'askedherhowmanychildren
she had To whomshe answeredshe had none,but wishedshe
had one whereupon he repliedhe couldhelpherto one, forhe
had fo[unda] childdead'.62This extraordinary exchange,witha
tone thatcould be eitherbrutaladolescenthumouror simple
puzzledanxiety,soundsalmostlike a set question-and-answer.
It probablywas not,but it does suggestthateven quiteyoung
boysina villagecommunity mayhavehadestablished andfamiliar
responses to thediscovery ofa disowned child:
first,theysought
60 PRO, ASSI 45 9/3/45, examinationof JaneLockwood,Cumberworth, Yorks.,6
Feb. 1670/1.
61 PRO, ASSI 45 7/1/102, examinationof JaneHardy, Layerthorpe,Yorks., 13
Feb. 1663/4.
62 PRO, ASSI 45 3/2/184, informationof MarthaPopple, Pontefract,
Yorks., 14
Jan. 1649/50;it is not clearwhichboy is speakinghere.

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112 PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER156

to finda motherforit. Whatthisboywantsis also confused.He

needsto finda motherwhowantsthisdead child- 'I can help
you to one', he says to the womanpast childbearingage who
wishesshe had had a child- and also to solvethecrimecaused
bya motherwhodid notwantit.
In similarways,in manyofthesestoriespatterned, formulaic,
but weighted,verbalconfrontations providethe climaxto the
search.GraceChildreported herencounter withJaneLockwood:
sheis certainthatthesaidJanewas verylatelywithchildbothby her
seeingherandbyhandling herandsaiththaton Fridaylastsheseeing
hersmallerthanshe was thedaybeforesaidthesewordsto her(viz.)
butartnottodaywhathastthoudone
Jane,thouwaswithchildyesterday
withit?63

Jane'denieditwithcursing'andthreats, andthesearchproceeded
to finda childin thechaffin herbed. JaneCowper,whoblamed
the deathof her childso clearlyon hermistress, respondedin
thesamewaywhena neighbour toldherthatshe had heardshe
had had a child:'thenJanebeganto curseand swearand said
theywereall lyingwhoresandthievesthatsaidso'. The midwife
declaredthatshe had not daredto comein untilotherwomen
werethere,fearingforherlife,butonce there,she tookcentre
stagein thesearch:'Look aboutyoudearwomenfortherehath
a childbeen latelybornhere'.6 WhenMaryButler'schildwas
foundin herbed straw,ElizabethThorntontookit 'and laid it
by its motheron a table and said Mary thisis yourchild'.65
Prosaicbutdramatic, theverbalconfrontation was theonlyway
of conveying theshockofthesearch.
Beneaththesestarkexchangesruns a currentof emotional
anticipation:sometimes, of a reactionfromthe searchers(one
swoons;anothergivesa cry);moresignificantly, of thereaction
of the mother.The searchers, in theirstories,bothconfronted
and comforted the suspectedmother,lookingforevidenceof
feelingthatcould be used foror againsther. Their approach
revealsthe ambivalenceand the anxietiesthatdrovethose-
sometimes thesame- womenwho searchedforsignsof preg-
nancy. Like theauthorsof thepopularliterature of infanticide,
63
of Grace Child, Cumberworth,
PRO, ASSI 45 9/3/48,information Yorks., 6
Feb. 1670/1.
64 PRO, ASSI 45 13/2/28, of Anne Walker, Wakefield,Yorks., 9
information
Feb. 1682/3.
65 PRO, ASSI 45 11/3/53,
informationof Sarah Garner,Bradford,Yorks.,30 July
1676.

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 SECRET BIRTHS AND INFANTICIDE IN ENGLAND 113

but in quite different

circumstances,theywereconcernedwith
thequestionofguiltand theportrayal ofpathos.Somewitnesses
spoke of an unnaturalstoicism:whenneighbours foundMary
Appleby'sdead childin a water-hole,itsmouthtiedand itshead
covered,Mary'neverconcernedherselfbut acknowledged it to
be herchild'.6 Othersfoundin thewordsof theguiltymothers
an emotionally satisfying
accompaniment to thesearch.As retold
by thesearchers, themother'swordsdwellon thechild,notas
dead bodyor abandonedwastematter,but as lostinfant.They
echogrief,traumaand thepowerofthemother-child bond.The
narrativesof loss and reunionthatthe searcherstoldwereone
wayofcomingto termswiththeevents,offinding a wayto talk
aboutinfanticide. Theirlanguagemayrecordboththeconven-
tional,oftenformulaic, termsin whichmothersexpressedtheir
and
distress, the words withwhichsearchers forceda confronta-
tionand triedto makesenseof infanticidethrough themother's
mourning. Ann Portertoldof thediscoveryof theinfanticideof
Isabel Nicholsonin 1666. Challengedby Annand hermistress,
Isabelhad deniedbearinga child,sayingshe 'was withchildand
had ten weeks to go'. Confronted by the 'marksand tokens'
Annhad foundin herbed, 'at lastthemaiddid confessit, and
saidthatshewouldbringforththechild,providedshemightbe
cared for,whichthisinformant [Ann]did promiseshouldbe
performed'. The searchthatfollowswas describedin detail:
Isabel Nicholsonwent out of the house and this informerand Mabel
Munckhouseaccompaniedherdownthefieldto a littlebog and thereshe
soughtit, Mabel Munckhouseputtingdown her fingerin the bog cried
out thatshe felta frogbut Isabel repliedthatit was herbonnybabbyand
she took it by the arm washed [it] lapped it in a cloth,carriedit to her
mistress'shouse,and laid it on the table. And beingdesiredby themto
declare who was the father,she replied that she had sworn never to
confessit, forshe was sure to die and enoughto suffer.67
This is nota narrative of criminal impassivity, butof traumatic
maternity. It allowsIsabelto reclaim thematernity shehasdenied
through recognition and nurture.It is nota three-day-old
corpse
thatthe womenrecoverfromthe bog, but 'her bonnybabby';
the washingand lappingenablesa further recuperationof the
infantas baby, not corpse,or even frog.The storyrewrites

66 PRO, ASSI 45 11/2/3,

information
of HenryJackson,Newcastleupon Tyne, 3
Sept. 1675.
67 PRO, ASSI 45 8/1/81,information of Ann Porter, Hawkesdale, Cumb.,
13 May 1666.

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114 PASTANDPRESENT NUMBER
156
infanticideas a talewithan endingthatis meant,at somelevel,
to resolve:motherand childare reunited.
The sensationalliterature of the seventeenth literature
pre-
sentedmotherswho committed infanticideas murdering mon-
sters,'unnatural mothers','nature'scruelstep-dames'.68 Lacking
thevirtuous maternal theymurder
instinct, theirinfantsinbloody
fashionandwithgruesome detail;thereis no doubtoftheirguilt.
Butthosewhotoldofrealinfanticides refusedthemostdramatic
modelof guiltand criminality, as indeeddid thecourts.Either
becausetheywerepredisposedto be lenienttowardswomenin
thisparticular crimewithits problemsof evidenceor because
theywereunhappywiththestructure ofthe 1624statutewhich
inferredguiltfromtheconcealment ofa child'sdeath,bythelate
seventeenth centuryjudgeswere increasingly unlikelyto hang
womenforthemurderof theirnew-borns.69The focusof wit-
nessesandneighbours, however, wasnoton questions ofevidence
andguilt,buton thebondbetweenmotherand child,whichwas
manifestlyproblematic in any case whereinfanticide was sus-
pected. Witnesses and neighbours attempted, in both linguistic
and practicalways,to reunitechildwithmother;at the same
time,theywereoftendirectly concernedto eraseanyimageof
themotheras murderess. Theypresented herinsteadas confused
and anxious,heartbroken andmanipulated byherfearofnaming
thefather.

In a culturewherethe recognition of pregnancy was, to some

degree,negotiable,thedesireor readinessto be pregnantcould
be whatmadethedifference betweenpubliclyrecognizedpreg-
nanciesandsecretones,betweena pregnancy supportedbyfemale
reproductiveritualsor characterized
by fear,concealment and
confrontation.
Yet thesetwomentaland socialexperiences may
not have been so farapart.The bodiesof singlewomenwere
opento publicinvestigation
and challengein a waythatmarried
womendid not expect;but weretheirmentalworldsalwaysso
68 Typical titlesincludeA PitilesseMother:That Most Unnaturally
at One Time,
MurtheredTwo of her Owne Childrenat Acton(London, 1616, STC 24757), and
NaturesCruellStep-Dames:or,Matchlesse MonstersoftheFemaleSex (London, 1637,
STC 12012).
69 Walker,'Gender,Crimeand Social Order', 141.

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 SECRET BIRTHS AND INFANTICIDE IN ENGLAND 115

absolutelydifferent? Fear,unreadiness to know,and a troubled

understanding of the relationship betweenmotherand infant
mighthavebeenpartofmanylegitimate mothers'experience
of
pregnancy as well.It is in thislightthatthedramaofinfanticide
makesmostsense.The discovery of themurderof a new-born
childwasa collective traumawhichcommunities, andparticularly
womenin communities, had to workto deal with:thisinvolved
tellingstories,givingwarnings, and imaginingthe emotionsof
maternalcommitment and remorse.In theseways,theworldof
secretpregnancy mightilluminate thelessreadilyacknowledged
storiesof all mothers.

University
ofHertfordshire Laura Gowing

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