1. Mary Toft, spelled Tofts, was an English woman from Godalming, Surrey, who in 1726 became the subject of considerable controversy when she tricked doctors into believing that she had given birth to rabbits.
22 Facts About Mary Toft
1. 2.
In 1726, Toft became pregnant, but following her reported fascination with the sighting of a rabbit, she miscarried.
3.
Mary Toft's neighbour was called and watched as she produced several animal parts.
4.
Ann Mary Toft sent the flesh to John Howard, a Guildford-based man-midwife of thirty years' experience.
5.
Ann Toft showed him more pieces of the previous night's exertions, but on examining Mary, he found nothing.
6.
When Mary Toft again went into labour, appearing to give birth to several more animal parts, Howard returned to continue his investigations.
7.
Mary Toft examined the samples Howard had collected and returned to London, ostensibly a believer.
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John Howard 8.
Howard had Mary Toft moved to Guildford, where he offered to deliver rabbits in the presence of anyone who doubted her story.
9.
Mary Toft delivered several portions of what was presumed to be a placenta but she was by then quite ill, and suffering from a constant pain in the right side of her abdomen.
10.
Mary Toft was accompanied by Richard Manningham, a well-known obstetrician who was knighted in 1721, and the second son of Thomas Manningham, Bishop of Chichester.
11.
Mary Toft examined Toft and found the right side of her abdomen slightly enlarged.
12.
Mary Toft was a proponent of maternal impression, a widely held belief that conception and pregnancy could be influenced by what the mother dreamt, or saw, and warned pregnant women that over-familiarity with household pets could cause their children to resemble those pets.
13.
Under constant supervision, Mary Toft went into labour several times, to no avail.
14.
Manningham examined Mary Toft and thought something remained in the cavity of her uterus, and so he successfully persuaded Clarges to allow her to remain at the bagnio.
15.
Douglas, who had by then visited Mary Toft, questioned her on three or four occasions, each time for several hours.
16.
Mary Toft claimed that a travelling woman told her how to insert the rabbits into her body, and how such a scheme would ensure that she would "never want as long as I liv'd".
17.
Margaret Mary Toft had remained staunch, and refused to comment further.
18.
Mary Toft returned to Surrey and continued his practice, and died in 1755.
19.
The Toft family made no profit from the affair, and Mary Toft returned to Surrey.
20.
Mary Toft briefly reappeared in 1740 when she was imprisoned for receiving stolen goods.
21.
Mary Toft died in 1763, and her obituary ran in London newspapers alongside those of aristocrats.
22.
Mary Toft is portrayed sympathetically as a desperate woman dealing with hardship.