The Sad Story of Lucy Emms

I think that this is a sad story and certainly reflected the mores of Victorian times: I was only told part of it but I can now, thanks to Louise, fill in some of the gaps: I have to give a wry smile at some of 'life's little coincidences'.

I was always told that my grandfather, Albert Edward Powell Emms was a bastard ie his mother was a single unmarried woman and that he was brought up by an 'aunt' who was a school teacher in Lincoln/Norfolk. This was an enormous slur and would be carried throughout the life of any bastard child. I have no idea whether or not any of my cousins, aunts or uncles even knew this. It was simply something which would never be talked about. The only reason that I knew was because I simply never stopped asking questions as a child and wouldn't give up until I was satisfied I had been given the complete answer!!! I think most adults gave in – it was a lot easier.

Before I tell you about Lucy, you must understand about the attitude to young women who conceived children out of wedlock in Victorian England in the late 1870's and in particular about the perils of baby farming. You may not know that such a thing existed unless you happened to have read books by Elizabeth Gaskell ( Ruth) or Lady Wood's Sorrow of the Sea and the like.

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Unmarried mothers and their infants were considered an affront to morality and they were spurned and ostracised often by public relief as as well charitable institutions. Children conceived in sin were considered to have inherited their parents' lack of moral character and would contaminate the minds and morals of legitimate children. Family and friends could not be relied upon to offer comfort and aid. If a young woman became pregnant while still living at home, she was usually forced to leave in disgrace and move to an area where she was not known. She was scorned by family, friends and employer alike. Often after the birth of the child she was forced to farm it out in order to gain some employment to earn a living. There were of course few employment opportunities.

Childbirth brought fear of starvation for the mother and her child, alienation from family and friends, censure from society, relief agencies and employers. In desolation and shame, young unmarried mothers placed their infants in workhouses where their survival was questionable, committed infanticide or turned to baby farmers who specialised in the premeditated and systematic murder of illegitimate infants.

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Illegitimacy had always been stigmatised in English Society. Since the 17^th and 18^th centuries the negative attitude towards bastards was evident in legislation which denied them assistance from the poor rates. Justices were merely to see that the parents supported their child, not to enforce morality. Rates being administered in a more benevolent manner than intended, plus a rise in illegitimacy and an increased number of forced marriages all collided with the Evangelical and Utilitarian philosophies of Victorian England, in 1834 the Poor Laws were reformed. Poverty and illegitimacy were moral issues which were needed to be remedied and the new Poor Law was designed to restore virtue and stimulate thrifty, industrious workers. The Bastardy Clause absolved the putative (reputed) father of any responsibility for his bastard child and socially and economically victimised the mother in an effort to restore female morality. In fact all illegitimate children were to be the sole responsibility of their mothers until they were 16 years old. Its enactment fomented the growth of a modern and murderous form of an old institution - baby farming - which preyed on the infants of these humiliated and isolated mothers. Despite the tremendous toll it took on the lives of innocent children, the Victorians' fear of government intervention into social reform and the Victorian ideal of the inviolability of the family prevented its reform until the end of the 19^th century.

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Here are some examples of baby farming cases which were discovered and ultimately prosecuted.

• The Case of Mrs Winsor

On February 15^th 1865 the body of Mary Jane Harris' four month old son was found wrapped up in a copy of the Western Times beside a road in Torquay. Miss Harris had farmed out the child to Mrs Winsor for 3s a week and at first resisted Mrs Winsor's offer to dispose of the child. When the burden of its support became too much she stood by and watched Charlotte Winsor smother her son and wrap his naked body in an old newspaper. The body was later dumped on the roadside.

Testimony revealed that Mrs Winsor conducted a steady trade of boarding illegitimate infants for a few shillings a week or putting them away for a set fee of £3-£5.

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On 31^st January 1868 the Pall Mall Gazette exposed another adopter, Mrs Jagger of Tottenham. Her ads for childcare and confinement were usually placed in the Daily Telegraph. She was reported to have had from 40-60 infants in her care in the previous three years, the majority of whom had died of starvation.

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In July 1870 the Brixton horrors perpetrated by Mrs Waters filled the newspapers. In a matter of a few weeks she had drugged and starved approximately 16 infants to death, wrapped their emaciated bodies in old rags and newspapers and dumped them on deserted streets. Nine infants in precarious condition were removed from her home and taken to Lambeth Workhouse; the majority died from thrush and fluid on the brain shortly afterwards.

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The above Brixton horror and the story of Mrs Harnett in Greenwich who, for a fee, took a newborn baby from the lying-in house of Mr Stevens and fed it watered down sour milk, arrowroot and cornflour until it succumbed to starvation 18 days later, led to the formation of the Infant Life Protection Society. The efforts of the members of this Society resulted in the Infant Life Protection Bill 1871 being drawn up. The Bill called for the registration and supervision of nurses who cared for children on a daily basis. The Bill had numerous adversaries including members of the suffrage movement. A Commission was therefore established in 1871 to investigate baby farming. (Nothing changes, we have a problem, lets form a committee then we don't have to do anything!)

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Sergeant Relf who had investigated the Brixton case revealed the facts in another case of Mary Hall a lying-in house owner. Neighbours reported a steady stream of young pregnant women entering the home but infants were never heard crying or seen leaving the premises. Those infants that lived long enough were farmed out, those that did not were buried in the backyard or dumped on a street. Neighbours reported seeing Mr Hall feeding small bloody lumps (believed to be aborted foetuses) to his cats. When Mrs Hall was finally arrested, she had £800 in her possession; evidence of just how lucrative her business was.

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Due to the public feelings aroused by this case, the Commission's proposals for reform were incorporated into the Act in 1872 and the registration of all births and deaths, compulsory registration and supervision of lying-in houses and baby farms were included in the legislation. (Gosh, a committee that achieved! Er well....)

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Problem solved you think – no way. The 1872 Act was a dismal failure. Why? The authority responsible for implementing the Act was the Metropolitan Board of Works, they oversaw the widening of streets and the maintenance of sewers!!

In 1873 the Metropolitan Board informed the Home Secretary that there was rampant evasion of the Act but he refused to take any action. The Board appointed Samuel Babey (somewhat ironical) as inspector of nurse children in 1878. (Only 5 years later, hey what's the hurry?) He found 284 illegitimate children in unregistered homes in 1878, 324 in 1879 and 339 in 1880. Baby farming was alive and well and doing business as usual. A fact made abundantly clear in 1896 in the case of Mrs Dyer of Reading. She had been in and out of mental institutions for several years and had deep emotional problems yet she had no problem procuring infants to care for. She was apprehended when she was caught throwing the bodies of babies she had strangled into the Thames.

The facts of this case eventually led to the amendment of the Infant Protection Act in 1897. The new Act empowered local authorities to actively seek out baby farms and lying-in houses, to enter homes suspected of abusing children and to remove those children to a place of safety. It also redefined the improper care of infants.

All in all I think that you will agree that 1880 was not a good time to be an unmarried mother or a good time to be born a bastard.

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