A bunny thing happened in Godalming.

The story of Mary Toft and her supposedly giving birth to rabbits aroused the interest of King George I, who sent Sir Richard Manningham to Godalming to investigate. Here are extracts from newspapers of the day as well as after Mary's death. She was also mentioned in two nineteenth century books.

She spent a short time in London's Bridewell, which served as both a prison and a hospital, but was never prosecuted.

• The 1720s
• Three contemporary publications, by some of those involved
• Later Newspaper Articles.
• Mentioned in Nineteenth Century Books.
• So who were the Tofts mentioned?

Text in articles as published.

The 1720s.

Caledonian Mercury, 22 November 1726.

From Guildford comes a strange, but wel attested piece of News. That a poor woman who lives at Godalming, near that Town who has a Husband and two Children now living with her was, about a Month past delivered by Mr. John Howard, an eminent Surgeon and Man-Midwife living at Guildford, of a creature resembling a Rabbit ; but whose Heart and Lungs grew without a Belly. About 14 Days since she was delivered by the same Person of a perfect Rabbit ; and in a few Days after, of 4 more ; and on Friday, Saturday and Sunday the 4th, 5th and 6th, Instant of one each Day ; in all nine. They died all in bringing into the World. Mr. Howard keeps them all in Spirits ; and we hear he intends to present them to the Royal Society. The Woman hath made Oath, That 2 Months ago, being working in a Field with other Women, they put up a Rabbit who running from them, they Pursued it but to no Purpose : This created in her such Longing to — that she (being with Child) was taken ill, and miscarried ; and from that Time she hath not been able to avoid thinking of Rabbits.

Ipswich Journal, 10 December 1726, p.2.

From Stanley's Newsletter, December 13 [date as recorded in original text].

The Rabbit Affair is become the Subject of so much conversation, that for want of better News it perhaps may not be inacceptable to give you some Account of the Depositions taken by the Right Hon. The Lord Onslow, formerly mentioned, which are now printed.

Edward Coston, of Godalmin deposed, That about a Month ago Joshua Toft, Husband to Mary Toft the Imposter, bought of him two Rabbits of a Month old at twice viz. One Day after the other, at Three-pence each. Richard Stedman deposed, That the said Joshua Toft bought two young Rabbits of him, and desired nobody might know it. And John Sweetapple a Quaker Solemnly Affirmeth, That the said Toft bought three Rabbits of him, two after his wife had gone to Guildford, whether he said he was going to carry them. Mary Paytoe of Godalming deposed also, That the aforesaid Toft bought of her about five Weeks ago two Rabbits, and at several Times in about ten Days after 7 or 8 more.

Sir Richard Manningham who was ordered by his Majesty to attend the aforementioned Impostor, has published a Diary concerning her, wherein he says she began her Confession of the Fraud the 7th Instant in the Morning, in Presence of the Duke of Montague, Lord Baltimore, Dr. Douglass, and himself, and that the Doctor took it down in Writing.
See below (third image).

Ipswich Journal, 10 December 1726, p.3.

Mary Toft, the Rabbit Woman from Godalmin, is ordered to be prosecuted upon the Statute of Edward III. For being a vile Cheat and Impostor. There is a very great Resort of all manner of People to see her in Tot-hill-fields Bridewell.

Ipswich Journal, 24 December 1726.

Mary Toft, the pretended Rabbet-breeder from Surrey, is very ill in Tothill-Fields Bridewell. Some attempts have been made by her Confederates to remove her out of Custody by their endeavouring to bring an Habeas Corpus.

Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal, 24 December 1726

From the Whitehall Even. Post, Dec. 20.

A Prosecution is ordered to be carried on in the Court of King's Bench, next Hilary Term, against Mary Toft of Godalmin, for an infamous Cheat and Imposture in pretending to have brought forth 17 præter-natural Rabbits. She is still detained a Prisoner in Bridewell, where none but the Keeper's Wife is permitted to go into the Room to deliver anything to her ; the infinite Crowds of People that resort to see her, not being suffered to approach her too near, and more especially her Husband, who is strictly search'd when he comes to the prison.

Ipswich Journal, 7 January 1727.

Mr. Howard, the Surgeon, of Guildford, appear'd before the bench of Justices last Saturday at Westminster Sessions, and was oblig'd to enter a fresh Recognizance of 800 l. to appear and answer to a Charge of his being concerned in the Cheat and Conspiracy of Mary Toft, the Rabbit Woman ; a Constable having made an Affidavit of an odd sort of Conversation he heard pass between the said Mr. Howard and Mary Toft, thro' a Partition at the Bagnio in Leicester-Fields.
[Manningham stated that this was where she first lodged when she arrived in London]

Norwich Mercury, 14 January 1727.

Mr. Lacy, Master of the Bagnio in Leicester-Fields, has brought and Action against a noted Surgeon for 75 l. for his Expences in entertaining Mary Toft, the Guildford Rabbet-Woman.

Ipswich Journal 8 April 1727}
Caledonian Mercury 18 April, 1727 }

Mary Toft the Godalmin Rabbit Woman, was last Saturday discharg'd from her Recognizance at the Quarter Sessions, Westminster, there being no Prosecution.

Three contemporary publications, by some of those involved:

"A short narrative of an extraordinary delivery of rabbets, perform'd by Mr. John Howard surgeon at Guilford."
Published by Mr. St. André surgeon and anatomist to His Majesty.
To read them, click on the images below.

REMARKS ON ..., Thomas Braithwaite, Surgeon. Date: 1726 One rabbit was found to be four months old!

The Second Edition (this contains illustrations). Date: MDCCXXVII. [1727] St. André, Nathanael, 1680-1776. "... the other thirteen Animals were, in every Particular, like well formed, common, natural Rabbets, from the size of Two Months growth to four."

This third account is
the Diary kept by Sir Richard Manningham and contained Mary Toft's confession of the Fraud.



Sir Richard Manningham's Diary, published December 1726.
He suspected fraud.

Later Newspaper Articles.

Caledonian Mercury, 5 August 1736.

We hear from Surrey, that a few days ago Mary Tofts, the famous Rabbit-Woman of Godalmin, going cross a Warren, her foot slipt into a Rabbit-burrow, and she broke her Leg in a miserable Manner.

Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal, 26 January 1763.

Last week died at Godalmin in Surry, Mary Toft, formerly noted for an Imposition of breeding Rabits [sic].

Magnet (London), 1 May 1837

MARY TOFTS, THE RABBIT BREEDER.

"Towards the close of the year 1726, one of the most extraordinary and impudent imposures on record was carried into execution by a woman named Mary Tofts, the wife of a poor journeyman cloth-worker, at Godalming, in Surrey. She is described as being of "a healthy strong constitution, small size, fair complexion, a very stupid and sullen temper, and unable to write or read." Stupid as she was supposed to be, she had, however, art enough to keep up the considerable time to credit of her fraud. She pretended to bring forth rabbits. So well did she manage, and so ready are some people to be deceived, that she actually deluded her medical attendant, Mr. Howard, a man of probity, who had practised for thirty years. There can be no doubt in his belief that, in the course of about a month, he had aided her to bring forth nearly twenty rabbits. The news of these marvellous births spread far and wide, and soon found numerous believers. It attracted the attention of even George the First, who sent down to Godalming his house surgeon, Mr. Halers, to inquire into the fact. Halers went back to London fully convinced that he had obtained ocular and tangible proof of the truth of the story ; so much so, indeed, that he promised to procure for Mary a pension. Mr. St. Andre, the king's surgeon and anatomist, was dispatched in the course of a day or two, to make a further examination. He also returned to the metropolis a firm believer. The rabbits, which he and Ahler carried with them, as testimonies, had the honour of being dissected before his majesty. An elaborate report of all the circumstances relative to their production and dissection, and of his visit to Godalming, was published by St. Andre, and the public mind consequently began to be agitated in an extraordinary manner. The rent of rabbit warrens it is affirmed, suak [sic] to nothing, as no one would presume to eat a rabbit. The miraculous Mary Tofts was now brought to town, where she could be more closely watched than at Godalming, and prevented from obtaining the means of carrying on her imposture. Among those who took part on this occasion, the most conspicuous was Sir Richard Manningham, an eminent physician and Fellow of the Royal Society ; and he had at length the satisfaction of detecting her. She held out, however, till her courage was shaken by a threat to perform a dangerous operation upon her, which threat was backed by another from a magistrate, that she should be sent to prison. She then confessed, that the fraud had been suggested to her by a woman, who told her, that she could put her into a way of getting a good livelihood, without being obliged to work for it as formerly, and promised to continually supply her with rabbits, for which she was to receive part of the gain. The farce terminated by the Godalming miracle-monger being committed to Tothill Fields' Bridewell."—Sketches of Imposture, &c.

Reading Mercury, 24 February 1843.

GODALMING CELEBRITIES.—Godalming hundred has its first notable in the name of Manning, who began the great county history which Bray so ably completed ; he died at the age of eighty, in 1801. Godalming town is well known to be mainly a long red street, once all alive with Mr. Moon's post horses ; but the railway has changed all of this: its chief celebrities now, besides dulness, are confined to what may be found in the large imposing church, the market-place, and the memory of Mary Toft's wonderful rabbit breeding. This was a sly woman of Godalming who gained a great deal of money in 1726, by pretending to be delivered of live rabbits ; Whiston believed it; Hogarth painted it; and the accoucheurs of those wise days were duped.—The Book Fancier ; or, the Romance of Book Collecting. By Percy Fitzgerald.

Morning Herald, London, 10 June 1844.

A complete collection of all the tracts, printed and in M.S., concerning Mary Toft, the celebrated rabbit-woman of Godalming, in Surrey, collected by Mr. George Stevens, with the addition of an original letter from Mr. Howard, the Surgeon to the Duke of Roxburghe, then Secretary of State, detailing the whole circumstances : one of the most extraordinary cases of credulity on the part of some of the medical profession, and of unnatural art and treachery in Mary Toft, ever heard or read of. It sold for 30l. 15s. At the Roxburghe Sale.

Oxfordshire Weekly News, 3 May 1876.

REMARKABLE IMPOSTURES.

[part extract only]
Mary Toft herself was brought to London, and was examined by Sir Hans Sloane, Sir R. Manningham, Sir Thomas Clarges, Mr. St. Andre, and other practitioners. Sir R. Manningham, fellow of the Royal Society and of the College of Physicians, and Mr. St. Andre, anatomist to the court, both publicly declared their belief in the phenomenon. The opinion of two such eminent men induced others to believe, and so great was the public horror of rabbits that the rents of warrens sank to nothing ; no one would eat a rabbit on any account.

Mary Toft was driven at last to confess the imposture, and the eminent practitioners found to their deep chagrin that they had been taken in by a clumsy piece of jugglery. Sir R. Manningham and Mr. St. Andre never held up their heads afterwards. The latter continued to hold the appointment of anatomist to the royal household ; but his advice was never again asked for and he refused to draw the salary. For the rest of his life he could not bear the site of a rabbit.

Mary Toft, while being exhibited as a phenomenon, received considerable sums of money, and in order to perpetuate her fame, had her portrait painted by Languerre. On the discovery of her imposture, she returned to Godalming, and, falling into felonious ways, was committed to Guildford jail for receiving stolen goods. She died in January, 1763. ...

Kilburn Times, 7 October 1887.

ECCENTRICITIES OF BOOK BINDING.

... The Duke of Roxburghe's library contains a collection of pamphlets relating to Mary Tofts (who pretended to be confined of rabbits), of Godalming, Surrey, bound in rabbit skin. ...-Idem.
[Note: an 1837 report of the sale said it was of rabbit skin, with gilt leaves.]

Mentioned in Nineteenth Century Books.

"A history of the county of Surrey : comprising every object of topographical, geological, or historical interest."
Allen, Thomas (1831). Published London : Hinton : Holdsworth & Ball.

Page 69
Godalming is remarkable as having been, in 1726, the scene of one of the grossest impostures ever practised on human credulity, which the celebrated Whiston regarded as the accomplishment of a prophecy, and which at the time occasioned considerable discussion. The principal actor in this farce was Mary Toft, a poor illiterate woman of this town, who pretended to be delivered of live rabbits, and managed matters with such dexterity, as to make even medical men her dupes. The press teemed with pamphlets on this phenomenon, an account of which was given to the world by Mr. St André, anatomist of the royal household, and in high credit as a surgeon, who even promised to gratify the public with the anatomy of these "preternatural" rabbits, and their figures, taken from the life. This ridiculous affair furnished Hogarth with the subject of one of his satirical prints, inscribed : Cunicularii, or the wise men of Godliman in consultation ; in which two of the principal figures are Mr. André, and Mr. John Howard, surgeon of Guildford, by whom the rabbits were ushered into the world. It was not long, as may easily be imagined, before the artifice of the pretended rabbit breeder was detected.

"A topographical history of Surrey"
Brayley, E. W. and Britton, John. This edition 1878. Published London, J. S. Virtue & Co. Limited.

Page 286
In 1726 Godalming became the scene of one of the most impudent impositions ever practised on credulity. In November that year, Mr. Howard, a surgeon and accoucheur of Guildford, circulated an account of his having delivered a woman of " Godlyman," named Mary Toft, of a number of young rabbits. Ridiculous as the story was, many people were found weak enough to give credit to it. Nathaniel St. André, a surgeon of London, and anatomist to the royal household, became the dupe, or the confederate, of Howard in the propagation of this tale of wonder, and published "A short Narrative of an extraordinary delivery of Rabbits, performed by Mr. John Howard," London, 1726, 8vo; and in this tract he promised to give a description of the anatomy of these " præternatural rabbits," with their figures, taken from the life. The affair gave rise to numerous tracts and other publications, and it became a subject for caricaturists to exercise their talents upon. Hogarth designed and engraved a print, published under the title of " Cunicularii ; or the Wise Men of Godliman in Consultation," in which he introduced portraits of.

Page 287
St. André, Howard, Sir Richard Manningham (an eminent metropolitan accoucheur, who, though at first deceived, was very soon suspicious of the fraud), and others of the faculty. Mary Toft survived her pretended accouchement many years. In 1740 she was committed to Guildford gaol for receiving stolen goods, and she died at Godalming in 1763.

In a different version of the book, said to have been published the same year, is the following addition on p.212:
St. Andre endeavoured to suport the imposture as long as possible ; and having removed the woman to London, he had the folly and impudence to invite Sir Hans Sloane to attend, and see her delivered. Here the wretched jade, having no longer the means of carrying on the imposition, (which had been supplied by another artful female, who had attended her whilst in her native town) was compelled to acknowledge the deception ; and was, in consequence, committed to Tothill-fields Bridewell.

So who were the Tofts mentioned?

Mary Toft (nee Denyer) lived in Godalming with her husband Joshua, who was said to be a poor Journey-man clothier. He was "the son of Joshua tofte & Ann his wife" and was baptised at the parish church on 28 September 1692. Ann Toft was said to have been a midwife.

Several reports state Mary and Joshua had three children before this story broke in 1726, though at present only two have been found in the parish registers. Mary told Sir Richard Manningham that she had miscarried another child not long before these events took place, although that would not have been recorded in the church register. The couple subsequently had two more children.

Mary's family would have had to provide food whilst she was in Bridewell, but no rabbits would have been allowed inside. Several members of the Toft family can be found in Godalming's church records, including:

• Margarett Tofte, bap 22 May 1699 to Joshua/Ann, sister in law of Mary (mentioned in some sources).
  
  
• Burials: August 25 1741 Joshua Toft Senior, father in law of Mary (not mentioned in the rabbits stories).
  
  
• Burials: widow of Joshua buried Feb 1 1746/7, mother in law of Mary (mentioned in some sources, sometimes as Anne or Hannah).
  
  

Joshua and Mary's children have been identified in the parish register:

• 1723
  27 Day March Ann Daughter of Joshua Toft and Mary his wife (christened).
  18 Day July 1723 Ann D of Joshua Toft (buried).
  
  
• 1724
  8 July James son of Joshua Toft and Mary his wife (christened).
  
  
• 1727/8
  February The 4 Day Elizabeth Daughter of Joshua Toft and Mary his wife being ye first child after her pretended Rabett breeding (christened).
  
  
• 1729
  3 October John son of Joshua Toft and Mary his wife (christened).
  2 Nov 1729 (buried).
  
  

Joshua Toft, Mary's husband, was buried on 12 June 1747. Against his name the words "Rabbett man" were crossed through several times in the same ink whilst an x added in pencil by someone else.

Mary's burial was also recorded in the PR:
"1763 January 13 Mary Toft Widow, the Imposteress Rabbett Breeder."
The vicar at that time was Theophilus Mountjoy Hughes, who was instituted 24 November 1761 ; died Oct 1793 (Welman's History).

In conclusion, it is quite possible that Mary would have suffered depression at both the loss of her children and the miscarriage(s) she had. She was also extremely lucky to not have contracted a serious infection as a result of either her own actions, those of the women who accompanied her or the numerous physical examinations she endured. Initially, though, she was very convincing. Whatever readers make of this story, one is left wondering why on earth she took the path she did. It has not been helped by embellishments in the telling over the years. And amusing though Hogarth's satirical cartoon is, there were no new born live bunnies scurrying across the floor of Mrs. Toft's bedchamber.