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Mary Toft (née Denyer; baptised 21 February 1703 – January 1763), also 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.

In 1726 Toft became pregnant, but following her reported fascination with the sighting of a rabbit, she miscarried. Her claim to have given birth to various animal parts prompted the arrival of John Howard, a local surgeon, who investigated the matter. He delivered several pieces of animal flesh and duly notified other prominent physicians, which brought the case to the attention of Nathaniel St. André, surgeon to the Royal Household of King George I. André concluded that Toft's case was genuine but the king also sent surgeon Cyriacus Ahlers, who remained sceptical. By then quite famous, Toft was brought to London where she was studied in detail; under intense scrutiny and producing no more rabbits she confessed to the hoax, which was put upon by her family, and was subsequently imprisoned as a fraud. The resultant public mockery created panic within the medical profession and ruined the careers of several prominent surgeons. The affair was satirised on many occasions, not least by the pictorial satirist and social critic William Hogarth, who was notably critical of the medical profession's gullibility. Toft was eventually released without charge and returned home. The scandal had a lasting effect on public trust in the medical field, contributing to widespread scepticism about the competence and ethics of physicians during that era.

The 'poor Woman', Mary Toft, was twenty-four or twenty-five years old. Initially, Howard dismissed the notion that Toft had given birth to animal parts, but the next day, despite his reservations, he went to see her. Ann Toft showed him more pieces of the previous night's exertions, but on examining Mary, he found nothing.

Apparently, they were not disappointed; arriving on 15 November they were taken by Howard to see Toft, who within hours delivered a rabbit's torso. In the doctors' absence, Toft later that day reportedly delivered the torso of another rabbit, which the two also examined. André that Toft had given birth to two more rabbits.

He was reportedly happy to attend Toft, pleased that her case appeared to vindicate his theories, but man-midwife James Douglas, like Manningham, presumed that the affair was a hoax and despite St.

After several days of this Manningham threatened to perform a painful operation on her, and on 7 December, in the presence of Manningham, Douglas, John Montagu and Frederick Calvert, Toft finally confessed.

On 7 January 1727 John Howard and Mary Toft appeared before the bench, where Howard was fined £800 (£141,023 today). The Toft family made no profit from the affair, and Mary Toft returned to Surrey.

In Dennis Todd's Three Characters in Hogarth's Cunicularii and Some Implications the author concludes that figure "G" is Mary Toft's sister-in-law, Margaret Toft. Toft's confession of 7 December demonstrates her insistence that her sister-in-law played no part in the hoax, but Manningham's 1726 An Exact Diary of what was observ'd during a Close Attendance upon Mary Toft, the pretended Rabbet-Breeder of Godalming in Surrey offers eyewitness testimony of her complicity. Manningham, desperate to exculpate himself, published a diary of his observations of Mary Toft, together with an account of her confession of the fraud, on 12 December.

However, Much Ado about Nothing; or, A Plain Refutation of All that Has Been Written or Said Concerning the Rabbit-Woman of Godalming (1727) is one of the more cutting satires on Toft. In 2019, Mary Toft; or the Rabbit Queen was written by Dexter Palmer. Another novel, Mary and the Rabbit Dream by Noémi Kiss-Deáki, was published in 2024.

Quick Facts

• The Toft family made no profit from the affair, and Mary Toft returned to Surrey.
• In 1726 Toft became pregnant, but following her reported fascination with the sighting of a rabbit, she miscarried.
• By then quite famous, Toft was brought to London where she was studied in detail; under intense scrutiny and producing no more rabbits she confessed to the hoax, which was put upon by her family, and was subsequently imprisoned as a fraud.
• André concluded that Toft's case was genuine but the king also sent surgeon Cyriacus Ahlers, who remained sceptical.
• Her claim to have given birth to various animal parts prompted the arrival of John Howard, a local surgeon, who investigated the matter.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Mary Toft". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.