The Abusive Baby Farms of Victorian England

Margaret Waters a more prolific serial killer, than Jack the Ripper.

Photo in Public Domain

Victorian England was home to Jack the Ripper, and much has been talked about in his reign of terror. He was, actually, only one of many murderers that lived amongst the poor. Most had larger kill totals than him, yet many have not shared the infamy he has.

Victorian London was a harsh place to live. Most people lived in complete poverty, with not enough money to feed their families. Victorian London had many killers, the plague and poverty being two.

The daily struggle for survival was arduous for women and children. The vulnerable were not protected, and many perished. Women were mainly mistreated. Pleasure during intercourse, for a woman, was considered only necessary for reproduction. If a woman was raped and fell pregnant, then she was lying and enjoyed the act. Unmarried mothers, in particular, faced great hardship. A young girl, if pregnant, had to find a way of dealing with the problem. For many, baby farms were one option.

Female serial killers are very rare. However, Victorian England was home to a unique breed. Those who murdered victims under their roof. These killers operated in the shadows. It was in these environments that Margaret Waters became infamous.

Who was Margaret Waters

Waters was born in Brixton in 1835. She came from a poor family with many siblings. To escape these trappings, she married young and had a good marriage for 15 years until he passed away.

At the age of twenty-nine, Waters found herself without a husband and unable to support herself. She could have turned to prostitution, like many other women in this situation; instead, she decided to open a baby farm.

Waters began by placing adverts in local newspapers, offering to ‘adopt’ children. For this service, she charged up to £10. This was a substantial amount in Victorian England, approximately £1000 now. Some babies were illegitimate children of wealthy men; for these, the money was a good investment to spare the embarrassment.

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Baby Farming

Once the sum had been paid, Waters would take the children with her. She promised the birth parents that she would find suitable families for them; until then, she would look after them herself

Initially, Waters would give the baby to a childminder and pay for two weeks of care, much less than £10. She would fail to return for the child. The childminder would realise that the child was now their responsibility. Most were cast out onto the streets or left outside orphanages.

As time went on, word got around about this woman who turned up with babies and never returned for them. Waters had to devise another plan to dispose of the unwanted children. Her next plan was to walk the baby down the street until she saw children playing. She would ask them to hold the baby while she went into a couple of shops, sometimes even giving them a couple of shillings to buy sweets with. She would then run off, leaving the children holding the baby.

This scheme appeared to be working well until she was nearly caught. One of the boys she left the baby with returned from the candy shop too soon, so Waters took cover in a shop. The quick-thinking boy realised what was happening and burst into tears, which attracted the attention of a local policeman. Luck was on her side. All three headed in the opposite direction, and she had time to escape.

Even though Waters was earning a considerable amount of money, she was in debt. She turned to loan sharks to help finance her lifestyle. These increasing debts meant that she needed to ‘adopt’ more babies, but disposing of them was time-consuming.

Waters began to keep the children at home. She drugged them so they were no trouble to her and then starved them to death. Her sister-in-law, Sarah Ellis, was staying with her. It is unclear how much she was involved or how much she knew.

Once the children had perished from starvation, Waters would wrap the bodies in old rags and leave them on a side street. Dumping bodies was common practice in London during this time. Burials were expensive; leaving a body in the street was quicker and cheaper. Victorian people would have stepped over many corpses without being too concerned

The Caring Grandfather

Margaret was caught because of one grandfather who cared for his grandchild. Robert Tassie Cowen discovered his unwed daughter was pregnant; she was sixteen at the time. An unmarried woman with a child would struggle to find a good match. Keen to help his daughter secure a good future, he sought out the services of Waters.

He saw an advert in his local paper and arranged to meet with her. She claimed at the time to be a well-off, married woman whose husband was desperate for children. Cowen agreed to hand over the infant on one condition: that he was kept up to date on the child’s progress. Waters agreed, thinking she had heard this all before and no one ever remembered the children they had left. She could easily avoid Cowen anyway, as she had given him a false name and address. It was easy to get lost in London.

Margaret pretended not to be interested in the money at all, taking £2 and promising to return for another £2. When she failed to return, he tried to seek her out so that Cowen could see the baby. After weeks of searching, Cowen thought he had located the woman close by. He told the police, and they went to visit; however, it was not Waters.

As the woman turned to leave, Cowen recognised the dress she was wearing, which Waters had worn during her last visit. He followed her, ending up in Frederick Street. The woman he followed was Ellis; he entered the house and found many children aged 2–5. All were starving and could not be awakened. A bottle of laudanum was on the table, and a doctor who attended confirmed the children were drugged. The children were placed in the care of a wet nurse to try to save them. Many of them perished, though, including Cowen’s grandson.

The Trial

Margaret and Sarah were taken into custody following the death of five children. On examination, the Cowen child weighed a little under 4 lbs. He should have been over 12.

Waters immediately took full responsibility for the crimes, saying that her sister-in-law had been working for her. She claimed, ‘I am the sinner.’

The trial involved many witnesses being called. Much was made of Waters's history. She was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. Ellis was sentenced to 18 months of hard labour for her failure to care for the babies; on murder, she was found not guilty. Waters claimed that she had cared for more than 40 children and over the four years she ran the farm.

Waters was executed on 11th October 1870. She calmly faced execution. Several of the audience remarked on how calm she was. On the night of her execution, she wrote a statement in which she laid the blame for the baby's death on the birth parents.

Without birth parents so keen to abandon their children, baby-farming would be impossible — Margaret Waters.

Waters was the first baby farmer to face the hangman’s noose; she was not the last. Many other women followed in her footsteps. Baby farming continued throughout the 1900s until 1908, when the Children’s Act set adoption laws and legislation in place. It is hard to estimate how many children this particular breed of serial killer murdered over the years.