Massacre of the Innocents by Lionel Rose - 9781138945067

Taylor & Francis

Massacre of the InnocentsInfanticide in Great Britain 1800-1939\nAuthor(s): Lionel Rose\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Routledge\nISBN-13: 9781138945067, 978-1138945067\nSynopsis\nBefore contraception was generally available, and when abortion was fraught with danger, infanticide was a common solution to the problem of unwanted children. Massacre of the Innocents, first published in 1986, shows the causes and consequences of the high tide of infanticide in Victorian Britain. \n\nLionel Rose describes the ways in which unwanted and surplus infants were disposed of, and the economic and social pressures on women to rid themselves of their burdens by covert criminal and sub-criminal means. He discusses the activities of infanticidal and abortionist midwives, and shows how the practices of wet nursing and baby farming were closely related to infanticide. Unscrupulous insurance salesman even turned infanticide into a profitable business, .