Claymore House

Baby Farming and the Arrangement That Failed to Remain Invisible

In late-Victorian London, infant death was common enough to pass without question—especially when the child had never been fully recorded as living.

Claymore House examines one such arrangement that operated in plain sight. Women seeking discretion paid to give birth and surrender their infants, trusting that the children would be placed elsewhere. Instead, many disappeared. When the practice finally became visible, it did so not through moral reform but through repetition that could no longer be ignored.

Drawing solely on court records, inquests, and co