An indication of how officials in Victorian times turned a complete blind eye to mothers who either couldn't cope or were wilfully negligent to their newborn children occurred in 1878 when a woman who wished her baby dead avoided prosecution.
A woman named McCann who lived in Solway Street in Toxteth gave birth to a child on 13th May 1878. Whilst in labour a midwife who attended found that the mother had made no preparations for the birth and was told that the baby would not live long anyway.
The day after the birth the same midwife returned and told McCann that the child appeared hungry and might die, to which she replied 'A good job too.' Two days later the child died, and at the inquest a sibling said it had been fed breastmilk just once or twice since the birth, as well as gruel.
The surgeon who carried out the post mortem said that death was as a result of convulsions, which could have been caused by being fed gruel. However he also said that it was common for poorer people to feed their child gruel without knowing the possible consequences. As such the coroner commented that the death was suspicious and the jury agreed, but without any clear proof they returned an open verdict.
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