The practice of nursing or rearing children in exchange for money was widespread in 19th-century England. Working mothers often entrusted infants to a caretaker for a lump sum payment. Unscrupulous "nurses" were known to accept large numbers of infants at prices far lower than what was necessary to provide adequate care. Needless to say, these "baby farms" provided substandard care and were often filthy.

In 1868, Ernest Hart, editor of the British Medical Journal decried the practice, saying ". . . many of these women carried on the business with a deliberate knowledge that the children would die very quickly and evidently with a deliberate intention that they should die." Hart's attempts to regulate baby farms were largely unsuccessful until a celebrated case known as the "Brixton Horrors" was brought to light in 1870.

While investigating a large number of abandoned infant corpses found in various parts of the city, police discovered a baby farm run by a Margaret Waters and her sister, Sarah Ellis. Evidence found at the Waters home showed that infants were fed only limewater and that many had been drugged, poisoned or starved to death.

Subsequent investigations of other baby farms uncovered additional horror stories. It was estimated that 80% to 90% of the infants entrusted to the care of "professional nurses" perished. Public outrage stimulated the passage of the Infant Life Protection Act in 1872. Though it was an important first step, the act was largely ineffectual in curbing the abuses found in baby farms.

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