New Book Shines Further Light of the Rabbit Woman of Godalming’s Hoax

Published on: 25 Aug, 2026
Updated on: 26 Aug, 2026

The often repeated 18th-century tale of Mary Toffs from Godalming, who falsely claimed she had given birth to 17 rabbits, has been revisited and retold.

This time there are more details of the national sensation it caused and how the media of the time grabbed the story and ran with it, no doubt to the delight of its readers.

Bob Clarke with his new book The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits : Godalming’s Gift to Grub Street. Available from August 31 from Godalming Museum, bookshops and Amazon.

The new book, The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits: Godalming’s Gift to Grub Street, is by newspaper historian Bob Clarke.

Bob says: “I first came across a report of Mary giving birth to rabbits about 20 years ago in a 1726 newspaper and have been fascinated by it ever since.

“Mary’s ‘births’ were the media sensation of 1726. They split the nation between those who believed the rabbits were bred within her and those who thought the whole thing was a hoax.”

Bob adds that the first newspaper reports claimed John Howard “an eminent Surgeon and Man-Midwife from Guildford” had delivered nine rabbits from her, sometimes at the rate of one a day.

This sensational news was reprinted in the other London newspapers and copied by the provincial papers as far north as the Caledonian Mercury in Edinburgh.

Soon the whole nation had heard the amazing news that a woman was giving birth to rabbits and were clamouring to find out more.

When King George I got to hear about it, he sent two of his royal surgeons to Guildford to investigate. They both claimed they delivered parts of rabbits from Mary on separate occasions.

Mary finally admitted what she had been doing to convince the doctors that the rabbits had been bred inside her.

After being locked up for four months in the Westminster House of Correction to await trial, she was freed to return to Godalming because there were no laws against giving birth to rabbits!

The author of his new book adds: “The news-mongers of Grub Street (famous for its concentration of impoverished “hack writers”, aspiring poets, and low-end publishers and booksellers) enjoyed a happy few months reporting and commenting on Mary’s story.”

Grub Street also flooded the market with pamphlets, poems, ballads and caricatures delighting in the tale of an illiterate country girl who outwitted the doctors, and many used her story as an opportunity for bawdy humour.

Using contemporary newspaper reports and other historical documents, the author explains why Mary did it, how Mary did it, why the doctors believed the births were genuine, why George I was so interested in her case and what led to her final confession.

The book will be published on Monday, August 31, at £4.99 for the eBook and £9.99 for the paperback, which is available from Godalming Museum, bookshops and Amazon.