This data set uses Old Bailey Proceedings to look at how women's bodies were put on trial. The cases that are investigated on this site are all about women accused of infanticide between the years of 1674 and 1789. Each of the 191 cases in this study also references a female midwife who was called in as an expert witness by the court to testify. There are many questions that these court records allow historians of medicine, the body, embodiment, gender, law, social and cultural history to ask.
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How were indicted women treated by the male court system?
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Why were so many women accused of infanticide?
- Was there a more likely explanation?
- What social anxieties contributed to the fears around women and child mortality?
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How were the midwives deployed as witnesses?
- Were the midwives supposed to incriminate the accused?
- Were they supposed to support their fellow women?
- Did the midwives' testimony lead to a verdict or did it need to be supported by other male authority?
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Did the midwives portray any specialized medical knowledge?
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What do these proceedings tell us about society and gender in early modern London?