 The ' poor Woman ' , Mary Toft , was twenty @-@ four or twenty @-@ five years old . She was baptised Mary Denyer on 21 February 1703 , the daughter of John and Jane Denyer . In 1720 she married Joshua Toft , a journeyman clothier and together the couple had three children , Mary , Anne and James . As an 18th @-@ century English peasant , circumstances dictated that when in 1726 Toft again became pregnant , she continue working in the fields . She complained of painful complications early in the pregnancy and in early August egested several pieces of flesh , one " as big as my arm " . This may have been the result of an abnormality of the developing placenta , which would have caused the embryo to stop developing and blood clots and flesh to be ejected . Toft went into labour on 27 September . Her neighbour was called and watched as she produced several animal parts . This neighbour then showed the pieces to her mother and to her mother @-@ in @-@ law , Ann Toft , who by chance was a midwife . Ann Toft sent the flesh to John Howard , a Guildford @-@ based man @-@ midwife of thirty years experience . 
