NATHANIEL St André was born in Switzerland and came to London as a page boy with a rich, Jewish family but then went on to earn his living as a French, German and dance teacher.

Before long he decided he might achieve greater success if he studied medicine, and trained as an apprentice with an eminent surgeon. He showed aptitude for his second choice of profession and even gave lectures in surgery and anatomy. He was appointed anatomist to the court of George I where his fluent German made him particularly popular.

St André first visited Southampton as the guest of Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough, at Bevois Mount House. The Swiss physician had successfully treated the poet Alexander Pope who then introduced him to his great friend. Southampton must have made a favourable impression on St André, for in 1742 he made it his adopted home for the rest of his long life. At first he lived in a house adjoining the Dolphin Hotel. He went on to buy the hotel and considerably enlarge and improve it. He also built Bellevue House, and a clue to the location of the house is in the name of the road off London Road. Just before his death he bought the Banister Estate.

Unfortunately for St André, he is not remembered for his skills as a physician, nor even as a significant landowner. He is remembered for his monumental lack of judgement when he was taken in by a ridiculous hoax. In 1726 rumours reached court that a young woman, Mary Toft from Godalming, claimed to be giving birth to rabbits. John Howard, an obstetrician from Guildford, became involved and recorded that over the course of a month she gave birth to the legs of a cat, a rabbit’s head and nine dead baby rabbits.

At the request of his wife, Queen Caroline, King George dispatched St André to discover the truth of these claims. When he arrived at Howard’s house, where Mary Toft was a now a permanent patient, he was greeted with the news that she was currently in labour with her 15th rabbit. Within minutes the court anatomist had delivered her of the trunk of a rabbit stripped of its skin. When he queried why the rabbits were born without fur, the quick-witted Howard replied that it was obviously the effect of the strong pressure of the womb toward the pubic bone. Later that evening Mary ‘gave birth’ to a rabbit skin rolled in a ball.

St André took some samples of preserved rabbits to show to the king and it was agreed that the rabbit breeder should be taken to London for further examination. The phenomenon was the talk of the city and a pamphlet written by St André was an instant best seller. However, the removal to a London hotel seems to have had an injurious effect on Mary’s fertility. After several anxious days for those taken in by the deceit, she was declared to be in labour again and duly gave birth to a rabbit. It was at this point that the farce began to unravel. A porter at the hotel confessed that he had been bribed to supply Mary with a rabbit. Howard was exposed as a quack who had hoped to gain profit and advancement, and the rabbit breeder herself gave a public confession after being threatened with a full (and painful) examination of her uterus.

St André lost his position at court and his reputation, but after a short period of penury managed to make an advantageous marriage which ensured he was able to live in comfort for the rest of his life. However, after this most unfortunate affair, he never again ate rabbit and his remaining friends, including the Earl of Peterborough, were considerate enough never to serve it at a dinner party at which he was present.

l Ally Hayes is a tour guide with See Southampton and a member of Bevois Mount History