Despite all the deaths, there was still no evidence against Mary Ann, and she was completely free from suspicion. At 16, Mary Ann left home to become a nurse at the nearby village of South Hetton, in the home of Edward Potter, a manager at Murton colliery. The census revealed that her boys were working underground William was a collier and John was a pony driver. Margaret, her husband, and their baby daughter Clara moved to the United States in 1893, but she then returned to Durham in 1894 as a young widow. Cotton died in December of that year, from "gastric fever." Though he appears to have worked as a skilled laborer who opened new mining shafts, the Robsons were working class. Mary Ann grew up in Durham county, northeastern England. 29 July 2015. Cotton was no exception. A nearby exhibition purported to have a model of Cotton at a coal mine in county Durham, and it's very possible that other cheap "penny shows" would have drawn upon her tale to lure in visitors and their money. In 1872 Nattrass died, leaving his meagre belongings to Mary Ann. Mary Ann backed off but not before ominously predicting that Charles would "go like all the rest of the Cotton family." This 19th century English woman is one of the earliest confirmed female serial killers in recorded memory. After Frederick's death, Nattrass soon became Mary Anns lodger. He died in a field hospital on November 4 a week before the armistice. Richard Quick Mann was a custom and excise man specialising in breweries and has been found in the records and this may indeed be the real name of Mary Ann Cotton's alleged lover. So, by the summer of 1865, Mary Ann, widow Mowbray, had buried her husband William and at least eight, if not nine, of her own children. Perhaps Robinson didnt link Mary Ann with the numerous deaths in the family, but he certainly became suspicious when she became overly insistent that he insure his life. Mary Ann Cotton was an English serial killer convicted of poisoning her stepson Charles Edward Cotton in 1872. Please report any comments that break our rules. In 1852, 20-year-old Mary Ann married colliery labourer William Mowbray at Newcastle Upon Tyne register office; they soon moved to South West England. Nattrass soon followed, though not before he put Mary Ann down as a beneficiary in his will. Mary Ann claimed to have used arrowroot to relieve his illness and said Riley had made accusations against her because she had rejected his advances. Mary Ann Cotton, also known by the surnames Mowbray, Robinson and Ward, was a nurse and housekeeper suspected of poisoning as many as 21 people in 19th-century Britain. The insurance policy Mary Ann had taken out on Charles' life still awaited collection. [8], The Mary Ann Cotton case was partly dramatized on an episode of the 2022 BBC Radio podcast series Lucy Worsley's Lady Killers. All three children were buried in the last week of April and first week of May 1867. She was believed to have murdered up to 21 people, mainly by arsenic poisoning. It includes lines like "Mary Ann Cotton is tied up with string./Where, where?/Up in the air.". After all of the children had been sent to boarding school in Darlington over the next three years, she returned to her stepfather's home and trained as a dressmaker. Robinson, meanwhile, had become suspicious of his wife's insistence that he insure his life; he discovered that she had run up debts of 60 behind his back and had stolen more than 50 that she had been expected to bank. Sing, sing, what can I sing? However, it was accepted, and Russell conducted the prosecution. There are further versions, slightly more crude, still passed on in school playgrounds in the region, such as: She lies in her coffin with her finger up her bottom. Then Mary Ann's mother, living in Seaham Harbour, County Durham, became ill so she immediately went to her. I could be remembering it wrong, though. Riley, who also served as West Auckland's assistant coroner, said she would have to accompany him. He was also a widower who had lost two of his four children and lived in Northumberland. The doctor testified that there was no other powder on the same shelf in the chemist's shop as the arsenic, only liquid; the chemist himself claimed that there were other powders. The place is Durham Gaol. Mary Ann Cotton, ne Mary Ann Robson, also known as Mary Ann Mowbray, Mary Ann Ward, and Mary Ann Robinson, (born October 31?, 1832, Low Moorsley, Durham county, Englanddied March 24, 1873, Durham county), British nurse and housekeeper who was believed to be Britain's most prolific female serial killer. Cotton and Mary Ann were bigamously married on 17 September 1870 at St Andrew's, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and their son Robert was born early in 1871. At the end of her life, as she spoke with officials, Cotton did not offer an explanation for any of her murders. She went undetected for decades, apparently killing a succession of husbands, children, and stepchildren with arsenic, then a readily available poison. Then Mary Ann's mother, living in Seaham Harbour, County Durham, became ill with hepatitis, so she immediately went to her. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. One month later, when James' baby died of gastric fever, he turned to his housekeeper for comfort and she became pregnant. She was coming home to Durham, and to her adoptive parents, pregnant with her third child. Editors' Code of Practice. Mary Anns last remaining daughter, Isabella, also succumbed to gastric fever and Mary Ann received 5 10s 6d in insurance money. ", "ITV drama about Durham serial killer Mary Ann Cotton called 'Dark Angel' starts filming", "Dark Angel: the gruesome true story of Mary Ann Cotton, Britain's first serial killer", "Joanne Froggatt to star in new ITV drama Dark Angel", "BBC Radio 4 - Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley", "All Mine Enemys Whispers The Story of Mary Ann Cotton", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mary_Ann_Cotton&oldid=1133232730, 19th-century executions by England and Wales, People convicted of murder by England and Wales, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles lacking in-text citations from December 2010, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2016, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Around 21, including 3 of her husbands and 12 children. Mary Ann would go on to kill many of her own children, her husbands, lovers and other family. Mary Ann Robson was born on 31 October 1832 at Low Moorsley (now part of Houghton-le-Spring in the City of Sunderland) and baptised at St Mary's, West Rainton on 11 November. The executioner reportedly had to push down on her shoulders to speed up the process, which took three minutes to finally kill her. Mary Anns first port of call after Charles' death was not the doctors but the insurance office. She was charged with the murder of Charles Edward Cotton, and her trial began in March 1873. Up in the air. The trap door wasnt placed high enough to break her neck. Cotton had rather more luck at work, where she came across a patient named George Ward. He died of an intestinal disorder in January 1865. They married at St Peter's Church, Monkwearmouth, on 28 August 1865. However, the judge allowed the prosecutor to use evidence from the deaths of Nattrass and two of the Cotton children and ultimately, the overwhelming evidence sealed Mary Anns fate. At the beginning of it all, the girl who would become Mary Ann Cotton seemed, frankly, pretty unremarkable. Shortly after her demise, according to The Invention of Murder, Cotton's exploits were used by the Victorians in all manner or moralistic and lurid attractions. Perhaps at this point, it would be best to draw a discrete veil over the family tree, except to say that Margaret lived into old age with the stigma of being the daughter of one of Britains most notorious killers. She returned to Sunderland and took up employment at the Sunderland Infirmary, House of Recovery for the Cure of Contagious Fever, Dispensary and Humane Society. The scene is the hanging gallery. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. In 2015 ITV filmed a two-part television drama, Dark Angel,[5] starring Joanne Froggatt as Cotton. Although her mother began to recover, she also began to complain of stomach pains. In a close-knit community like the Durham coalfield, it would have been impossible for Margaret to escape the notoriety of her birth. As with all nursery rhymes passed on primarily by word of mouth, there are variations. An army of readers many anonymous, others marshalled by Tim Brown of Ferryhill Local History Society and some relatives have helped put us right. Mary Ann Cotton, she's tied up with string. Mary Ann's downfall came when a parish official, Thomas Riley, asked her to help nurse a woman who was ill with smallpox. Soon, he found out that she owed 60 and had also stolen 50 she was supposed to put in the bank. That child John Joseph Fletcher, named after his late father was born at Merrington Lane, Spennymoor, in early 1895. There was also a stage show, The Life and Death of Mary Ann Cotton, that premiered in West Hartlepool not too soon after the real Cotton's execution. It is believed that he was killed in a railway accident. Mary Ann Cotton - Dark Angel: Britain s First Female Serial Kille, Pen & Sword Publishing, 2012. HSW Podcast: *Howstuffworks.com. After her marriage to Robinson crumbled, Cotton was introduced to Frederick Cotton by his sister, Margaret. The trial got going on March 3 and Mary Ann was found guilty of the one murder four days later. Mary Ann, pregnant again, was arrested and charged with Charles Cotton's death. Soon after the move her father fell 150 feet (46 m) to his death down a mine shaft at Murton Colliery. It had no taste, no odor, no color, nothing that would alert the potential poison victim to its presence in their food or drink until the substance had already begun to take effect. Was still legally married to James Robinson, Mary Ann & Mowbray's children: (3 rumored but unsubstantiated children), Mary Jane (-1860), Margaret Jane (-1865), John Robert (-1864), Isabella (-1867), George Ward (-1866), husband (briefly) - already ill and in the hospital when they met and married, 5 children of James Robinson & his late wife, Hannah, Margaret Lonsdale Robson Stott, mother (-1867), Child of Mary Ann & James Robinson: Margaret Isabella (-1868), 4 Children of Frederick & Unknown Cotton: 2 (before 1869) plus Frederick Jr and Charles Edward Cotton (-1872) - for whose murder she was arrested, tried and hung, Child of Mary Ann & Frederick Cotton: Robert Robson Cotton (-1870), Frederick Cotton, Sr, bigamous (she was the bigamist, not him) husband (-1871), Lady Killers, BBC Radio 4, Episode 7: Mary Ann Cotton (more info on. According to the RadioTimes, a local Doctor Kilburn conducted a rushed inquest and determined that the boy had died of gastroenteritis. Margaret had acted as substitute mother for the remaining children, Frederick Jr. and Charles, but in late March 1870 she died from an undetermined stomach ailment, leaving Mary Ann to console the grieving Frederick Sr. She died at age 54 in the spring of 1867, nine days after Mary Ann's arrival. Five days later, Mary Ann told Riley that the boy had died. Mary Ann Cottons trial, for allegedly murdering her stepson Charles, was delayed for several months so that she could give birth. The move must have been Mary Ann's idea . contact the editor here. Stuff You Missed in History Class, from where I took most of the information, has a great podcast on her. It appears that, sometime around the birth, he fled town, with some reports indicating that he went so far as to leave the country, while others claim that he reconciled with his wife and lived a relatively quiet existence thereafter. When Mary Ann was eight, her parents moved the family to the County Durham village of Murton, where she went to a new school and found it difficult to . After her sentencing, Mary Ann Cotton attempted to save herself through various means, from hoping for a pardon to appear to arguing that everyone else in her life had failed her. discoveries. It was performed by a notoriously clumsy hangman, and the trap door was not positioned high enough to break her neck, forcing the executioner to press down on her shoulders. Riley went to the village police and convinced the doctor to delay writing a death certificate until the circumstances could be investigated. When she was eight, her parents moved the family to the County Durham village of Murton, where she went to a new school and found it difficult to make friends. However, he died the following year, and Mary Ann reportedly collected money from another insurance policy. She came back home three years later, taking up work as a dressmaker. mary ann cotton surviving descendants. However, she added, I wont be troubled long. After the boy died, the official notified the police. For weeks they have been However, the prosecutions evidence, notably the other arsenic-related deaths, proved insurmountable, and she was convicted and sentenced to death. Frederick and Mary Ann were bigamously married on 17 September 1870 at St Andrew's, Newcastle Upon Tyne and their son Robert was born early in 1871. There appears to be no trace of John Quick-Manning in the records of The West Auckland Brewery or The National Archives at Kew. The doctor who attended Charles had kept samples, and they tested positive for arsenic. Around this time she took up with a former lover, Joseph Nattrass, but later became . Mary Ann nursed the baby in her cell one visitor told The Northern Echo how he had encountered Mrs Cotton sitting on a stool close by a good fire, giving the breast to her baby until all avenues of appeal were exhausted. During the Victorian era, arsenic was seemingly everywhere, to the point where it became the murderer's poison du jour. She was later found guilty and executed. Betty Eccles was suspected of multiple murders and was hanged in 1843. Mary Ann found employment as a nurse, and it was here that she met her next husband, George Ward. She gained employment as nurse to an excise officer recovering from smallpox. She was employed in various jobs, including Sunday school. Sing, sing, oh, what can I sing, Mary Ann Cotton is tied up with string. An English woman convicted of murdering her children. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. The . People just can't seem to tear themselves away from the bloody drama of a serial killer, no matter how much many of us try to pretend otherwise. "Mary Ann Cotton." That's likely why Cotton's mother quickly remarried, in order to keep her family away from the horrifying poverty and harsh conditions of Victorian workhouses. Mary Ann and her daughter with Mowbray then went to live at the Robinson home. Their second child George was born on 18 June 1869. Mary Ann never confessed to any of the deaths, and the number of her victims is uncertain, though most sources believe she killed upwards of 21 people. Although she began a relationship with a man named Joseph Nattrass, she moved once again, this time to Sunderland, after another one of her children died from gastric fever. A court-appointed lawyer put forth the idea that Charles had ingested arsenic through wallpaper, says the RadioTimes. He was seriously injured in 1918 on the Somme, but refused to be sent home, probably because he believed he would recover and rejoin the frontline. The defense in the case was handled by Mr. Thomas Campbell . Explore genealogy for Mary (Cotton) Marshall born 1553 Abbotts Ann, Andover, Hampshire, England died 1625 London, England including ancestors + descendants + 1 photos + 2 genealogist comments + more in the free family tree community. Her brother Robert was born in 1835. Many seem to act out their crimes in stealthier ways, often using poison and frequently for attention, sympathy, financial security, or some combination of the above. The mother had to take care of three children, while suffering with the depression owing to her husband's death. They married in Monkwearmouth on 28 August 1865. This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network. That description fits Mary Ann Cotton very well indeed. The body of the stepson was examined and found to contain arsenic. However, the BBC points out that you're not alone. She and her only surviving child, Isabella, had moved back to County Durham. Mary Ann Robson Cotton, was a serial killer convicted of murdering her mother, 11 of her 13 children, her stepson and 3 of her 4 husbands by arsenic poisoning. Five days later, Mary Ann told Riley that the boy had died. Even her own daughters and sons, who might have had at least some biological hold on their mother in another life, weren't immune to Cotton's murderous impulses. William and Mary Ann moved back to North East England where they had, and lost, three more children. Where, where? Frederick Jr. died in March 1872 and the infant Robert soon after. After George Ward's death and the subsequent insurance payment, Britannica reports, Mary Ann Cotton became a housekeeper for widower James Robinson in 1866. Things seemed to grow worse for the family after Mowbray took out life insurance policies on himself and their three remaining children. She was hanged at Durham County Gaol on March 24, 1873, but it was a bungled execution. When Mary Ann christened the baby with its distinctive surname, it identified the father. This week, I'll delve into her psychology. As Mary Ann Cotton, Dark Angelreported, Mary Ann blamed lax pharmacists for her young stepson's death. Connolly, Martin. An examination of the body revealed arsenic in his stomach, and further exhumations on the bodies of two other Cotton children and Nattrass found traces of the poison. Facts concerning Mary Ann are difficult to pin down, but. Once again, she profited from the insurance policy, but her spree was about to come to an end. She allegedly poisoned up to 21 people before being executed in 1873. Lying in bed with her eyes wide open. She also began a relationship with Joseph Nattrass, History Collection reports, though the affair never resolved into marriage. Login to find your connection. Although she is often said to be Britains first female serial killer, this is a false claim. In March 1873 her three-day trial began. She then allegedly told a local official that she could not marry Quick-Manning because of her seven-year-old stepson, Charles Edward Cotton. She named her Margaret Edith Quick-Manning Cotton, partially to target her latest lover as the father of the child. Her father's body was delivered to her mother in a sack bearing the stamp 'Property of the South Hetton Coal Company'. A week before her brutally botched execution on March 24, she gave the infant to be adopted by a couple she knew in West Auckland, William and Sarah Edwards. Mary Ann was destitute and barely surviving on the streets, but she was bailed out by her friend, Margaret, who introduced the black widow to her brother, Frederick Cotton. Stuff You Missed in History Class (Podcast). Instead, Cotton dropped only two feet and proceeded to choke, still alive. It is quite clear that much of south Durham knew her life story, but it is also clear that she was accepted, and even admired, by that community. Of Mary Ann's 13 children, only two survived her: Margaret Edith (18731954) and her son George from her marriage to James Robinson. Cotton's undoing came after she tried to have the son of her deceased husband sent to a workhouse. Mary Ann Robson was born on 31 October 1832 at Low Moorsley,[1] County Durham to Margaret, ne Londsdale and Michael Robson, a colliery sinker; and baptised at St Mary's, West Rainton on 11 November. All nursery rhymes passed on primarily by word of mouth, there are variations, named after his late was. Their three remaining children that description fits Mary Ann found employment as nurse to an excise officer recovering smallpox... Trap door wasnt placed high enough to break her neck Joanne Froggatt as Cotton Cotton only! 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