Whether or not he suspected his wife of something worse than fraud isn't clear, but we do know that Robinson refused, saving their lives. In March 1870, Margaret died from a mysterious stomach problem which allowed Mary Ann to dig her claws into the Cotton family. Mary Ann Cottons trial, for allegedly murdering her stepson Charles, was delayed for several months so that she could give birth. It includes lines like "Mary Ann Cotton is tied up with string./Where, where?/Up in the air.". It is believed that he was killed in a railway accident. This 19th century English woman is one of the earliest confirmed female serial killers in recorded memory. (The lack of documentationsuch as birth and death certificatesleaves many details of Mary Anns life open to dispute.) 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. HP10 9TY. 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. In 1852 she married William Mowbray, and over the next decade or so, the couple had eight or nine children. After the death of her first husband and the utter decimation of her young family, Mary Ann Cotton took the life insurance money and found work as a nurse. She complained that the last surviving Cotton boy, Charles Edward, was in the way and asked Riley if he could be committed to the workhouse. 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. Our female killer of interest was born Mary Ann Then Mary Ann's mother, living in Seaham Harbour, County Durham, became ill with hepatitis, so she immediately went to her. In 1872 Nattrass died, leaving his meagre belongings to Mary Ann. Soon enough, he and two of the children also died of "gastric fever." 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. One of her patients at the infirmary was an engineer, George Ward. The trap door wasnt placed high enough to break her neck. She did not die on the gallows from breaking of her neck but died by strangulation because the rope was set too short, possibly deliberately. She is believed to have murdered up to 21 people in total. At the age of 16, she moved out to become a nurse at Edward Potter's home in the nearby village of South Hetton. In late 1890, 17-year-old Margaret married Joseph Fletcher, a south Durham miner, and in 1892, they had a daughter, Clara, who was born at Windlestone. Perhaps this is what caused the young family, in May 1893, to sail from Liverpool on RMS Umbria to New York for a new life. Though many killers are male, it turns out that women have turned to serial murder as well. After Frederick's death, Nattrass soon became Mary Ann's lodger. The first focused on Charles' death and took place in August of 1872. Connolly, Martin. 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. As the miner's cottage they inhabited was tied to Michael's job, the widow and children would have been evicted. Several petitions were presented to the Home Secretary, but to no avail. I could be remembering it wrong, though. There is some speculation that she may have been pregnant before their marriage and that is why it was held at the registry office. 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. A nursery rhyme concerning Cotton was composed after her hanging on 24 March 1873. An inquest was held and the jury returned a verdict of natural causes. The 1911 census lists Margaret, Robinson and her three sons living in Watt Street, Dean Bank. Arsenic, however, was more subtle. Cotton had been remanded in custody since her arrest in July 1872, first in Bishop Auckland before being taken to Durham county gaol as preparations got underway to exhume bodies of her alleged. In 1869 Robinson discovered that Mary Ann was stealing from him, and he grew suspicious of her repeated requests that he take out a life insurance policy. The executioner reportedly had to push down on her shoulders to speed up the process, which took three minutes to finally kill her. The attending doctor later gave evidence that Ward had been very ill, yet he had been surprised that his death was so sudden. However, the infant mortality was falling as the century progressed, making Cotton's mishaps all the more striking. [6] The first part of the dramatisation was broadcast on 31 October 2016, the second part was broadcast on 7 November. The mother had to take care of three children, while suffering with the depression owing to her husband's death. After she was finally apprehended in 1872, some estimated that she may have killed as many as 21 people, according to Britannica. Mary was born in 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. By the end of her life, it was estimated that Cotton had given birth to 13 children, eight of whom were probably murdered by her hand, along with seven stepchildren, according to Murderpedia. In 1852, at the age of 20, Mary Ann married colliery labourer William Mowbray in Newcastle Upon Tyne register office; they soon moved to Plymouth, Devon. Mary Ann Cotton ( ne Robson; 31 October 1832 - 24 March 1873) was an English convicted murderer who was executed for poisoning her stepson. Mary Ann received a life-insurance payment of 5 10s 6d for Isabella. That description fits Mary Ann Cotton very well indeed. She was coming home to Durham, and to her adoptive parents, pregnant with her third child. Mary Ann Cotton Shes dead and forgotten, She lies in a grave with her bones all-rotten; Sing, sing, oh, what can we sing, Mary Ann Cotton is tied up with string. With this baby still in nappies, Joseph disappeared. Cotton asked the man to circulate a petition in yet another attempt to save her, which did happen, yet it had no real effect on her ultimate fate. Cotton was born on October 31, 1832, in a village near Sunderland. Cotton was no exception. All three children were buried in the last two weeks of April 1867. Her father's body was delivered to her mother in a sack bearing the stamp 'Property of the South Hetton Coal Company'. Instead, Cotton dropped only two feet and proceeded to choke, still alive. The couple met when Robinson hired Mary Ann as his housekeeper in November 1866. 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. According to Mary Ann Cotton, Cotton wed Robinson in 1867. However, the BBC points out that you're not alone. Margaret died at her home - 66, Church Lane, Ferryhill and left an Estate valued at 740, divided between her daughter CLARA and only surviving son - ROBINSON KELL. 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. It is said that the prisoner, who is comparatively a young woman, has had three husbands and 15 children, and that they, as well as two lodgers, died under her roof." She was regarded as Britain's Greatest Female Mass Murderer. She told Riley that the boy was sickly and added: "I wont be troubled long. Selling black puddings, a penny a pair. This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's William and John went off to fight. She had two children with Robinson but the first one, Margaret Isabella, died within a few months of her birth. Born into a mining family in 1832, Mary Ann grew up in a time when life moved quickly and death was all around. At the beginning of it all, the girl who would become Mary Ann Cotton seemed, frankly, pretty unremarkable. Insurance had been taken out on his life and the lives of his sons. The only birth recorded was that of their daughter Margaret Jane, born at St Germans in 1856. Mary Ann Cotton was hanged at Durham County Gaol on 24 March 1873 by William Calcraft; she died, not from her neck breaking, but by strangulation caused by the rope being rigged too short, possibly deliberately.[4]. That year both Cottons sister and his youngest child died. Frederick Jr. died in March 1872 and the infant Robert soon after. When that failed, within days she told parish officials that Charles Edward Cotton had died. Moreover, she was also forcing her stepchildren to pawn household items. Although his doctor acknowledged Wards poor health, he was surprised that the man died so suddenly. 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. Soon enough, Margaret died of a mysterious gastrointestinal ailment, allowing Mary Ann to get closer to Frederick. Around this time she took up with a former lover, Joseph Nattrass, but later became pregnant by another man, John Quick-Manning. She officially died of hepatitis, though she died just over a week after her daughter came to tend to her. A Mr. Aspinwall was supposed to get the job, but the Attorney General, Sir John Duke Coleridge, chose his friend and protg Charles Russell. While some claimed that she was Britains first female serial killer, other women had previously been hanged for poisoning multiple people. William joined the Durham Light Infantry and ended up in the London Rifles. Despite all the deaths, there was still no evidence against Mary Ann, and she was completely free from suspicion. Mary Ann Cotton was charged with the murder of Charles Edward Cotton, and as she awaited trial in Durham Prison, she gave birth to her 13th and last child, Margaret Edith Quick-Manning Cotton, in January 1873. After three minutes, she died of strangulation. Soon, he found out that she owed 60 and had also stolen 50 she was supposed to put in the bank. Within a few days, Charles Edward had died, and when Riley found out, he urged the doctor to avoid writing the death certificate until the cause of death was fully investigated. Frederick followed his predecessors to the grave in December of that year, from gastric fever." [3] He told the police, who arrested Mary Ann and procured exhumation of Charles' body. Many people are fascinated by serial murderers, perhaps because the extremity of their actions is so utterly incomprehensible that sheer curiosity pushes us to learn more. Leave a message for others who see this profile. The Times correspondent reported on 20 March: "After conviction the wretched woman exhibited strong emotion but this gave place in a few hours to her habitual cold, reserved demeanour and while she harbours a strong conviction that the royal clemency will be extended towards her, she staunchly asserts her innocence of the crime that she has been convicted of." He didnt. The census records, birth, death and marriage records also show no trace of him. [9], Mary Ann Cotton, she's dead and she's rotten By the end of the following year Cotton and two more children had died; again Mary Ann reportedly received an insurance payout. Ward was already in poor health but Mary Ann finished him off, and he died in October 1866. She was hanged at Durham Gaol. When Cotton gave birth to her and Robinson's child, her infant daughter quickly died of "convulsions." 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. Wife of George Ward; William Mowbray; Frederick Cotton and James Robinson Mary Ann Cotton was hanged at Durham County Gaol on 24 March 1873 by William Calcraft. Riley countered that the boy was a "little healthy fellow," but Charles died on July 12, 1872. In Low Moorsley, Tyne & Wear. Mary Ann was desperate and living on the streets. BLOOMINGTON Kimberly Ann (Cotton) Smith, 65, of Bloomington went to her heavenly home at 2:53 p.m., on Thursday, January 5, 2023 surrounded by her family. Hell go like all the rest of the Cottons.". It may well be that the name of the excise man was in fact Richard Quick Mann. "Black puddens" refers to black pudding, a type of sausage made with pig's blood. Missedinhistory.com. She was believed to have murdered up to 21 people, mainly by arsenic poisoning. Meanwhile, Mary Ann had rekindled her old romance with Joseph Nattrass, who had moved nearby. The defence at Mary Ann's trial claimed that Charles died from inhaling arsenic used as a dye in the green wallpaper of the Cotton home. We told the story in Memories 96, with, as ever, a few inaccuracies. Facts concerning Mary Ann are difficult to pin down, but this was definitely her eighth child she had several miscarriages and there may have been other children. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Comments have been closed on this article. Mary Ann grew up in Durham county, northeastern England. Then he found that Mary Ann had been forcing his older children to pawn household valuables. They included Joseph Nattrass, the lover who had added Mary Ann to his will, along with her son Robert and stepson Frederick Cotton, Jr. Nattrass' remains showed that he, too, had been poisoned. A 19th Century Children's Ryhme was born out of her famed crimes. 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. Her father, a miner, was killed in an accident when she was just nine. Soon after, Mary Ann learnt that her former lover, Joseph Nattrass, was living in the nearby village of West Auckland, and no longer married. 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. contact the editor here. She persuaded him to move his family closer, and in December 1871, Cotton died of gastric fever. [10], Death of Charles Edward Cotton and inquest, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Mary Ann Cotton | Biography, Murders, Trial, & Execution", "Dark Angel: How were Mary Ann Cotton's terrible crimes uncovered? Please report any comments that break our rules. Mary Ann Cotton - Dark Angel: Britain s First Female Serial Kille, Pen & Sword Publishing, 2012. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Cotton took her daughter, Isabella Jane, who had been living with Margaret, with her. The 1901 census found 28- year-old Margaret and her three children living with her adoptive mother Sarah at the Greyhound Inn, Ferryhill her adoptive father, William, had died aged 54 in 1897, and Sarah was the pub licensee. Once again, Mary Ann collected insurance money in respect of her husband's death. Mary Ann Robson Cotton (1832-1873) - Find A Grave Mary Cotton was born in North England during the Victorian Period. Her mother, Margaret, died after Cotton visited the woman in March 1867. The following year Mary Ann went to visit her ailing mother, who died about a week after her return. It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. He threw her out, retaining custody of their son George. Things seemed to grow worse for the family after Mowbray took out life insurance policies on himself and their three remaining children. - Mary Ann Cotton, a widow, is in custody at West Auckland, charged with having poisoned her stepson, aged eight years. Soon she became pregnant by him with her twelfth child. She was regarded as Britain's Greatest Female Mass Murderer. Although her mother began to recover, she also began to complain of stomach pains. The attending doctor later gave evidence that Ward had been very ill, yet he had been surprised that the man's death was so sudden. Cotton collected another insurance payout and moved on. Have you taken a DNA test? Here's the messed-up truth about this notorious 19th century murderess. As Ward was still recovering from his illness, he collected relief payments instead of working, while Cotton moved into the role of primary earner for their household. At that stage, only one of the nine kids she had with Mowbray was alive. 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. The doctor who attended Charles had kept samples, and they tested positive for arsenic. As one witness quoted in Mary Ann Cotton put it, Nattrass "died in a fit" and was "in great agony." 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. He decided to throw her out of their home and retained custody of their surviving child, George. Frederick Jr. died in March 1872 and the infant Robert soon after. A Gannett Company. Margaret was born in 1873. He hired Mary Ann as a housekeeper in November 1866. The lives of William and of their children were insured by the British and Prudential Insurance office and Mary Ann collected a payout of 35 on William's death (equivalent to 3,560 in 2021, about half a year's wages for a manual labourer at the time) and 2 5s for John Robert William. According to the Journal of Social History, working class mothers were especially likely to see their own children sicken and die, even if they weren't intentionally causing the illnesses. Originally, it was believed she had become impregnated by a John Quick-Manning, but there are no records to suggest such a person even existed. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. As she was sentenced to hang, the second hearing fizzled out. Hell go like all the rest of the Cottons.. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-Ann-Cotton, Hartlepool History Team - Biography of Mary Ann Cotton. Gastric fever also claimed Williams life in 1864 and the lives of two other children soon afterward. WIKITREE PROTECTS MOST SENSITIVE INFORMATION BUT ONLY TO THE EXTENT STATED IN THE TERMS OF SERVICE AND PRIVACY POLICY. "Mary Ann Cotton." There, she discovered that no money would be paid out until a death certificate was issued. A court-appointed lawyer put forth the idea that Charles had ingested arsenic through wallpaper, says the RadioTimes. Died about a week after her daughter came to tend to her adoptive,... Son George, George Ward who see this profile after her hanging on 24 March 1873 a payment!, she was just nine '' refers to Black pudding, a few.... 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Was issued a verdict of natural causes and in December 1871, Cotton died of gastric fever. she died! The Cotton family other women had previously been hanged for poisoning multiple.... Still no evidence against Mary Ann received a life-insurance payment of 5 10s 6d for.... The following year Mary Ann received a life-insurance payment of 5 10s 6d for Isabella sons living in Street! Visited the woman in March 1870, Margaret died of `` convulsions. `` convulsions. ailment allowing... Was that of their son George father, a type of sausage made with pig blood... Village near Sunderland was an engineer, George Ward ill, yet he had surprised. Edward Cotton had died stage, only one of the excise man was in fact Quick... High enough to break her neck grave in December 1871, Cotton dropped two! Pretty unremarkable gastric fever. famed crimes this notorious 19th century murderess the family after Mowbray took out insurance. In August of 1872, George Ward when she was regarded as Britain & x27... Claimed Williams life in 1864 and the lives of two other children soon afterward, it turns out women... Ann went to visit her ailing mother, Margaret Isabella, died within few!
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