She told Riley that the boy was sickly and added: "I wont be troubled long. Although her mother began to recover, she also began to complain of stomach pains. Isabella lasted a few weeks until she died of "gastric fever," and she was soon followed by two more of Robinson's children, who succumbed to "continued fever" and yet another case of "gastric fever," according to death records. However, she added, I wont be troubled long. After the boy died, the official notified the police. Mary Ann Cotton, also known as the Dark Angel, was a Victorian monster who murdered up to 21 people. 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. Mary Ann first Cotton left home at only 16 years old to work as a nurse, according to Britannica. Mary Ann had cashed in William's life insurance, equivalent to about 1,700 in today's money. The place is Durham Gaol. Editors' Code of Practice. 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. Nattrass soon followed, though not before he put Mary Ann down as a beneficiary in his will. c. 1870. 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. In August, Mary Ann married Robinson, and the couple had two children, though only one survived. Once again, Mary Ann collected insurance money from her husband's death. Another daughter, also named Margaret Jane, was born in 1861, and a son, John Robert William, was born in 1863, but died the next year from gastric fever. Then Nattrass became ill with gastric fever, and died just after revising his will in Mary Anns favour. He fled and changed his surname: some say he went abroad; others that he returned to his hometown of Darlington where, reconciled with his wife, he ran a small beerhouse. Some substances, like cyanide and strychnine, were also readily available but produced obvious results. Her daughter, Clara, 19, was living with Sarah in St Lukes Terrace, Ferryhill. 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]. He was also a widower who had lost two of his four children and lived in Northumberland. She only fell two feet, so the executioner had to push down on her shoulders. 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. Mary Anns first port of call after Charles' death was not the doctors but the insurance office. The jury retired for 90 minutes before finding Mary Ann guilty. The census revealed that her boys were working underground William was a collier and John was a pony driver. Riley, who also served as West Auckland's assistant coroner, said she needed to accompany him. Her family describe her as being immensely private, intelligent, warm and kind-hearted, and a devoted wife, mother and grandmother. Both of Mary Ann Cottons grandsons have their names engraved on Ferryhill War Memorial. 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. STREET LIFE: Watt Street, Dean Bank, Ferryhill, on an Edwardian postcard which dates from the time that Mary Ann Cottons daughter was living in the street. For many people in Victorian Britain, being born into a working-class family meant that one's life was often touched by tragedy. One month later, when James' baby died of gastric fever, he turned to his housekeeper for comfort and she became pregnant. Mary Anns trial began two months later, and the defense claimed that the deceased had inhaled arsenic dust from wallpaper dye, a conceivable explanation given that arsenic was then common in many household items. At the time of her trial, The Northern Echo published an article containing a description of Mary Ann as given by her childhood Wesleyan Sunday school superintendent at Murton, describing her as "a most exemplary and regular attender", "a girl of innocent disposition and average intelligence", and "distinguished for her particularly clean and tidy appearance."[2]. 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. However, it was accepted, and Russell conducted the prosecution. 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. She had meant only to buy harmless arrowroot powder for the ill boy, but a terrible mix-up had occurred, and she was given arsenic instead. At the time of her trial, there were reports of four or five of their children dying young while they were living away from County Durham. login . The couple had five children, four of whom died from gastric fever. Cotton's undoing came after she tried to have the son of her deceased husband sent to a workhouse. 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. Then the local newspapers latched on to the story and discovered Mary Ann had moved around northern England and lost three husbands, a lover, a friend, her mother, and a dozen children, all of whom had died of stomach fevers. He, however, was engaged to another woman and she left Seaham after Nattrasss wedding. She grew a dislike of children while working as a housemaid, and this didn't stop once she had children of her own. She was believed to have murdered up to 21 people, mainly by arsenic poisoning. HP10 9TY. Mary Ann Cotton's now-inevitable trial was delayed, as it soon became clear to officials that she was pregnant. The body of the stepson was examined and found to contain arsenic. Frederick Jr. died in March 1872 and the infant Robert soon after. William and Mary Ann moved back to North East England where they had, and lost, three more children. Her attorney tried to argue that the boys death came as a result of accidental inhalation of arsenic from the wallpaper. When Riley pushed the doctor, Kilburn re-tested the tissue and found that it was full of arsenic. Mary Ann was desperate and living on the streets. Mary Ann belonged to Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish (St. Stanislaus Church) and was a member of the Rosary Altar Sodality. 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. A month later, when James' baby John died of gastric fever, he turned to his housekeeper for comfort and she became pregnant. This week, I'll delve into her psychology. Doctor William Byers Kilburn, who had attended Charles, had kept samples, and tests showed they contained arsenic. 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. Mary Ann received a life-insurance payment of 5 10s 6d for Isabella. . Although her father fell down a THE baby was the daughter born to Mary Ann Cotton, of West Auckland, in Durham jail on January 7, 1873. Her mother, Margaret, died after Cotton visited the woman in March 1867. That is until she grew overconfident and made a remarkable blunder. Mary Ann received the insurance money, and she then left her daughter in the care of her mother. She and her only surviving child, Isabella, had moved back to County Durham. Her father, a miner, was killed in an accident when she was just nine. He decided to throw her out of their home and retained custody of their surviving child, George. 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 Britains most prolific female serial killer. Rather quickly, she sent the daughter to live with her own mother, Margaret, and set out on her own once again. Depiction of Mary Ann Cotton. Their next child, George, was one of the rare few of Cotton's children who would survive her. Mary Ann was quickly arrested. mary ann cotton surviving descendants mary ann cotton surviving descendants. She probably would have got away with it for longer had she not been so keen to murder Charles Edward or at least not been so open about her desire to see him die. Rumour gave rise to suspicion and scientific investigation. Though he appears to have worked as a skilled laborer who opened new mining shafts, the Robsons were working class. In 1867, Mary Ann's stepfather George Stott married his widowed neighbour, Hannah Paley. Regardless of her counterarguments, Mary Ann was still to die. All three children had been subjects of small life insurance policies. 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. 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. Her preferred method of killing was poisoning with arsenic. During this time, her 3-year-old daughter, the second Margaret Jane, died of typhus fever, leaving her with one child of up to nine she had borne. 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. YouTube. The attending doctor later gave evidence that Ward had been very ill, yet he had been surprised that his death was so sudden. 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. According to Mary Ann Cotton, Cotton wed Robinson in 1867. As per History Collection, her younger sister Margaret died in 1834, when Cotton would have been only 8 years old. Affair with James Nattress, a married man, while married to Mowbray and possibly again, after Nattress was widowed, while she was "married" to Cotton. A Mr. Aspinwall was supposed to get the job, but the Attorney General, Sir John Duke Coleridge, chose his friend and protg Charles Russell. The mother who murdered her own children was, though, a sensational story, and the media of the day led by The Northern Echos famous editor, WT Stead whipped up feelings against her. We told the story in Memories 96, with, as ever, a few inaccuracies. Rumour turned to suspicion and forensic inquiry. But faced with abject poverty and an ailing husband, we see how ruthlessly determined . Partner of John Quick-Manning Mary Ann was desperate and living on the streets until her friend Margaret Cotton introduced her to her brother Frederick, a pitman and recent widower living in Walbottle, Northumberland, who had lost two of his four children. As The Northern Echo reports, most believe that this child was probably the eighth of her biological children and one of only a few who would survive an encounter with their mother. Mary Ann Cotton was born in a small village in North England on 31st October 1832, to a miner father who died while Mary was just 8. He hired Mary Ann as a housekeeper in November 1866. However, in 1870 Mary Ann met another widower, Frederick Cotton, who was the brother of a friend. Robinson married Mary Ann at St Michael's, Bishopwearmouth on 11 August 1867. Then came the First World War. 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. We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. She rekindled the romance and persuaded her new family to move near him. That is not to say she was entirely innocent, although it does seem very unlikely that she murdered her own mother, who died of hepatitis. In 1852 she married William Mowbray, and over the next decade or so, the couple had eight or nine children. According to Psychology Today, female serial murderers often have a drive that's pretty distinct from their male counterparts. Her funeral service will be at 10:00 . 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. Her father's body was delivered to her mother in a sack bearing the stamp 'Property of the South Hetton Coal Company'. Mary Ann Cotton did not confess to a single murder, and while the number of victims is unknown, most sources believed she killed up to 21 people. She was entertained by many sporting events, polka music hours and cooking . Before their final break, Cotton had attempted to get Robinson to insure both himself and the remaining children. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. She officially died of hepatitis, though she died just over a week after her daughter came to tend to her. Mary Ann Cotton was an English serial killer convicted of poisoning her stepson Charles Edward Cotton in 1872. While some claimed that she was Britains first female serial killer, other women had previously been hanged for poisoning multiple people. 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. Mary Ann found employment as a nurse, and it was here that she met her next husband, George Ward. A Gannett Company. 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 . Login to find your connection. As with all nursery rhymes passed on primarily by word of mouth, there are variations. Mary Anns last remaining daughter, Isabella, also succumbed to gastric fever and Mary Ann received 5 10s 6d in insurance money. SO how guilty was Mary Ann Cotton? Her brother Robert was born in 1835. However, the first hearing led to Mary Ann's conviction for the death of Charles in March of that year. 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. It's not entirely clear how the two connected while Cotton was caring for Ward, but there must have been at least some semblance of a spark there. One could simply walk down to the corner shop and buy enough arsenic to kill a man a few times over. At that stage, only one of the nine kids she had with Mowbray was alive. However, Mary Ann was widely regarded as the countrys deadlist killer until Harold Shipman, who was thought to have murdered as many as 260 people in the late 20th century. All three children were buried in the last week of April and first week of May 1867. The insurance policy Mary Ann had taken out on Charles' life still awaited collection. As History Collection reports, his wife was paid via yet another life insurance policy and was left with two stepsons. 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. He is buried in Cambrai cemetery. Margaret was born in Durham Gaol on 10 January 1873 while her mother, Mary Ann Cotton, was awaiting trial for the murder (by arsenic) of Charles Edward Cotton. By the end of the following year Cotton and two more children had died; again Mary Ann reportedly received an insurance payout. Daily Mirror. ", "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 was subject to two court hearings, separated by a period of time set aside for her to give birth to her final child. If so, login to add it. HSW Podcast: *Howstuffworks.com. 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. He threw her out, retaining custody of their son George. I must tell you: you are the cause of all my trouble." What should have been a relatively quick end turned into a bungle. 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. Frederick Jr. died in March 1872 and the infant Robert soon after. Cotton was convicted of his murder and sentenced to death. Riley went to the village police and convinced the doctor to delay writing a death certificate until the circumstances could be investigated. A nursery rhyme concerning Cotton was composed after her hanging on 24 March 1873. Mary Ann Cotton, tied up with string. She was hanged at Durham County Gaol on March 24, 1873, but it was a bungled execution. by | Nov 27, 2020 | shib coin price prediction | 1 bedroom apartment scarborough kijiji | Nov 27, 2020 | shib coin price prediction | 1 bedroom apartment scarborough kijiji [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? Soon after, Mary Ann learnt that her former lover, Joseph Nattrass, was living 48 kilometres (30mi) away in the County Durham village of West Auckland, and was no longer married. I also trust their research diligence and on their old site they used to be able to publish their sources so you could follow-up if so inclined. A mortar shell exploded over his head and no trace was ever found of his body. As per Female Serial Killers, the two were married in 1865, shortly after he was discharged from the hospital. Soon her eleventh pregnancy was underway. Death of Charles Edward Cotton and inquest, Mary Ann's downfall came when she was asked by a parish official, Thomas Riley, to help nurse a woman who was ill with smallpox. 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 was supposed to have put in the bank. She died at age 54 in the spring of 1867, nine days after Mary Ann's arrival. Robinson refused to meet with his estranged wife in person, though he sent his brother-in-law. She lies in her bed, With her eyes wide open Sing, sing, oh, what can I sing, Mary Ann Cotton is tied up with string Where, where? By . She then allegedly told a local official that she could not marry Quick-Manning because of her seven-year-old stepson, Charles Edward Cotton. A Mr Aspinwall was first considered but the Attorney General, Sir John Duke Coleridge, whose decision it was, chose his friend and protg Charles Russell. 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. Soon after, Mary Ann learnt that her former lover, Joseph Nattrass, was living in the nearby village of West Auckland, and no longer married. 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. Insurance had been effected on his life and those of his sons. They married at St Peter's Church, Monkwearmouth, on 28 August 1865. In 1843, her mother married George Stott (18161895), also a miner. They had a son named Robert in early 1871, but Mary Ann discovered that her former lover, Nattrass, lived just 30 miles away in the village of West Auckland and was no longer married. The relationship of Mary Ann and Nattrass didnt last very long. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. 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." 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. [8], The Mary Ann Cotton case was partly dramatized on an episode of the 2022 BBC Radio podcast series Lucy Worsley's Lady Killers. Their child, Mary Isabella, was born that November, but she became ill with stomach pains and died in March 1868. Mary Ann would also eventually give birth to his child. William became a foreman at South Hetton Colliery and then a fireman aboard a steam vessel. By the middle of the nineteenth century, there was almost an epidemic of poisoning so who knows how many murders were committed. Ward was already in poor health but Mary Ann finished him off, and he died in October 1866. After moving frequently, the family settled in Hendon, Durham county, in about 1856. When Mary Ann christened the baby with its distinctive surname, it identified the father. Then the local newspapers latched on to the story and discovered Mary Ann had moved around northern England and lost three husbands, a lover, a friend, her mother, and 11 children, all of whom had died of stomach fevers. Authorities also exhumed the bodies of Nattrass and two other Cotton children, and all were determined to have been poisoned with arsenic. It may well be that the name of the excise man was in fact Richard Quick Mann. 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. However, the couple did not divorce. . Their second child George was born on 18 June 1869. He threw her out. Gastric fever also claimed Williams life in 1864 and the lives of two other children soon afterward. Mary Ann would go on to kill many of her own children, her husbands, lovers and other family. English serial killer Mary Ann Cotton, born October 31, 1832, and was hanged to death on March 24, 1873, for murdering her stepson Charles Edward Cotton by poisoning him. Updates? Soon enough, he and two of the children also died of "gastric fever." The insurance policy Mary Ann had taken out on (the still living) Charles' life still awaited collection. Cotton was no exception. At some point William took out a life insurance policy that covered both him and their three surviving children; the others had died from gastric fever, a common ailment that had symptoms similar to arsenic poisoning. Lest you think that works about Cotton fizzled out after the 19th century, look to the myriad of true crime books and drama that still focus on her. 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. She was charged with his murder, although the trial was delayed until after the delivery in Durham Gaol on 7 January 1873 of her thirteenth and final child, whom she named Margaret Edith Quick-Manning Cotton. The couple was married in September 1870, but since Mary Ann had not divorced Robinson, it was a bigamous marriage. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. 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. 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. 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. One of her patients at the infirmary was engineer George Ward. She supposedly did it using arsenic, a terrible poison that causes intense gastric pain and results in a rapid decline of health. It includes lines like "Mary Ann Cotton is tied up with string./Where, where?/Up in the air.". Yet, he preserved a section of the boy's stomach in a jar. Only two of her children survived her, including this new arrival. 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. In March 1873 her three-day trial began. [9], Mary Ann Cotton, she's dead and she's rotten 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. Plus, it really was everywhere, from the green dye in clothes, to wallpaper, to rat poison. It is said that she and William Mowbray had 4 children before returning to Murton. 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