She then allegedly told a local official that she could not marry Quick-Manning because of her seven-year-old stepson, Charles Edward Cotton. Neither came home. Then he found that Mary Ann had been forcing his older children to pawn household valuables. 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." She asked him to take the young boy to a workhouse, but Riley refused unless Mary Ann agreed to enter the workhouse too. In Low Moorsley, Tyne & Wear. But in late March 1870 Margaret died from an undetermined stomach ailment, leaving Mary Ann to console the grieving Frederick Sr. However, he died the following year, and Mary Ann reportedly collected money from another insurance policy. 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. Her sister Margaret was born in 1834 but lived only a few months. Mary Ann received the insurance money, and she then left her daughter in the care of her mother. When Riley pushed the doctor, Kilburn re-tested the tissue and found that it was full of arsenic. 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. Robinson refused to meet with his estranged wife in person, though he sent his brother-in-law. Cotton was no exception. They married in Monkwearmouth on 28 August 1865. But when their son, William, was born a few months after their arrival, his place of birth was listed as Imperial County in California a desert through which canals were being dug to create farmland. Hell go like all the rest of the Cottons.. Rumour turned to suspicion and forensic inquiry. After Frederick's death, Nattrass soon became Mary Ann's lodger. "Black puddens" refers to black pudding, a type of sausage made with pig's blood. Mary Ann Cotton (ne Robson; 31 October 1832 24 March 1873) was an English convicted murderer who was executed for poisoning her stepson. However, the couple did not divorce. Five days later, Mary Ann told Riley that the boy had died. The "great moral drama," as it was described, likely used the bloody true crime tropes so beloved by Victorians to impart a decidedly un-subtle lesson about how to live one's life the right way. Riley went to the village police and convinced the doctor to delay writing a death certificate until the circumstances could be investigated. Yet, she wasn't alone. If so, login to add it. Her family describe her as being immensely private, intelligent, warm and kind-hearted, and a devoted wife, mother and grandmother. Cotton died in December of that year, from "gastric fever." Then Nattrass became ill with gastric fever and died just after revising his will in Mary Ann's favour. He went to the police, who arrested Mary Ann and ordered the exhumation of Charles' body. 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? got your result, Mary Ann Cotton Family Tree Check All Members List, Merovingian Family Tree You Should Check It. 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. Baby Margaret seems to have been their only child and, according to the 1881 census when they were living in Leasingthorne, she was using the Edwards surname. [1] Baptised at St Mary's, West Rainton on 11 November 1832. Mary Ann found employment as a nurse, and it was here that she met her next husband, George Ward. The word was that she had killed anything up to 21 of her husbands, lovers, children and stepchildren, and even her own mother making her Britains most prolific mass murderer until Harold Shipman. In 1852 she married William Mowbray, and over the next decade or so, the couple had eight or nine children. 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. All three children had been subjects of small life insurance policies. She got away with it so long because arsenic was extremely hard to detect as symptoms were often confused with those associated with gastric ailments. A court-appointed lawyer put forth the idea that Charles had ingested arsenic through wallpaper, says the RadioTimes. Cotton's undoing came after she tried to have the son of her deceased husband sent to a workhouse. The last straw was when he found she had been forcing his children to pawn household valuables for her. This 19th century English woman is one of the earliest confirmed female serial killers in recorded memory. 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]. 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. It went like this: Mary Ann Cotton, she's dead and she's rotten. After the death of Mowbray, Mary Ann moved once again. An examination ultimately revealed the presence of arsenic in his stomach. The Cotton case was the first of several famous poisoning cases he would be involved in during his career, including those of Adelaide Bartlett and Florence Maybrick. Riley countered that the boy was a "little healthy fellow," but Charles died on July 12, 1872. Memories is aware that there are quite a lot of direct descendants of Mary Ann Cotton living in our area, and weve been asked to let their sleeping dogs lie. 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. She was believed to have murdered up to 21 people, mainly by arsenic poisoning. As one witness quoted in Mary Ann Cotton put it, Nattrass "died in a fit" and was "in great agony." An English woman convicted of murdering her children. The jury retired for 90 minutes before finding Mary Ann guilty. He died in 1872 from gastric fever soon after amending his will in Mary Anns favor. 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. A Mr. Aspinwall was supposed to get the job, but the Attorney General, Sir John Duke Coleridge, chose his friend and protg Charles Russell. She was regarded as Britain's Greatest Female Mass Murderer. 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. Mary (Robson) Cotton is Notable. A 19th Century Children's Ryhme was born out of her famed crimes. She only fell two feet, so the executioner had to push down on her shoulders. Perhaps that's why Ward fell sick again not too long after the wedding and before they could conceive a child together. Geni requires JavaScript! Female Serial Killers in Social Context reports that Mary Ann's first move was to approach Thomas Riley, a grocer who also happened to be the local assistant manager for the poor relief. 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. He was also a widower who had lost two of his four children and lived in Northumberland. 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. After it became clear that young Charles Cotton had died of arsenic poisoning, authorities gave permission for the exhumation of three more of Mary Ann Cotton's alleged victims, the RadioTimes reports. His name is carved with countless thousands of others on the Menin Gate at Ypres. Soon after, Mary Ann learnt that her former lover, Joseph Nattrass, was living in the nearby village of West Auckland, and no longer married. Daily Mirror. Things seemed to grow worse for the family after Mowbray took out life insurance policies on himself and their three remaining children. Death surrounded her from an early age. Though many of the people around her hadn't caught on to Mary Ann Cotton's murderous ways by the time her second husband had died, it's now rather obvious to people who have her whole story that she was using arsenic. By now, she had become pregnant with a child by an excise officer named Richard Quick Mann. At the beginning of it all, the girl who would become Mary Ann Cotton seemed, frankly, pretty unremarkable. She was regarded as Britain's Greatest Female Mass Murderer. 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. 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. 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. Daily Mirror. 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. Though he appears to have worked as a skilled laborer who opened new mining shafts, the Robsons were working class. There is some speculation that she may have been pregnant before their marriage and that is why it was held at the registry office. Mary Anns first port of call after Charles' death was not the doctors but the insurance office. Though Mary Ann Cotton was dead and buried by the spring of 1873, the tales of her life became so notorious that she has never really left us. Cotton collected another insurance payout and moved on. 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 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. It is believed that she ki**ed three of her husbands so that she could collect their life insurance policies and may . Cotton's trial began on 5 March 1873. 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 . He hired Mary Ann as a housekeeper in November 1866. In March 1870, Margaret died from a mysterious stomach problem which allowed Mary Ann to dig her claws into the Cotton family. Soon after she entered the home, Robinson's infant son died of yes, you guessed it "gastric fever.". She was later found guilty and executed. According to some sources, she left home at age 16 to work as a nurse but returned three years later and became a dressmaker. For women of the working class, the sudden death of a husband could easily throw them into devastating poverty with little way out. And her killing spree started right here in. By the time they got married in August 1867, three of Robinsons children and his mother had died. She told Riley that the boy was sickly and added: "I wont be troubled long. 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. With this baby still in nappies, Joseph disappeared. Yet, the 7-year-old Charles was, to her mind, a serious impediment to her plans. Her mother, Margaret, died after Cotton visited the woman in March 1867. 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. 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. Yet, he preserved a section of the boy's stomach in a jar. The couple met when Robinson hired Mary Ann as his housekeeper in November 1866. Stuff You Missed in History Class, from where I took most of the information, has a great podcast on her. Her brother Robert was born in 1835. Another daughter, Isabella, was born in 1858, and Margaret Jane died in 1860. Their child, Mary Isabella, was born that November, but she became ill with stomach pains and died in March 1868. A more complete version runs: She lies in her bed With eyes wide open. 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. Investigations into her behaviour soon showed a pattern of deaths. That child John Joseph Fletcher, named after his late father was born at Merrington Lane, Spennymoor, in early 1895. Her father's body was delivered to her mother in a sack bearing the stamp 'Property of the South Hetton Coal Company'. The 1911 census lists Margaret, Robinson and her three sons living in Watt Street, Dean Bank. 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. 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. Soon after Mowbray's death, Mary Ann moved to Seaham Harbour, County Durham, where she struck up a relationship with Joseph Nattrass. Campbell Foster argued that it was possible that the chemist had mistakenly used arsenic powder instead of bismuth powder (used to treat diarrhoea), when preparing a bottle for Cotton, because he had been distracted by talking to other people. discoveries. She rekindled the romance and persuaded her new family to move near him. Soon enough, Margaret died of a mysterious gastrointestinal ailment, allowing Mary Ann to get closer to Frederick. It is believed that he was killed in a railway accident. 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. She gained employment as nurse to an excise officer recovering from smallpox. Rather quickly, she sent the daughter to live with her own mother, Margaret, and set out on her own once again. According to Mary Ann Cotton, her father was a coal miner. He died in a field hospital on November 4 a week before the armistice. Sister of Robert Robson, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ann_Cotton. By the middle of the nineteenth century, there was almost an epidemic of poisoning so who knows how many murders were committed. By May 1872, Mary Ann Cotton had moved to West Auckland with her last remaining child, stepson Charles Cotton. Mary Ann was charged with the murder of Charles Edward Cotton, and while she was in jail, a daughter was born in January 1873; that infantwho was reportedly her 13th childand another offspring were the only ones to outlive their mother. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 2008 - 2022 INTERESTING.COM, INC. It is said that she and William Mowbray had 4 children before returning to Murton. [8], The Mary Ann Cotton case was partly dramatized on an episode of the 2022 BBC Radio podcast series Lucy Worsley's Lady Killers. William and Mary Ann moved back to North East England, where William worked as a fireman aboard a steam vessel sailing out of Sunderland, then as a colliery foreman. Mary was only ever convicted of one murder, the poisoning with arsenic of her 7-year-old stepson, Charles Edward Cotton. 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. A nursery rhyme concerning Cotton was composed after her hanging on 24 March 1873. Today we dive into the serial killer Mary Ann Cotton. [7] The drama was inspired by the book Mary Ann Cotton: Britain's First Female Serial Killer by David Wilson, a criminologist. Serial killer Mary Ann Cotton is a female serial killer. After she was finally apprehended in 1872, some estimated that she may have killed as many as 21 people, according to Britannica. What clouds hung over the family? He died in October 1866, baffling doctors on his way out. 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. After three years there, she returned to her mother's home and trained as a dressmaker. It may well be that the name of the excise man was in fact Richard Quick Mann. She officially died of hepatitis, though she died just over a week after her daughter came to tend to her. One of the more chilling legacies of Cotton's time on Earth is a children's nursery rhyme. , got your result about mary ann cotton family tree please comment if we missed anything here, please let us know. She named her Margaret Edith Quick-Manning Cotton, partially to target her latest lover as the father of the child. "Mary Ann Cotton." login . Although she is often said to be Britains first female serial killer, this is a false claim. A 19th Century Children's Ryhme was born out of her famed crimes. She told Riley that the boy was sickly and added: I wont be troubled long. 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. Baptised at St Mary's, West Rainton on 11 November 1832. 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. Affair with James Nattress, a married man, while married to Mowbray and possibly again, after Nattress was widowed, while she was "married" to Cotton. [citation needed] The jury retired for 90 minutes before returning a guilty verdict. Although her mother began to recover, she also began to complain of stomach pains. All three children were buried in the last two weeks of April 1867. An army of readers many anonymous, others marshalled by Tim Brown of Ferryhill Local History Society and some relatives have helped put us right. One of her youngest relatives who lives today in London is Carla. He hired Mary Ann as a housekeeper in November 1866. 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. Soon, he found out that she owed 60 and had also stolen 50 she was supposed to put in the bank. 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