Mary Cotton was born in North England during the Victorian Period. As the miner's cottage they inhabited was tied to Michael's job, the widow and children would have been evicted. 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. Accessed 14 August 2015. While some claimed that she was Britains first female serial killer, other women had previously been hanged for poisoning multiple people. However, he died the following year, and Mary Ann reportedly collected money from another insurance policy. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can Perhaps most tellingly, her children lived to tell the tale. 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. Although her mother began to recover, she also began to complain of stomach pains. 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. The place is Durham Gaol. By now, she had become pregnant with a child by an excise officer named Richard Quick Mann. 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. Mother of Margaret Jane Mowbray; Isabella Mowbray; Margaret Jane Mowbray; John Robert Mowbray; Robert Robson Cotton and 3 others; Mary Isabella Robinson; George Robinson and Margaret Edith Quick-Manning Fletcher Kell less 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. "Mary Ann Cotton." Around this time she took up with a former lover, Joseph Nattrass, but later became . One of her youngest relatives who lives today in London is Carla. A brief investigation into the trial and execution of Mary Ann Cotton. 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. Mary Ann's daughter Isabella Mowbray was brought back to the Robinson household and soon developed severe stomach pains and died, as did two of Robinson's children, Elizabeth and James. Mary Ann Cottons trial, for allegedly murdering her stepson Charles, was delayed for several months so that she could give birth. 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. For women of the working class, the sudden death of a husband could easily throw them into devastating poverty with little way out. Cause of death: Hanging, Capital punishment - Mar 24 1873 - Durham, England, Oct 31 1832 - Low Moorsley (now part of Houghton-le-Spring in the City of Sunderland), Michael Robson, Margaret Robson (born Londsale), abella Mowbray, Mary Jane Mowbray, John Robert Mowbray, Margaret Isabella Robinson, George Robinson, Robert Robson Cotton, Mary Jane Mowbray, Circa 1832 - Low Moorsley, Hetton-le-Hole, Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom, Mar 24 1873 - Durham Gaol, Durham, County Durham, England, United Kingdom, Frederick Cotton, Charles E Cotton, Robert Cotton, Low Moorsley, Hetton-le-Hole, Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom, Deptford, County Durham, England, United Kingdom, Durham Gaol, Durham, County Durham, England, United Kingdom, Durham Gaol, Durham, Durham Unitary Authority, County Durham, England, United Kingdom, Margaret Edith Quick-Manning Fletcher Kell, Birth of Margaret Edith Quick-Manning Fletcher Kell, Durham, Durham Unitary Authority, County Durham , England. Though Britain passed the Arsenic Act of 1851 in an attempt to control the distribution of this deadly substance, it's clear that it wasn't all that difficult for Cotton to keep acquiring arsenic in her drive to kill the people around her. Although she is often said to be Britains first female serial killer, this is a false claim. Riley went to the village police and convinced the doctor to delay writing a death certificate until the circumstances could be investigated. 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. According to Mary Ann Cotton, Cotton wed Robinson in 1867. Mary Ann, pregnant again, was arrested and charged with Charles Cotton's death. He is buried in Cambrai cemetery. However, the couple did not divorce. The 1911 census lists Margaret, Robinson and her three sons living in Watt Street, Dean Bank. Mary Ann Cotton had finally been caught. Their first child Margaret Isabella (Mary Isabella on her baptismal record) was born that November, but she became ill and died in February 1868. John joined the Green Howards, rose to be a lance corporal, and was killed, on June 11, 1917, at the Battle of Messines, near Ypres. If so, login to add it. 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. During the Victorian era, arsenic was seemingly everywhere, to the point where it became the murderer's poison du jour. got your result, Mary Ann Cotton Family Tree Check All Members List, Merovingian Family Tree You Should Check It. She officially died of hepatitis, though she died just over a week after her daughter came to tend to her. 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. HSW Podcast: *Howstuffworks.com. As per History Collection, her younger sister Margaret died in 1834, when Cotton would have been only 8 years old. 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. Cotton was no exception. As Mary Ann Cotton, Dark Angelreported, Mary Ann blamed lax pharmacists for her young stepson's death. He died in October 1866, baffling doctors on his way out. 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. All three children were buried in the last week of April and first week of May 1867. 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. Ward continued to suffer ill health and died on 20 October 1866 after a long illness characterised by paralysis and intestinal problems. A mortar shell exploded over his head and no trace was ever found of his body. Cotton was convicted of his murder and sentenced to death. In 1872 Nattrass died, leaving his meagre belongings to Mary Ann. Perhaps, to Mary Ann Cotton's mind, if she tried to settle down without killing for insurance money, she would be putting herself in a situation where she lacked control and could easily find herself out on the street, as she likely did after James Robinson forced her out of their home. [2] He died in a field hospital on November 4 a week before the armistice. We meet Mary Ann as a loving wife and mother, newly returned to her native North East of England. After Frederick's death, Nattrass soon became Mary Ann's lodger. Mary is 25 degrees from Margaret Atwood, 28 degrees from Jim Carrey, 27 degrees from Elsie Knott, 26 degrees from Gordon Lightfoot, 30 degrees from Alton Parker, 27 degrees from Beatrice Tillman, 25 degrees from Jenny Trout, 27 degrees from Justin Trudeau, 28 degrees from Edwin Boyd, 24 degrees from Barbara Hanley, 33 degrees from Fanny Rosenfeld and 27 degrees from Cathryn Hondros on our single family tree. Mary Ann would go on to kill many of her own children, her husbands, lovers and other family. 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. 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. Though, as the Journal of Victorian Culture reports, there was some financial relief available to widows, it was often highly restricted. Frederick followed his predecessors to the grave in December of that year, from gastric fever." Her stepson, Frederick Jr., and Robert, her infant son with Frederick, died early 1872. 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. 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. 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 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 told Riley that the boy was sickly and added: I wont be troubled long. It went like this: Mary Ann Cotton, she's dead and she's rotten. The trap door wasnt placed high enough to break her neck. 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. . The series also featured Alun Armstrong, Jonas Armstrong and Emma Fielding. They married in September 1870, and Frederick died in December 1871 from the ever-present "gastric fever." 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. 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. Mary (Robson) Cotton is Notable. Mary Ann would also eventually give birth to his child. By the middle of the nineteenth century, there was almost an epidemic of poisoning so who knows how many murders were committed. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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 Ann's first visit after Charles' death was not to the doctor but the insurance office. Was often highly restricted wed Robinson in 1867 there was some financial relief available to widows, was... 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