She is believed to have murdered up to 21 people in total. . The body of the stepson was examined and found to contain arsenic. I cannot remember what was assumed, but my impression was that she craved the attention she got from taking care of the sick and then as a widow and the children seemed to be a means to ingratiate herself into a family and to take advantage of the grieving father, eventually marrying him and receiving the insurance from his passing. HP10 9TY. Where, where? The delay was caused by a problem in the selection of prosecution counsel. He threw her out. 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. After her marriage to Robinson crumbled, Cotton was introduced to Frederick Cotton by his sister, Margaret. 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. None of these deaths are registered, as although registration was compulsory at the time, the law was not enforced until 1874. She sent her remaining child, Isabella, to live with her mother. Daily Mirror. Hell go like all the rest of the Cottons.". Here's the messed-up truth about this notorious 19th century murderess. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. The census revealed that her boys were working underground William was a collier and John was a pony driver. Mary Ann received the insurance money, and she then left her daughter in the care of her mother. 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. This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network. Mary Ann Cotton, she's dead and forgotten, All three children had been subjects of small life insurance policies. 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. Their first child Margaret Isabella (Mary Isabella on her baptismal record) was born that November, but she became ill and died in February 1868. Please report any comments that break our rules. [7] The drama was inspired by the book Mary Ann Cotton: Britain's First Female Serial Killer by David Wilson, a criminologist. Her preferred method of killing was poisoning with arsenic. One of the more chilling legacies of Cotton's time on Earth is a children's nursery rhyme. His name is carved with countless thousands of others on the Menin Gate at Ypres. Yet, he preserved a section of the boy's stomach in a jar. She told Riley that the boy was sickly and added: I wont be troubled long. Her attorney tried to argue that the boys death came as a result of accidental inhalation of arsenic from the wallpaper. Mary Ann subsequently worked as a hospital nurse in nearby Sunderland, and in 1865 she married a patient, George Ward. However, it was accepted, and Russell conducted the prosecution. He continued to suffer ill health; he died in October 1866 after a long illness characterised by paralysis and intestinal problems. He is buried in Cambrai cemetery. She officially died of hepatitis, though she died just over a week after her daughter came to tend to her. Sister of Robert Robson, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ann_Cotton. discoveries. Cotton had rather more luck at work, where she came across a patient named George Ward. By . 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. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. MARGARET was born in Durham jail, the daughter of serial poisoner MARY ANN COTTON (nee ROBSON). Cotton's trial began on 5 March 1873. However, in April 1867 the girl and two of Robinsons children died. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Although she is often said to be Britains first female serial killer, this is a false claim. Then he found that Mary Ann had been forcing his older children to pawn household valuables. For many people in Victorian Britain, being born into a working-class family meant that one's life was often touched by tragedy. 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. 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. The . One of her youngest relatives who lives today in London is Carla. 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. What should have been a relatively quick end turned into a bungle. The insurance policy Mary Ann had taken out on Charles' life still awaited collection. What clouds hung over the family? Mary Ann first Cotton left home at only 16 years old to work as a nurse, according to Britannica. However, the levels of arsenic discovered in Charles' remains were too high to pin it on the wallpaper. Soon after the move her father fell 150 feet (46 m) to his death down a mine shaft at Murton Colliery. 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. The last straw was when he found she had been forcing his children to pawn household valuables for her. As Discover Magazine reports, the great majority of female serial killer appear to murder for money. 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. 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. 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. During the Victorian era, arsenic was seemingly everywhere, to the point where it became the murderer's poison du jour. [1] Baptised at St Mary's, West Rainton on 11 November 1832. 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. Baptised at St Mary's, West Rainton on 11 November 1832. Accessed 14 August 2015. 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. 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? This week, I'll delve into her psychology. "Mary Ann Cotton, a widow, is in custody at West Auckland, charged with having poisoned her stepson, aged eight years. He was John Quick- Manning, who was probably the excise officer at West Auckland Brewery and who was definitely married to someone else. 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. 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. That description fits Mary Ann Cotton very well indeed. Hell go like all the rest of the Cottons.. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. She was hanged at Durham Gaol. 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. 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. 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 jury retired for 90 minutes before finding Mary Ann guilty. Hell go like all the rest of the Cottons.. Cotton took her daughter, Isabella Jane, who had been living with Margaret, with her. 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. She rekindled the romance and persuaded her new family to move near him. Daughter of Michael Robson and Margaret Lonsdale Gastric fever also claimed Williams life in 1864 and the lives of two other children soon afterward. 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. One month later, when James' baby died of gastric fever, he turned to his housekeeper for comfort and she became pregnant. I could be remembering it wrong, though. 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. Then 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. Authorities also exhumed the bodies of Nattrass and two other Cotton children, and all were determined to have been poisoned with arsenic. In Low Moorsley, Tyne & Wear. In 1843, her mother married George Stott (18161895), also a miner. 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. Where, where? Affair with James Nattress, a married man, while married to Mowbray and possibly again, after Nattress was widowed, while she was "married" to Cotton. Frederick Jr. died in March 1872 and the infant Robert soon after. Soon after the move, Mary Ann's father fell 150 feet (46m) to his death down a mine shaft at Murton colliery in February 1842. Selling black puddings, a penny a pair. A verdict of "natural causes" was found but on reporting in the paper, someone totalled up Mary Ann's moves around the north of England and revealed the death toll. Mary Ann Cotton, also known as the Dark Angel, was a Victorian monster who murdered up to 21 people. He was also a widower who had lost two of his four children and lived in Northumberland. Her father Michael, a miner, was ardently religious and a fierce disciplinarian. 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." 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 ships manifest shows they were bound for Pennsylvania a coalmining area where Joseph presumably planned to find work. Up in the air. Margaret died from a mysterious stomach problem which allowed Mary Ann to dig her claws into the Cotton family. In Low Moorsley, Tyne & Wear. After three years there, she returned to her mother's home and trained as a dressmaker. After Frederick's death, Nattrass soon became Mary Ann's lodger. 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. At the age of 16, she moved out to become a nurse at Edward Potter's home in the nearby village of South Hetton. She supposedly did it using arsenic, a terrible poison that causes intense gastric pain and results in a rapid decline of health. 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. When Mary Ann was eight, her parents moved the family to the County Durham village of Murton. (The lack of documentationsuch as birth and death certificatesleaves many details of Mary Anns life open to dispute.) For weeks they have been Five days later, Mary Ann told Riley that the boy had died. There, she discovered that no money would be paid out until a death certificate was issued. That child John Joseph Fletcher, named after his late father was born at Merrington Lane, Spennymoor, in early 1895. 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. 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. 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