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. They married in Monkwearmouth on 28 August 1865. However, the first hearing led to Mary Ann's conviction for the death of Charles in March of that year. IN October 1894, Margaret, by now a 21-year-old widow, sailed from Boston, Massachusetts, on RMS Cephalonia, with her two toddlers, Clara and William, back to Liverpool. mary ann cotton surviving descendants. The Messed Up Truth About 19th Century Murderess Mary Ann Cotton. In a close-knit community like the Durham coalfield, it would have been impossible for Margaret to escape the notoriety of her birth. Mary Ann Cotton ( ne Robson; 31 October 1832 - 24 March 1873) was an English convicted murderer who was executed for poisoning her stepson. R > Robson | C > Cotton > Mary Ann (Robson) Cotton, Categories: Serial Killers of the 19th Century | This Day In History March 24 | Murderers | Death by Hanging | Serial Killers | Notables, WIKITREE HOME | ABOUT | G2G FORUM | HELP | SEARCH. Soon, Mary became pregnant by him with her thirteenth child. Selling black pudding a penny a pair. 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. Margaret, her husband, and their baby daughter Clara moved to the United States in 1893, but she then returned to Durham in 1894 as a young widow. She was convicted of just the one murder, of her young stepson, but the evidence against her was vague and circumstantial, and it is extremely doubtful that it would stand up in a modern court of law. Preeminent British Criminologist David Wilson has described Mary Ann Cotton as a Black Widow and Britain's First Female Serial Killer with 15 confirmed murder victims, and another six suspected victims in 20 years. Riley went to the village police and convinced the doctor to delay writing a death certificate until the circumstances could be investigated. Born in October 1832 in County Durham, England, Cotton was the daughter of Michael and Margaret Robson. 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. It appears that, sometime around the birth, he fled town, with some reports indicating that he went so far as to leave the country, while others claim that he reconciled with his wife and lived a relatively quiet existence thereafter. 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 would live until she was nine years old - longer than any of Mary . She was a Victorian wife and mother of 13 children who worked as a Sunday-school teacher and a nurse. Cotton was no exception. Mary Ann was born into a working class family, and her first marriage was to a mining labourer. Although she began a relationship with a man named Joseph Nattrass, she moved once again, this time to Sunderland, after another one of her children died from gastric fever. She only fell two feet, so the executioner had to push down on her shoulders. Mary Ann Cotton's now-inevitable trial was delayed, as it soon became clear to officials that she was pregnant. Mary was born October 31 1832 Mary's sister Margaret was born 1834 Margaret dies June 1834 Mary's brother Robert was born 1835 The family moves to Durham 1841 Her father falls down a mineshaft and dies February 1842 Her mother marries George Stott 1843 Mary leaves home to train as a nurse 1848 Mary comes back home to train as a dressmaker 1851 October, 31, 1832 Depiction of Mary Ann Cotton. She supposedly did it using arsenic, a terrible poison that causes intense gastric pain and results in a rapid decline of health. Their second child George was born on 18 June 1869. Her death was registered by her son ROBINSON the day after she died. login . Then Mary Ann's mother, living in Seaham Harbour, County Durham, became ill with hepatitis, so she immediately went to her. Mary Ann received a life-insurance payment of 5 10s 6d for Isabella. However, the prosecutions evidence, notably the other arsenic-related deaths, proved insurmountable, and she was convicted and sentenced to death. Selling black puddings, a penny a pair. Neither came home. Mary Ann Cotton, also known as the Dark Angel, was a Victorian monster who murdered up to 21 people. Robinson married Mary Ann at St Michael's, Bishopwearmouth on 11 August 1867. During her 40 year life span she was responsible for the deaths, by poisoning, of 17 people, perhaps even more. A short time later, she married William Mowbray in an 1852 ceremony. The couple would go on to have at least eight children, though, by the time they had settled into a home in Hendon, England, in 1856, some had already died of what was termed "gastric fever." All three children had been subjects of small life insurance policies. As per Find A Grave, she thereafter appeared as "Margaret Edwards" on the 1881 census and later married John Joseph Fletcher in 1890. The second, which took place in February 1873, was to center on the deaths of Nattrass, along with those of Robert and Frederick. She also began a relationship with Joseph Nattrass, History Collection reports, though the affair never resolved into marriage. Sql Count Where Value Equals, James became suspicious of the deaths and took his one surviving child away, moving to a place Mary Ann could never find them. 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. Around this time she took up with a former lover, Joseph Nattrass, but later became . Cotton took her daughter, Isabella Jane, who had been living with Margaret, with her. During the Victorian era, arsenic was seemingly everywhere, to the point where it became the murderer's poison du jour. That description fits Mary Ann Cotton very well indeed. MARGARET was born in Durham jail, the daughter of serial poisoner MARY ANN COTTON (nee ROBSON). The trial got going on March 3 and Mary Ann was found guilty of the one murder four days later. His name is carved with countless thousands of others on the Menin Gate at Ypres. The defence in the case was handled by Thomas Campbell Foster, who argued during the trial that Charles had died from inhaling arsenic used as a dye in the green wallpaper of the Cotton home. Mary Ann received a life-insurance payment of 5 10s 6d for Isabella. Lying in bed with her eyes wide open. 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. In March 1870, Margaret died from a mysterious stomach problem which allowed Mary Ann to dig her claws into the Cotton family. Mary Ann Robson was born on 31 October 1832 at Low Moorsley,[1] County Durham to Margaret, ne Londsdale and Michael Robson, a colliery sinker; and baptised at St Mary's, West Rainton on 11 November. She named her Margaret Edith Quick-Manning Cotton, partially to target her latest lover as the father of the child. 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. William joined the Durham Light Infantry and ended up in the London Rifles. Our female killer of interest was born Mary Ann Her daughter, Clara, 19, was living with Sarah in St Lukes Terrace, Ferryhill. Of Mary Ann's 13 children, only two survived her: Margaret Edith (18731954) and her son George from her marriage to James Robinson. This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 14:31. She died at age 54 in the spring of 1867, nine days after Mary Ann's arrival. She gained employment as nurse to an excise officer recovering from smallpox. tenthpin management consultants salary . Newspaper report of Cottons arrest. Someone had either inadvertently or, as some suspect, intentionally miscalculated the drop needed to break her neck and bring death instantaneously. She came back home three years later, taking up work as a dressmaker. Her death was registered by her son ROBINSON the day after she died. During this time, her 3-year-old daughter died, leaving her with one child out of the nine she had borne. Her mother remarried in 1843 but Mary despised her new stepfather and at 16 she moved out of the family home to become a nurse. He decided to throw her out of their home and retained custody of their surviving child, George. Riley countered that the boy was a "little healthy fellow," but Charles died on July 12, 1872. Low Moorsley on the south western outskirts of Hetton-le-Hole was the birthplace on October 31, 1832 of Mary Ann Robson (later Mary Ann Cotton) , one of the most notorious figures in the history of murderous crime. Another daughter, Isabella, was born in 1858, and Margaret Jane died in 1860. Her daughter, Clara, 19, was living with Sarah in St Lukes Terrace, Ferryhill. However, in 1870 Mary Ann met another widower, Frederick Cotton, who was the brother of a friend. Mary Ann Cotton - Dark Angel: Britain s First Female Serial Kille, Pen & Sword Publishing, 2012. The census records, birth, death and marriage records also show no trace of him. William's life was insured by the British and Prudential Insurance office and Mary Ann collected a payout of 35 on his death, equivalent to about half a year's wages for a manual labourer at the time. After Frederick's death, Nattrass soon became Mary Ann's lodger. In Low Moorsley, Tyne & Wear. Daily Mirror. James Robinson was a shipwright at Pallion in Sunderland, whose wife Hannah had recently died. As per Female Serial Killers, the two were married in 1865, shortly after he was discharged from the hospital. A sister named Margaret was born in 1834, but died a few short months later. 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. Here's the messed-up truth about this notorious 19th century murderess. 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. Cotton took her daughter, Isabella Jane, who had been living with Margaret, with her. Then Mary Ann's mother, living in Seaham Harbour, County Durham, became ill with hepatitis, so she immediately went to her. 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. 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. Riley grew suspicious and alerted the police. Mary Ann Cotton, she's tied up with string. When Mary Ann Cotton was christened on 5 May 1802, in Rotherhithe, Southwark, London, England, United Kingdom, her father, Samuel Cotton, was 48 and her mother, Sarah Roby, was 38. . Though she's been gone for nearly a century and a half, Cotton remains one of the most shocking female killers in modern history. 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. She apparently complained to a parish official named Thomas Riley that her stepson, Charles Edward Cotton, was preventing her from marrying Quick Mann. In 1867, Mary Ann's stepfather George Stott married his widowed neighbour, Hannah Paley. 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. Our female killer of interest was born Mary Ann Of Mary Ann's thirteen children, only two survived her: Margaret Edith and her son George from her marriage to James Robinson. Today, there is a TV series entitled Dark Angel on UK television which depicts the life and crimes of a woman who murdered three of her spouses and up to 11 of her children. Parents Mary Ann Robson Cotton 1832-1873 Spouses John Joseph Fletcher 1862-1894 (m. 1891) When Mary Ann was eight, her parents moved the family to the County Durham village of Murton. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA. We told the story in Memories 96, with, as ever, a few inaccuracies. [3] He told the police, who arrested Mary Ann and procured exhumation of Charles' body. 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 The Northern Echo, Mary Ann soon took up with a manager of the West Auckland Brewery, a man by the name of John Quick-Manning. Soon enough, he and two of the children also died of "gastric fever." In 1843, Mary Ann's widowed mother, Margaret (ne Lonsdale) married George Stott, with whom Mary Ann did not get along. All three children were buried in the last two weeks of April 1867. 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. William died of an intestinal disorder in January 1865. 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." It is believed that he was killed in a railway accident. 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.
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