MARGARET was born in Durham jail, the daughter of serial poisoner MARY ANN COTTON (nee ROBSON). Although she is often said to be Britains first female serial killer, this is a false claim. Plus, it really was everywhere, from the green dye in clothes, to wallpaper, to rat poison. On March 24, 1873, Mary Ann was hanged in a bungled execution. She only fell two feet, so the executioner had to push down on her shoulders. mary ann cotton surviving descendants. Lying in bed with her bones all rotten. Mary Ann Cotton, also known as the Dark Angel, was a serial killer who murdered up to 21 people, including her own children, mainly by poisoning them with arsenic. She apparently complained to a parish official named Thomas Riley that her stepson, Charles Edward Cotton, was preventing her from marrying Quick Mann. Once again, she profited from the insurance policy, but her spree was about to come to an end. The Raveness, an English performance poet from Warwickshire, composed a spoken word piece entitled "Of Rope and Arsenic" about Cotton and featured the nursery rhyme on her album. 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. Yet, the 7-year-old Charles was, to her mind, a serious impediment to her plans. 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. The scene is the hanging gallery. Her mother re-married. 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. 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." Selling black puddings, a penny a pair. Sql Count Where Value Equals, As Mary Ann Cotton, Dark Angelreported, Mary Ann blamed lax pharmacists for her young stepson's death. Mary Ann is a very female serial killer, a poisoner whose methods leave no visible scars, allowing her tally of victims to mount unsuspected by a Victorian society unable to conceive of a woman capable of such terrible crimes. By May 1872, Mary Ann Cotton had moved to West Auckland with her last remaining child, stepson Charles Cotton. For many people in Victorian Britain, being born into a working-class family meant that one's life was often touched by tragedy. As per Find A Grave, she thereafter appeared as "Margaret Edwards" on the 1881 census and later married John Joseph Fletcher in 1890. Mary is one of the wealthiest criminals and one of the most well-known. got your result, Mary Ann Cotton Family Tree Check All Members List, Merovingian Famil Matthew Ridgway, whose father was the Green River Killer remembers his father as a regular dad. Yet, according to Female Serial Killers, his cause of death was listed as cholera and typhoid. 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 levels of arsenic discovered in Charles' remains were too high to pin it on the wallpaper. Then Nattrass became ill with gastric fever and died just after revising his will in Mary Ann's favour. The lives of William and of their children were insured by the British and Prudential Insurance office and Mary Ann collected a payout of 35 on William's death (equivalent to 3,560 in 2021, about half a year's wages for a manual labourer at the time) and 2 5s for John Robert William. The . One of the more chilling legacies of Cotton's time on Earth is a children's nursery rhyme. 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. He threw her out, retaining custody of their son George. EMAIL info@joywalks.com Call Us: (504) 909-4914 According to Psychology Today, female serial murderers often have a drive that's pretty distinct from their male counterparts. The sheer number of children who met their deaths after coming into contact with the murderess exceeded even the juvenile mortality rate of a dangerous time before pediatricians and obstetricians were available to most people in Britain. Soon after she entered the home, Robinson's infant son died of yes, you guessed it "gastric fever.". To date Mary Ann remains Britain's most prolific female serial killer. As Nattrass had very few possessions, she was once again in financial difficulty. William joined the Durham Light Infantry and ended up in the London Rifles. Mary Ann Cottons trial, for allegedly murdering her stepson Charles, was delayed for several months so that she could give birth. Perhaps this is what caused the young family, in May 1893, to sail from Liverpool on RMS Umbria to New York for a new life. Betty Eccles was suspected of multiple murders and was hanged in 1843. She was believed to have murdered up to 21 people, mainly by arsenic poisoning. She took him in as a lodger while also starting a relationship with a man she knew as John Quick-Manning. Sing, sing, oh what should I sing? A month later, when James' baby John died of gastric fever, he turned to his housekeeper for comfort and she became pregnant. Mary Ann Cotton, tied up with string. By the middle of the nineteenth century, there was almost an epidemic of poisoning so who knows how many murders were committed. He hired Mary Ann as a housekeeper in November 1866. Daily Mirror. The author of this book believes she killed 17, based on the fact that their are no birth or death records for children she is supposed to have killed. Meanwhile, Mary Ann had rekindled her old romance with Joseph Nattrass, who had moved nearby. Cotton was no exception. Her mother, Margaret, died after Cotton visited the woman in March 1867. William and John went off to fight. Mary (Robson) Cotton is Notable. Mary Ann got a job at a nearby house at the age of sixteen. Her sister Margaret was born in 1834 but lived only a few months. In 2015 ITV filmed a two-part television drama, Dark Angel,[5] starring Joanne Froggatt as Cotton. Richard Quick Mann was a custom and excise man specialising in breweries and has been found in the records and this may be the real name of Mary Ann Cotton's lover. Mary Ann Cotton (ne Robson; 31 October 1832 24 March 1873) was an English convicted murderer who was executed for poisoning her stepson. They included Joseph Nattrass, the lover who had added Mary Ann to his will, along with her son Robert and stepson Frederick Cotton, Jr. Nattrass' remains showed that he, too, had been poisoned. When Mary was 8 she and her family moved to the Village of Murton in County Durham. Doctor William Byers Kilburn, who had attended Charles, had kept samples, and tests showed they contained arsenic. Moreover, she was also forcing her stepchildren to pawn household items. Estimated Net worth. Their first child Margaret Isabella (Mary Isabella on her baptismal record) was born that November, but she became ill and died in February 1868. As the miner's cottage they inhabited was tied to Michael's job, the widow and children would have been evicted. They included Joseph Nattrass, the lover who had added Mary Ann to his will, along with her son Robert and stepson Frederick Cotton, Jr. Nattrass' remains showed that he, too, had been poisoned. Mary Ann's downfall came when a parish official, Thomas Riley, asked her to help nurse a woman who was ill with smallpox. 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. Mary Ann Cotton killed anywhere between 14 and 25 people with arsenic. A sister named Margaret was born in 1834, but died a few short months later. For women of the working class, the sudden death of a husband could easily throw them into devastating poverty with little way out. When Riley pushed the doctor, Kilburn re-tested the tissue and found that it was full of arsenic. A mortar shell exploded over his head and no trace was ever found of his body. Mary's father died in a tragic accident by falling 150 feet down a mine shaft at Murton . 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. When Cotton gave birth to her and Robinson's child, her infant daughter quickly died of "convulsions." 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 Belle Gunness was a hard-working Norwegian immigrant to America who took in three foster children (Greig). Mary disliked her new step father. Instead, Cotton dropped only two feet and proceeded to choke, still alive. The ships manifest shows they were bound for Pennsylvania a coalmining area where Joseph presumably planned to find work. Five days later, Mary Ann told Riley that the boy had died. 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. 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. However, it was accepted, and Russell conducted the prosecution. WIKITREE PROTECTS MOST SENSITIVE INFORMATION BUT ONLY TO THE EXTENT STATED IN THE TERMS OF SERVICE AND PRIVACY POLICY. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. With thanks to Vivienne Smith, Durham; Joyce Malcolm, Newton Aycliffe; Alistair Fraser, the Western Front Association; John Dinning and Geoff Wall, the Ferryhill Heritage Centre; Tom Hutchinson, Bishop Auckland; Vi Steventon of Newton Aycliffe; Ian Smyth Herdman of Hartlepool and everybody else who has been in touch. Hell go like all the rest of the Cottons.". Only two of her children survived her, including this new arrival. The first focused on Charles' death and took place in August of 1872. 5 May 1802- Rotherhithe, Southwark, London, England, United Kingdom. They married in September 1870, and Frederick died in December 1871 from the ever-present "gastric fever." 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. She named her Margaret Edith Quick-Manning Cotton, partially to target her latest lover as the father of the child. It is believed that he was killed in a railway accident. Selling black puddings, a penny a pair. 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]. She lies in bed with her eyes View Site The only birth recorded was that of their daughter Margaret Jane, born at St Germans in 1856. Explore genealogy for Mary (Cotton) Marshall born 1553 Abbotts Ann, Andover, Hampshire, England died 1625 London, England including ancestors + descendants + 1 photos + 2 genealogist comments + more in the free family tree community. 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