Mary Ann Cotton

Mary Ann Cotton had a string of husbands, four to be exact. Three of them died. She is also said to have given birth to thirteen children, only two of which survived her. For years, she flew under the radar until the death of her last husband’s son raised suspicion among the media.

Mary was born Mary Ann Robson on October 31, 1832 at Low Morsley, County Durham. Her father, Michael Robson, was a colliery sinker which meant that he created the mine shafts. She was baptized on November 11 at St. Mary’s, West Rainton. She had a sister, Margaret, who was born in 1834 but only lived for a few months. Her younger brother, Robert, was born in 1835.

At eight years old her family moved to the County Durham village of Murton. She was described as an innocent girl who was known for her clean and tidy appearance.

Tragedy struck soon after the family moved. Her father fell 150 ft to his death down a mine shaft at Murton colliery in February 1842. To add insult to injury, her father’s body was returned to her mother, Margaret, in a sack that had a ‘Property of the South Hetton Coal Company’ stamp on it. The family was inhabiting a miner’s cottage that was tied to Michael’s job and they would have had to move but, in 1843, Margaret married another miner, George Stott.

When she turned sixteen, Mary Ann left home to become a nurse in the nearby village of South Hetton. She worked in the home of Edward Potter who was a manager at Murton colliery. After all of his children were sent to boarding school she returned to her stepfather’s home and trained as a dressmaker.

Mary Ann married for the first time in 1852 to William Mowbray. They moved to South West England and had a suspected nine children. It is hard to be certain how many children were born as records weren’t kept as meticulously as they are today. The only birth on record was that of their daughter Margaret Jane who was born at St. Germans in 1856.

The couple moved back to North East England. William worked first as a fireman aboard a steam vessel and then as a colliery foreman. The couple had another daughter whom they named Isabella in 1858. Margaret Jane died in 1860 and the next year Mary Ann gave birth to another daughter whom she also named Margaret Jane. In 1863 a son, John Robert William, was born but lived only a year before dying of gastric fever.

In January of 1865 William died of an intestinal disorder and Mary Ann collected insurance policies on his and John’s deaths.

Mary Ann then moved to Seaham Harbour, where she began a relationship with Joseph Nattrass. Margaret Jane, then three and a half, died of Typhus fever, leaving Mary Ann with only one living child of the nine she had birthed. After the death of her daughter, Mary Ann returned to Sunderland. She sent Isabella to live with her mother and began working at an infirmary.

She began a relationship with one of her patients there, George Ward. They were married shortly after on August 28, 1865. George continued to suffer ill health and died a little over a year after the two were married. His illness had caused him paralysis and intestinal problems. His official cause of death was marked as English Cholera and typhoid. Mary Ann again collected insurance money from this death.

Mary Ann then became a housekeeper for James Robinson, whose wife had recently died. A month after Mary Ann began working for him his infant son, John, died of gastric fever. James turned to Mary Ann for comfort and she became pregnant. Shortly thereafter, her mother became ill and Mary Ann went to take care of her. It wasn’t long before her mother began complaining of stomach pains and she died in the spring of 1867.

Mary Ann’s daughter, Isabella, returned to live with her at the Robinson’s house. Not long after she developed severe stomach problems and died, along with two of James’ children. Not realizing that there was anything amiss, James proceeded to marry Mary Ann in August 1867. The couple’s first child, Margaret Isabella, was born that November and then died in February of the following year. They had a son, George, in June 1869.

During this time James had become suspicious of his wife’s insistence that he take out a life insurance policy on himself. He discovered that she had ran up debts, stolen money and had forced his older children to pawn valuables from the house. He threw her out onto the streets and kept their son with him.

Mary Ann then met Frederick Cotton through her friend Margaret Cotton. In March 1870 Margaret died from an unknown stomach ailment, leaving Mary Ann to console Frederick and soon afterwards she found herself pregnant for the twelfth time. The couple were married in September 1870, even though Mary Ann was still married to her previous husband. They had a son, Robert, in early 1871.

Shortly after Robert’s birth, Mary Ann discovered that her former lover was living a mere thirty miles away. She rekindled their romance and convinced her family to move closer to him. Frederick died in December of the same year from gastric fever. Mary Ann promptly moved her lover into her home.

All was not well, though. Mary Ann had begun work as a nurse to an excise officer recovering from smallpox and had an affair with him. She became pregnant with her final child. Frederick Jr. died in March 1872 followed soon by her infant child Robert. Her lover then became ill as well, shortly after changing his will to include Mary Ann.

Mary Ann had an insurance policy out on the remaining Cotton child, Charles, and was becoming impatient. She complained to a parish official, Thomas Riley, that the boy was an inconvenience and in the way. She told him that she wouldn’t be troubled by him long, as he would go just like the rest of the Cottons.

When Mary Ann told him five days later that Charles had passed away, Riley became suspicious. He went to the village police and convinced the doctor to delay writing a death certificate until the circumstances could be determined.

After Charles died, Mary Ann went straight to the insurance office where she was informed that she wouldn’t receive any payout until the death certificate was issued. A jury ruled that it was natural causes and Mary Ann said she had given Charles arrowroot to help with his illness and that Riley was angry that Mary had turned down his advances.

However, it was too late. The local media caught wind of the story and the rumors began circulating. Death seemed to follow Mary Ann whereever she went. She had lost three husbands, a friend, a lover and eleven children. To make things even more suspicious, all of them had died from some sort of stomach ailment.

The suspicion of the public caused an investigation to begin. After finding traces of arsenic in Charles’ body, Mary Ann was arrested and charged with his murder. The trial was originally delayed until after she gave birth to her last child, Margaret Edith Quick-Manning Cotton.

The trial began on March 5, 1873. After hearing arguments from both the prosecution and the defense the jury deliberated for only ninety minutes before returning a guilty verdict.

Mary Ann Cotton was hanged nineteen days later at Durham County Gaol. The hanging didn’t go quite as planned and instead of dying from a snapped neck, Mary died of strangulation. The rope had been rigged too short and some speculate that this was done purposely because of the heinous nature of her crimes.

Sources:

brittanica.com/biography/Mary-Ann-Cotton

allthatsinteresting.com/mary-ann-cotton