mary ann cotton surviving descendants

Frederick Jr. died in March 1872 and the infant Robert soon after. 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. She was hanged at Durham Gaol. The only birth recorded was that of their daughter Margaret Jane, born at St Germans in 1856. Up in the air. While some claimed that she was Britains first female serial killer, other women had previously been hanged for poisoning multiple people. Mary Ann Robson Cotton (1832-1873) - Find A Grave Mary Cotton was born in North England during the Victorian Period. The Cotton case was the first of several famous poisoning cases he would be involved in during his career, including those of Adelaide Bartlett and Florence Maybrick. Cotton collected another insurance payout and moved on. What clouds hung over the family? Mary Ann Cotton ( ne Robson; 31 October 1832 - 24 March 1873) was an English convicted murderer who was executed for poisoning her stepson. It went like this: Mary Ann Cotton, she's dead and she's rotten. It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. She asked Riley if he could commit Cotton to a workhouse and when that suggestion was rebuffed, she said this to Riley: I wont be troubled long. 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. He threw her out. Missedinhistory.com. She came back home three years later, taking up work as a dressmaker. The delay was caused by a problem in the selection of the public prosecutor. At the time of her trial, there were reports of four or five of their children dying young while they were living away from County Durham. He hired Mary Ann as a housekeeper in November 1866. Lying in bed with her eyes wide open. She gained employment as nurse to an excise officer recovering from smallpox. She and her only surviving child, Isabella, had moved back to County Durham. Cotton's undoing came after she tried to have the son of her deceased husband sent to a workhouse. Cotton had rather more luck at work, where she came across a patient named George Ward. Once again, Mary Ann collected insurance money in respect of her husband's death. Mary Ann would also eventually give birth to his child. According to Mary Ann Cotton, Cotton wed Robinson in 1867. Mary Anns first port of call after Charles' death was not the doctors but the insurance office. The defense in the case was handled by Mr. Thomas Campbell . He threw her out, retaining custody of their son George. This left their widowed mother in a difficult situation. 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. As she was sentenced to hang, the second hearing fizzled out. Several petitions were presented to the Home Secretary, but to no avail. 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. We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. She sent her remaining child, Isabella, to live with her mother. A 19th Century Children's Ryhme was born out of her famed crimes. Several petitions were presented to the Home Secretary, but to no avail. In 2015 ITV filmed a two-part television drama, Dark Angel,[5] starring Joanne Froggatt as Cotton. Her mother, Margaret, died after Cotton visited the woman in March 1867. He decided to throw her out of their home and retained custody of their surviving child, George. He was John Quick- Manning, who was probably the excise officer at West Auckland Brewery and who was definitely married to someone else. 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. discoveries. Mary Ann subsequently worked as a hospital nurse in nearby Sunderland, and in 1865 she married a patient, George Ward. 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. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA. 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." Soon after Mowbray's death, Mary Ann moved to Seaham Harbour, County Durham, where she struck up a relationship with Joseph Nattrass. It may well be that the name of the excise man was in fact Richard Quick Mann. Later in 1901, Margaret married Robinson Kell, a miner at the Dean and Chapter Colliery in Ferryhill, and had his son. Once again, Mary Ann collected insurance money from her husband's death. There appears to be no trace of John Quick-Manning in the records of The West Auckland Brewery or The National Archives at Kew. Then he found that Mary Ann had been forcing his older children to pawn household valuables. Enter a grandparent's name. Soon after, Mary Ann learnt that her former lover, Joseph Nattrass, was living 48 kilometres (30mi) away in the County Durham village of West Auckland, and was no longer married. A mortar shell exploded over his head and no trace was ever found of his body. From above, out of sight of the gallows, members of the Press are gathered. Soon, he found out that she owed 60 and had also stolen 50 she was supposed to put in the bank. Then came the First World War. Whether or not he suspected his wife of something worse than fraud isn't clear, but we do know that Robinson refused, saving their lives. The couple had five children, four of whom died from gastric fever. (The lack of documentationsuch as birth and death certificatesleaves many details of Mary Anns life open to dispute.) Regardless of her counterarguments, Mary Ann was still to die. At that stage, only one of the nine kids she had with Mowbray was alive. An examination of the body revealed arsenic in his stomach, and further exhumations on the bodies of two other Cotton children and Nattrass found traces of the poison. 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 move must have been Mary Ann's idea . Her daughter, Clara, 19, was living with Sarah in St Lukes Terrace, Ferryhill. Mary Ann would go on to kill many of her own children, her husbands, lovers and other family. Instead, Cotton dropped only two feet and proceeded to choke, still alive. I could be remembering it wrong, though. It was performed by a notoriously clumsy hangman, and the trap door was not positioned high enough to break her neck, forcing the executioner to press down on her shoulders. Investigations into her behaviour soon showed a pattern of deaths. Riley, who also served as West Auckland's assistant coroner, said she needed to accompany him. 29 July 2015. Thank you for visiting mary ann cotton family tree page. 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. He was also a widower who had lost two of his four children and lived in Northumberland. "Mary Ann Cotton, a widow, is in custody at West Auckland, charged with having poisoned her stepson, aged eight years. This 19th century English woman is one of the earliest confirmed female serial killers in recorded memory. She was believed to have murdered up to 21 people, mainly by arsenic poisoning. Someone had either inadvertently or, as some suspect, intentionally miscalculated the drop needed to break her neck and bring death instantaneously. The Robson family moved to the village of Murton in Durham when Mary Ann was eight, but tragedy struck in February 1842. Lest you think that works about Cotton fizzled out after the 19th century, look to the myriad of true crime books and drama that still focus on her. Arsenic, however, was more subtle. Baby Margaret spent some time with her biological mother in the jail cell, before she was eventually given to her adoptive parents, William and Sarah Edwards, aged about 10 weeks old. By May 1872, Mary Ann Cotton had moved to West Auckland with her last remaining child, stepson Charles Cotton. His name is carved with countless thousands of others on the Menin Gate at Ypres. William became a foreman at South Hetton Colliery and then a fireman aboard a steam vessel. 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. 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. She was a Victorian wife and mother of 13 children who worked as a Sunday-school teacher and a nurse. One of the more chilling legacies of Cotton's time on Earth is a children's nursery rhyme. 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. 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. A nursery rhyme concerning Cotton was composed after her hanging on 24 March 1873. That man was recorded as "John Quick-Manning," though it's possible that he gave Mary Ann a partially false name. This week, I'll delve into her psychology. 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. Product Description. It is quite clear that much of south Durham knew her life story, but it is also clear that she was accepted, and even admired, by that community. 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. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. In 1852 she married William Mowbray, and over the next decade or so, the couple had eight or nine children. By . The delay was caused by a problem in the selection of prosecution counsel. However, it was accepted, and Russell conducted the prosecution. Riley grew suspicious and alerted the police. Mary Ann first Cotton left home at only 16 years old to work as a nurse, according to Britannica. Mary Ann Cotton was hanged at Durham County Gaol on 24 March 1873 by William Calcraft. Nattrass soon followed, though not before he put Mary Ann down as a beneficiary in his will. The first focused on Charles' death and took place in August of 1872. Her father died eight years later in a mining accident. However, it was accepted, and Russell conducted the prosecution. Once again, she profited from the insurance policy, but her spree was about to come to an end. William and John went off to fight. Some substances, like cyanide and strychnine, were also readily available but produced obvious results. Mary Ann received a life-insurance payment of 5 10s 6d for Isabella. c. 1870. However, she added, I wont be troubled long. After the boy died, the official notified the police. Mary Ann nursed the baby in her cell one visitor told The Northern Echo how he had encountered Mrs Cotton sitting on a stool close by a good fire, giving the breast to her baby until all avenues of appeal were exhausted. Rather quickly, she sent the daughter to live with her own mother, Margaret, and set out on her own once again. 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 rekindled the romance and persuaded her new family to move near him. A more complete version runs: She lies in her bed With eyes wide open. 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. By the middle of the nineteenth century, there was almost an epidemic of poisoning so who knows how many murders were committed. Lying in bed with her bones all rotten. He is buried in Cambrai cemetery. The inquiry into Charles Cotton's death showed that Mary Ann's weapon of choice was arsenic. Today we dive into the serial killer Mary Ann Cotton. Was still legally married to James Robinson, Mary Ann & Mowbray's children: (3 rumored but unsubstantiated children), Mary Jane (-1860), Margaret Jane (-1865), John Robert (-1864), Isabella (-1867), George Ward (-1866), husband (briefly) - already ill and in the hospital when they met and married, 5 children of James Robinson & his late wife, Hannah, Margaret Lonsdale Robson Stott, mother (-1867), Child of Mary Ann & James Robinson: Margaret Isabella (-1868), 4 Children of Frederick & Unknown Cotton: 2 (before 1869) plus Frederick Jr and Charles Edward Cotton (-1872) - for whose murder she was arrested, tried and hung, Child of Mary Ann & Frederick Cotton: Robert Robson Cotton (-1870), Frederick Cotton, Sr, bigamous (she was the bigamist, not him) husband (-1871), Lady Killers, BBC Radio 4, Episode 7: Mary Ann Cotton (more info on. Her brother Robert was born in 1835. According to some sources, she left home at age 16 to work as a nurse but returned three years later and became a dressmaker. The doctor testified that there was no other powder on the same shelf in the chemist's shop as the arsenic, only liquid; the chemist himself claimed that there were other powders. We meet Mary Ann as a loving wife and mother, newly returned to her native North East of England. The second, which took place in February 1873, was to center on the deaths of Nattrass, along with those of Robert and Frederick. She was entertained by many sporting events, polka music hours and cooking . Why arsenic, though? Reportedly just weeks after her arrival in 1866, one of his five children succumbed to gastric fever. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. 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. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. Rumour gave rise to suspicion and scientific investigation. Up in the air Sellin' black puddens a penny a pair. 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." As the miner's cottage they inhabited was tied to Michael's job, the widow and children would have been evicted. mary ann cotton surviving descendants mary ann cotton surviving descendants. Cotton was born on October 31, 1832, in a village near Sunderland. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please 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. The . Ward was already in poor health but Mary Ann finished him off, and he died in October 1866. A 19th Century Children's Ryhme was born out of her famed crimes. The trial got going on March 3 and Mary Ann was found guilty of the one murder four days later. Mary (Robson) Cotton is Notable. George Robinson was the other. A week before her brutally botched execution on March 24, she gave the infant to be adopted by a couple she knew in West Auckland, William and Sarah Edwards. She persuaded him to move his family closer, and in December 1871, Cotton died of gastric fever. Mary Ann Cotton, she's tied up with string. In 1852, 20-year-old Mary Ann married colliery labourer William Mowbray at Newcastle Upon Tyne register office; they soon moved to South West England. Yet, according to Female Serial Killers, his cause of death was listed as cholera and typhoid. As Discover Magazine reports, the great majority of female serial killer appear to murder for money. [6] The first part of the dramatisation was broadcast on 31 October 2016, the second part was broadcast on 7 November. Affair with James Nattress, a married man, while married to Mowbray and possibly again, after Nattress was widowed, while she was "married" to Cotton. Although her father fell down a THE baby was the daughter born to Mary Ann Cotton, of West Auckland, in Durham jail on January 7, 1873. Five days later, Mary Ann told Riley that the boy had died. After her sentencing, Mary Ann Cotton attempted to save herself through various means, from hoping for a pardon to appear to arguing that everyone else in her life had failed her. 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. Ward continued to suffer ill health and died on 20 October 1866 after a long illness characterised by paralysis and intestinal problems. He, however, was engaged to another woman and she left Seaham after Nattrasss wedding. Betty Eccles was suspected of multiple murders and was hanged in 1843. Mary Ann Cotton was an English serial killer convicted of poisoning her stepson Charles Edward Cotton in 1872. Few people who lived with Mary Ann Cotton were shown mercy, not least the children who were so unfortunate as to enter her orbit. Although her mother began to recover, she also began to complain of stomach pains. Riley countered that the boy was a "little healthy fellow," but Charles died on July 12, 1872. She only fell two feet, so the executioner had to push down on her shoulders. Though she's been gone for nearly a century and a half, Cotton remains one of the most shocking female killers in modern history. 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. She named her Margaret Edith Quick-Manning Cotton, partially to target her latest lover as the father of the child. When Mary Ann was eight, her parents moved the family to the County Durham village of Murton. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. Mary Ann had cashed in William's life insurance, equivalent to about 1,700 in today's money. James Robinson was a shipwright at Pallion, Sunderland, whose wife, Hannah, had recently died. Daughter of Michael Robson and Margaret Lonsdale 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. Her death was registered by her son ROBINSON the day after she died. He went to the police, who arrested Mary Ann and ordered the exhumation of Charles' body. For women of the working class, the sudden death of a husband could easily throw them into devastating poverty with little way out. Mary Ann Cottons trial, for allegedly murdering her stepson Charles, was delayed for several months so that she could give birth. Stuff You Missed in History Class, from where I took most of the information, has a great podcast on her. After Frederick's death, Nattrass soon became Mary Anns lodger. Cotton asked the man to circulate a petition in yet another attempt to save her, which did happen, yet it had no real effect on her ultimate fate. After three years there, she returned to her mother's home and trained as a dressmaker. Although his doctor acknowledged Wards poor health, he was surprised that the man died so suddenly. Isabella lasted a few weeks until she died of "gastric fever," and she was soon followed by two more of Robinson's children, who succumbed to "continued fever" and yet another case of "gastric fever," according to death records. One of her youngest relatives who lives today in London is Carla. Mary Ann Cotton, tied up with string. Mary Ann Cotton's now-inevitable trial was delayed, as it soon became clear to officials that she was pregnant. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. What should have been a relatively quick end turned into a bungle. Omissions? One of her youngest relatives who lives today in London is Carla. As per History Collection, her younger sister Margaret died in 1834, when Cotton would have been only 8 years old. 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. 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 had been expected to bank. Nonetheless, Mary Ann evaded suspicion (even though she collected more insurance money) and moved on to her next target, the recently widowed James Robinson. 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. Leave a message for others who see this profile. After three minutes, she died of strangulation. We told the story in Memories 96, with, as ever, a few inaccuracies. She soon leftor was thrown outand was for a time homeless. The so-called fever mimicked the symptoms of arsenic poisoning, a fact which would later prove interesting to investigators. Just one grandparent can lead you to many 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. That description fits Mary Ann Cotton very well indeed. Frederick followed his predecessors to the grave in December of that year, from gastric fever." She sent her surviving child, Isabella, to live with her mother. Perhaps most tellingly, her children lived to tell the tale. She got away with it so long because arsenic was extremely hard to detect as symptoms were often confused with those associated with gastric ailments. The insurance policy Mary Ann had taken out on Charles' life still awaited collection. Female Serial Killers in Social Context reports that Mary Ann's first move was to approach Thomas Riley, a grocer who also happened to be the local assistant manager for the poor relief. Margaret died from a mysterious stomach problem which allowed Mary Ann to dig her claws into the Cotton family. Soon enough, Margaret died of a mysterious gastrointestinal ailment, allowing Mary Ann to get closer to Frederick. Only two of her children survived her, including this new arrival. The scene is the hanging gallery. The couple met when Robinson hired Mary Ann as his housekeeper in November 1866. 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. Before their final break, Cotton had attempted to get Robinson to insure both himself and the remaining children. The couple was married in September 1870, but since Mary Ann had not divorced Robinson, it was a bigamous marriage. An inquest was held and the jury returned a verdict of natural causes. The last straw was when he found she had been forcing his children to pawn household valuables for her. One month later, when James' baby died of gastric fever, he turned to his housekeeper for comfort and she became pregnant. It went like this: Mary Ann Cotton, she's dead and she's rotten. Mary Ann Cotton, also known as the Dark Angel, was a Victorian monster who murdered up to 21 people. By the time Nattrass was dead, Mary Ann had poisoned Robert, her infant son with Cotton, and Frederick Jr., her stepson. After her marriage to Robinson crumbled, Cotton was introduced to Frederick Cotton by his sister, Margaret.
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