mary ann cotton surviving descendants

Omissions? 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. 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. Her father, a miner, was killed in an accident when she was just nine. She was employed in various jobs, including Sunday school. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. 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. That left Cotton and her daughter with an insurance payout of some 35, according to Mary Ann Cotton, Dark Angel. An inquest was held and the jury returned a verdict of natural causes. Stuff You Missed in History Class, from where I took most of the information, has a great podcast on her. English serial killer Mary Ann Cotton, born October 31, 1832, and was hanged to death on March 24, 1873, for murdering her stepson Charles Edward Cotton by poisoning him. She returned to Sunderland and took up employment at the Sunderland Infirmary, House of Recovery for the Cure of Contagious Fever, Dispensary and Humane Society. He was also a widower who had lost two of his four children and lived in Northumberland. All three children were buried in the last week of April and first week of May 1867. 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. CONTENT MAY BE COPYRIGHTED BY WIKITREE COMMUNITY MEMBERS. Ward continued to suffer ill health and died on 20 October 1866 after a long illness characterised by paralysis and intestinal problems. He was seriously injured in 1918 on the Somme, but refused to be sent home, probably because he believed he would recover and rejoin the frontline. Then Mary Ann's mother, living in Seaham Harbour, County Durham, became ill so she immediately went to her. Frederick Jr. died in March 1872 and the infant Robert soon after. She also began a relationship with Joseph Nattrass, History Collection reports, though the affair never resolved into marriage. One could simply walk down to the corner shop and buy enough arsenic to kill a man a few times over. Last week, we covered the life and crimes of Mary Ann Cotton, also known as the West Auckland Poisoner. She lies in bed with her eyes. All three children were buried in the last two weeks of April 1867. Soon she became pregnant by him with her twelfth child. Alternate titles: Mary Ann Mowbray, Mary Ann Robinson, Mary Ann Robson, Mary Ann Ward. She came back home three years later, taking up work as a dressmaker. Frederick followed his predecessors to the grave in December of that year, from gastric fever." As one witness quoted in Mary Ann Cotton put it, Nattrass "died in a fit" and was "in great agony." Robinson married Mary Ann at St Michael's, Bishopwearmouth on 11 August 1867. Mary Ann never confessed to any of the deaths, and the number of her victims is uncertain, though most sources believe she killed upwards of 21 people. Rather quickly, she sent the daughter to live with her own mother, Margaret, and set out on her own once again. Despite her sole conviction for murder, she is believed to have been a serial killer who killed many others including 11 of her 13 children and three of her four husbands for their insurance policies. The body of the stepson was examined and found to contain arsenic. 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. The delay was caused by a problem in the selection of the public prosecutor. 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. Riley went to the village police and convinced the doctor to delay writing a death certificate until the circumstances could be investigated. Then Nattrass became ill with gastric fever and died just after revising his will in Mary Ann's favour. 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. Though he appears to have worked as a skilled laborer who opened new mining shafts, the Robsons were working class. Although her mother started getting better, she also began to complain of stomach pains. 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. According to the RadioTimes, a local Doctor Kilburn conducted a rushed inquest and determined that the boy had died of gastroenteritis. Mary Ann Cotton, she's dead and forgotten, The executioner reportedly had to push down on her shoulders to speed up the process, which took three minutes to finally kill her. 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. She died at age 54 in the spring of 1867, nine days after Mary Ann's arrival. A short time later, she married William Mowbray in an 1852 ceremony. An examination ultimately revealed the presence of arsenic in his stomach. According to some sources, she left home at age 16 to work as a nurse but returned three years later and became a dressmaker. Soon after, Mary Ann learnt that her former lover, Joseph Nattrass, was living in the nearby village of West Auckland, and no longer married. 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. One of her youngest relatives who lives today in London is Carla. THE baby was the daughter born to Mary Ann Cotton, of West Auckland, in Durham jail on January 7, 1873. Mary Ann Cotton, she's tied up with string. However, the levels of arsenic discovered in Charles' remains were too high to pin it on the wallpaper. At least 15 of those were family members. After the death of Mowbray, Mary Ann moved once again. However, Mary Ann was widely regarded as the countrys deadlist killer until Harold Shipman, who was thought to have murdered as many as 260 people in the late 20th century. 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. However, the judge allowed the prosecutor to use evidence from the deaths of Nattrass and two of the Cotton children and ultimately, the overwhelming evidence sealed Mary Anns fate. Soon her twelfth pregnancy was underway. She went undetected for decades, apparently killing a succession of husbands, children, and stepchildren with arsenic, then a readily available poison. 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? 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. In March 1873 her three-day trial began. In Low Moorsley, Tyne & Wear. After George Ward's death and the subsequent insurance payment, Britannica reports, Mary Ann Cotton became a housekeeper for widower James Robinson in 1866. Margaret was born in 1873. 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. Rumour turned to suspicion and forensic inquiry. This week, I'll delve into her psychology. Popular cultural sources have called him John Quick-Manning, though there appears to be no trace of a John Quick-Manning in the records of the West Auckland Brewery or the National Archives. She was believed to have murdered up to 21 people, mainly by arsenic poisoning. The 1911 census lists Margaret, Robinson and her three sons living in Watt Street, Dean Bank. Both of Mary Ann Cottons grandsons have their names engraved on Ferryhill War Memorial. Mary Ann had cashed in William's life insurance, equivalent to about 1,700 in today's money. Daily Mirror. James Robinson was a shipwright at Pallion in Sunderland, whose wife Hannah had recently died. It is said that she and William Mowbray had 4 children before returning to Murton. 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. There are further versions, slightly more crude, still passed on in school playgrounds in the region, such as: She lies in her coffin with her finger up her bottom. 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." Mary's mother remarried a few years later, but Mary hated her stepfather. 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. In 1843, Mary Ann's widowed mother, Margaret (ne Lonsdale) married George Stott, with whom Mary Ann did not get along. [2] This page was last edited on 12 January 2023, at 20:32. I could be remembering it wrong, though. She supposedly did it using arsenic, a terrible poison that causes intense gastric pain and results in a rapid decline of health. The second, which took place in February 1873, was to center on the deaths of Nattrass, along with those of Robert and Frederick. They were married in August 1865, but the marriage didnt last long. Later in 1901, Margaret married Robinson Kell, a miner at the Dean and Chapter Colliery in Ferryhill, and had his son. 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. Perhaps that's why Ward fell sick again not too long after the wedding and before they could conceive a child together. However, in April 1867 the girl and two of Robinsons children died. Her mother, Margaret, died after Cotton visited the woman in March 1867. From above, out of sight of the gallows, members of the Press are gathered. As Mary Ann Cotton, Dark Angelreported, Mary Ann blamed lax pharmacists for her young stepson's death. Lying in bed with her bones all rotten. According to the Journal of Social History, working class mothers were especially likely to see their own children sicken and die, even if they weren't intentionally causing the illnesses. Mary Ann subsequently worked as a hospital nurse in nearby Sunderland, and in 1865 she married a patient, George Ward. 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]. Soon, Mary became pregnant by him with her thirteenth child. 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. (The lack of documentationsuch as birth and death certificatesleaves many details of Mary Anns life open to dispute.) Mary Ann Robson was born on 31 October 1832 at Low Moorsley (now part of Houghton-le-Spring in the City of Sunderland) and baptised at St Mary's, West Rainton on 11 November. She grew a dislike of children while working as a housemaid, and this didn't stop once she had children of her own. Mary Anns last remaining daughter, Isabella, also succumbed to gastric fever and Mary Ann received 5 10s 6d in insurance money. 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. As per History Collection, her younger sister Margaret died in 1834, when Cotton would have been only 8 years old. The Cotton case would be the first of several famous poisoning cases he would be involved in during his career, including those of Adelaide Bartlett and Florence Maybrick. She had meant only to buy harmless arrowroot powder for the ill boy, but a terrible mix-up had occurred, and she was given arsenic instead. In September 1870 Mary Ann and Cotton were marriedthough she was still wed to Robinsonand she later gave birth to a son. 29 July 2015. Up in the air Sellin' black puddens a penny a pair. "Mary Ann Cotton." 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. The defense in the case was handled by Mr. Thomas Campbell . As per Female Serial Killers, the two were married in 1865, shortly after he was discharged from the hospital. Partner of John Quick-Manning Her mother, Margaret, died after Cotton visited the woman in March 1867. Cotton's trial began on 5 March 1873. Hell go like all the rest of the Cottons.". Once again, Mary Ann collected insurance money from her husband's death. At the end of her life, as she spoke with officials, Cotton did not offer an explanation for any of her murders. 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. Riley went to the village police and convinced the doctor to delay writing a death certificate until the circumstances could be investigated. Authorities also exhumed the bodies of Nattrass and two other Cotton children, and all were determined to have been poisoned with arsenic. The Robson family moved to the village of Murton in Durham when Mary Ann was eight, but tragedy struck in February 1842. Ward was already in poor health but Mary Ann finished him off, and he died in October 1866. As she was sentenced to hang, the second hearing fizzled out. [9], Mary Ann Cotton, she's dead and she's rotten Soon after Mowbray's death, Mary Ann moved to Seaham Harbour, County Durham, where she struck up a relationship with Joseph Nattrass. - Mary Ann Cotton, a widow, is in custody at West Auckland, charged with having poisoned her stepson, aged eight years. Russell's appointment over Aspinwall led to a question in the House of Commons. None of these deaths are registered, as although registration was compulsory at the time, the law was not enforced until 1874. Death surrounded her from an early age. Plus, it really was everywhere, from the green dye in clothes, to wallpaper, to rat poison. A 19th Century Children's Ryhme was born out of her famed crimes. Someone had either inadvertently or, as some suspect, intentionally miscalculated the drop needed to break her neck and bring death instantaneously. Mary Ann Cotton. She then found work as a housekeeper for James Robinson, a widower. She sent her remaining child, Isabella, to live with her mother. Baptised at St Mary's, West Rainton on 11 November 1832. First, her sister Margaret died in 1834, only a few months after being born. William and John went off to fight. An inquest was held and the jury returned a verdict of natural causes. Mary Ann Cotton was in Sunderland on October 31, 1832. Mary Ann was subject to two court hearings, separated by a period of time set aside for her to give birth to her final child. Affair with James Nattress, a married man, while married to Mowbray and possibly again, after Nattress was widowed, while she was "married" to Cotton. She apparently complained to a parish official named Thomas Riley that her stepson, Charles Edward Cotton, was preventing her from marrying Quick Mann. 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. 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. The census records, birth, death and marriage records also show no trace of him. However, it was accepted, and Russell conducted the prosecution. 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. Shortly after her demise, according to The Invention of Murder, Cotton's exploits were used by the Victorians in all manner or moralistic and lurid attractions. Thank you for visiting mary ann cotton family tree page. There, she discovered that no money would be paid out until a death certificate was issued. 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. Mary Ann's daughter Isabella Mowbray was brought back to the Robinson household and soon developed severe stomach pains and died, as did two of Robinson's children, Elizabeth and James. Mary Ann Cotton did not confess to a single murder, and while the number of victims is unknown, most sources believed she killed up to 21 people. After Frederick's death, Nattrass soon became Mary Ann's lodger. The only birth recorded was that of their daughter Margaret Jane, born at St Germans in 1856. Sing, sing, what can I sing? A 19th Century Children's Ryhme was born out of her famed crimes. It is believed that he was killed in a railway accident. She was later found guilty and executed. 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. Mary Ann Cotton, also known by the surnames Mowbray, Robinson and Ward, was a nurse and housekeeper suspected of poisoning as many as 21 people in 19th-century Britain. Mary Ann was desperate and living on the streets. Riley countered that the boy was a "little healthy fellow," but Charles died on July 12, 1872. The census revealed that her boys were working underground William was a collier and John was a pony driver. They married in September 1870, and Frederick died in December 1871 from the ever-present "gastric fever." Margaret had acted as substitute mother for the remaining children, Frederick Jr. and Charles. Though many killers are male, it turns out that women have turned to serial murder as well. That is until she grew overconfident and made a remarkable blunder. During this time, her 3-year-old daughter died, leaving her with one child out of the nine she had borne. 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. Margaret died at her home - 66, Church Lane, Ferryhill and left an Estate valued at 740, divided between her daughter CLARA and only surviving son - ROBINSON KELL. She named her Margaret Edith Quick-Manning Cotton, partially to target her latest lover as the father of the child. Around this time she took up with a former lover, Joseph Nattrass, but later became pregnant by another man, John Quick-Manning. Product Description. The last straw was when he found she had been forcing his children to pawn household valuables for her. The following year Mary Ann went to visit her ailing mother, who died about a week after her return. 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 was regarded as Britain's Greatest Female Mass Murderer. Have you taken a DNA test? Nonetheless, Mary Ann evaded suspicion (even though she collected more insurance money) and moved on to her next target, the recently widowed James Robinson. The insurance policy Mary Ann had taken out on (the still living) Charles' life still awaited collection. 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. 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. The first focused on Charles' death and took place in August of 1872. Moreover, she was also forcing her stepchildren to pawn household items. We meet Mary Ann as a loving wife and mother, newly returned to her native North East of England. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. The trap door wasnt placed high enough to break her neck. "Mary Ann Cotton, a widow, is in custody at West Auckland, charged with having poisoned her stepson, aged eight years. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. She apparently wanted to give Quick-Manning the dubious honor of becoming husband number five. An English woman convicted of murdering her children. She soon leftor was thrown outand was for a time homeless. Up in the air. HSW Podcast: *Howstuffworks.com. Only two of her children survived her, including this new arrival. At the age of 16, she moved out to become a nurse at Edward Potter's home in the nearby village of South Hetton. Mary Ann Cotton's trial, for allegedly murdering her stepson Charles, was delayed for several months so that she could give birth. She rekindled the romance and persuaded her new family to move near him. 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. 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." 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. contact the editor here. Although his doctor acknowledged Wards poor health, he was surprised that the man died so suddenly. Soon, he found out that she owed 60 and had also stolen 50 she was supposed to put in the bank. The inquiry into Charles Cotton's death showed that Mary Ann's weapon of choice was arsenic. Her father died eight years later in a mining accident. In 2015 ITV filmed a two-part television drama, Dark Angel,[5] starring Joanne Froggatt as Cotton. Mary Ann Cotton ( ne Robson; 31 October 1832 - 24 March 1873) was an English convicted murderer who was executed for poisoning her stepson. 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. Sister of Robert Robson, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ann_Cotton. After Frederick's death, Nattrass soon became Mary Anns lodger. So, by the summer of 1865, Mary Ann, widow Mowbray, had buried her husband William and at least eight, if not nine, of her own children. Gastric fever also claimed Williams life in 1864 and the lives of two other children soon afterward. Around this time she took up with a former lover, Joseph Nattrass, but later became . Five days later, Mary Ann told Riley that the boy had died. Mary Ann Cotton's trial began on 5 March 1873. But in late March 1870 Margaret died from an undetermined stomach ailment, leaving Mary Ann to console the grieving Frederick Sr. 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. 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. That's likely why she killed her fourth husband. He went to the police, who arrested Mary Ann and ordered the exhumation of Charles' body. As per Find A Grave, she thereafter appeared as "Margaret Edwards" on the 1881 census and later married John Joseph Fletcher in 1890. Mary Ann Cotton was an English serial killer convicted of poisoning her stepson Charles Edward Cotton in 1872. Our female killer of interest was born Mary Ann A month later, when James' baby John died of gastric fever, he turned to his housekeeper for comfort and she became pregnant. An army of readers many anonymous, others marshalled by Tim Brown of Ferryhill Local History Society and some relatives have helped put us right. She then allegedly told a local official that she could not marry Quick-Manning because of her seven-year-old stepson, Charles Edward Cotton. She had two children with Robinson but the first one, Margaret Isabella, died within a few months of her birth. Cotton took her daughter, Isabella Jane, who had been living with Margaret, with her. 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. Mary Anns first port of call after Charles' death was not the doctors but the insurance office. One of her youngest relatives who lives today in London is Carla. Then Mary Ann's mother, living in Seaham Harbour, County Durham, became ill with hepatitis, so she immediately went to her. 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. His name is carved with countless thousands of others on the Menin Gate at Ypres. In a close-knit community like the Durham coalfield, it would have been impossible for Margaret to escape the notoriety of her birth. But when their son, William, was born a few months after their arrival, his place of birth was listed as Imperial County in California a desert through which canals were being dug to create farmland. For many people in Victorian Britain, being born into a working-class family meant that one's life was often touched by tragedy. He died in a field hospital on November 4 a week before the armistice. Daughter of Michael Robson and Margaret Lonsdale 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. 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. Enough to break her neck and bring death instantaneously left Cotton and her three living. An explanation for any of her birth 12, 1872 only birth recorded was that of daughter. Of his four children and lived in Northumberland too long after the death of Mowbray, Mary Ann and were. The delay was caused by a problem in the selection of the child would! Time she took up with a former lover, Joseph Nattrass, History Collection reports, though the never... 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