Mary Ann Cotton

Good evening everyone :) hope you're all well.

tonight I will be telling the tail of a cold hearted and extremely evil woman, Mary Ann Cotton.

Mary Ann Cotton aka 'The black widow or the west Aukland Borgia'

As always we start at the beginning, Mary Ann Robson was born quite aptly on the 31st of October 1832 at Low Moorsley, Sunderland to Michael Robson a colliery sinker (this was a job in the coal mines of Britain and the sinkers job was to be first down the shaft to dig out the walls to make it safe, it was a very dangerous job) and Margaret Robson who looked after the home, she had a sister called Margaret, born in 1834 but she lived only a few months and a brother born in 1835. When Mary was 8 the family moved to County Durham in the village of Morton because her father had been transferred to the mine there. She was a well behaved child and her school teacher described her as an exemplary and regular student, a girl of innocent disposition who was always neat and tidy. Two years after the family's move to Morton, Mary's father died after falling 150 feet down a mine shaft in February 1842, his body was delivered to her mother in a cloth bag with the stamp 'PROPERTY OF SOUTH HETTON COAL COMPANY' across it, as the miners cottage they lived in was tied to her fathers job Mary and her family were evicted (in the Victorian era coal miners were expendable and little to no concern was shown if one of them died)

The coal mines of northern England

In 1843 Mary's mother married George Stott also a miner who could offer her family a place to live and a steady income. At 16 Mary left home to train as a nurse in the village of south Hetton not too far from her family, she lived in the home of Edward Potter a manager at Murton colliery and a friend of her late fathers, she stayed for 3 years before return home to further her career options and trained as a dressmaker (In those 3 years I do wonder if an affair between Mary and Edward had taken place or if he had taken advantage of the young girl?)  In 1852 aged 20 Mary married a colliery labourer named William Mowbray at Newcastle Upon Tyne registry office and moved to the south west of England, during this time it is reported that Mary had given birth to 4 or 5 children all who had died very young, there were no birth or death certificates for any of these apparent children but at the time it was not illegal not to register them, this didn't become law until 1874. The only birth Mary did register during this time was a daughter Margaret Jane born 1856, after her birth Mary and her husband moved back to the North East, William had got a job as a steam vessel fireman sailing in and out of Sunderland but this didn't last long as he was offered a job back at the mines as a colliery foreman. Another daughter Isabella was born in 1858, 2 years later her daughter Margaret Jane died aged 4 and a year later in 1861 another daughter was born which she also named Margaret Jane and lastly with Mowbray a son, Robert William was born in 1863 but died a year later of gastric fever. Mary always showed little emotion at the death of her children but in those days childhood death was not unusual and almost expected in the lower classes, It was also common practice for parents back then to insure their children's lives (something I couldn't dream of doing) In 1865 Mary's husband William died of stomach problems, his life was insured for £35 which is around £3000 in todays money which she collected promptly after his death she also collected the insurance from her son Roberts death which was £2 and 5 shillings. Soon after William's death Mary moved to Seaham Harbour back in County Durham and met a married man named Joseph Nattrass they began an affair but this didn't last long as not long after her move there her now 3 year old daughter (the second Margaret Jane) died of Typhus fever (maybe the only one of her children who died of natural causes) Mary moved on to Sunderland to take employment at the infirmary and house of recovery for the cure for contagious fever, she sent her remaining daughter Isabella to live with her grandmother. In 1865 Mary met a patient named George Ward and after a short romance they married that same year but George suffered ill health and died a year later in October 1866. His official records say he died of English Cholera and Typhoid but the attending doctor stated that he was surprised George had died so suddenly, Mary however collected his insurance and again moved on quickly, a month later and Mary had gained employment as a housekeeper to a recently widowed shipwright James Robinson, a month after she was employed by Robinson his youngest son John died of gastric fever and he turned to Mary for comfort and she became pregnant (I'm guessing this was her plan all along) but then Mary got word that her mother was ill with Hepatitis and returned to care for her, her mother began to recover but soon complained of stomach pain and died aged 54 just 9 days after Mary came home. Mary returned to the Robinson household with her daughter Isabella who soon complained of stomach pain as did 2 more of Robinsons children Elizabeth and James jr all 3 children died over the following weeks and were buried in April 1867, Mary got an insurance payment of £5 for Isabella. Mary and James welcomed their first child Margaret Isabella in November of that same year but she died only a few months later In February 1868, their second child George was born a year later but Mary's husband had become suspicious of her insistence that he got life insurance and he soon discovered she had run up debts of £60 behind his back and she had stolen £50 that she was expected to deposit in the bank for household bills, Mary had also been forcing James's older remaining children to pawn valuable items from around the house and this was enough for James, he threw Mary out and retained custody of their son George.

One of Mary Ann Cottons many homes 

Mary was now desperate and living on the street, she went to a friend of hers Margaret Cotton for help she allowed Mary to live with her and introduced her to her brother Frederick Cotton a pitman living in Northumberland with his 2 children after being widowed and losing 2 other children to childhood diseases, her friend Margaret was acting as a substitute mum for her brothers 2 remaining children Frederick jr and Charles but in 1870 she died from an undetermined stomach complaint leaving Mary to console her brother and nephews. Mary married Frederick bigamously in that same year as she was pregnant, their son Robert was born the next year in 1871 (her using the names of children she had killed I find very cold and so chilling) Not long after Roberts birth Mary learned that her former lover Joseph Nattrass was living not far away and was no longer married, she visited him and they soon rekindled their relationship she then convince her new husband to move just down the road from Nattrass and by December that year Frederick Cotton was dead, he died from gastric fever (a pattern we're familiar with now) insurance had been taken out on Cotton and his 2 sons and Mary collected her late husbands without haste. After Cottons death Joseph moved in as a 'lodger' with Mary and her children and step children, she told Joseph she had gained work as a private nurse to an excise officer who was recovering from smallpox but this was a lie Mary had found another lover Richard Quickman and was regularly going to see him, she soon became pregnant by Richard with her 12th child. Frederick Cotton jr died before the baby was born in 1872 and his brother Robert followed the same fate not long after, then Nattrass became ill with gastric fever and died just after revising his will in Marys favour, Mary then took out insurance on the still living child of Frederick, Charles Cotton. this women was ruthless! Mary Ann Cottons downfall finally came when she was asked by parish official Thomas Riley to help nurse a woman with smallpox, Mary agreed but complained to Riley that Charles was getting in her way, she asked Riley to commit him to the workhouse for her but he informed her that children could not go to the workhouse without an adult, Mary went on to tell Riley 'no matter he is sickly, I won't be troubled long, he'll go like the rest of the Cottons'

2 days later she informed Riley that Charles was dead, Riley went to the police and asked them to investigate the little boys death. Mary had again gone promptly to the insurance company for her payment but was told without a death certificate she could not collect the claim, an inquest was held into Charles's death but they recorded his death as natural causes, Mary had told the inquest that Riley was doing this to her because she had rejected his advances, the case was closed but the local newspaper had picked up on the story and after a bit of research saw the pattern of Mary Ann Cotton, they saw how she had moved around the North East of England leaving a trail of death and insurance claims, in total Mary had lost 4 husbands, 1 lover, her friend Margaret Cotton, her mother and 11 of her 12 children (not including the children she claimed to have after marrying her first husband), the majority of whom had died of gastric fever or gastric complications.

A list of Mary Ann Cottons suspected victims

The rumours printed in the local papers gave rise to suspicion and investigation by local police, Dr William Byers Kilburn who had attended Marys stepson Charles kept samples after he died, these samples contained arsenic and were handed over to the police who arrested Mary and begun the exhumation of Charles's body, after a full and thorough examination of Charles aged just 7 higher concentrations of arsenic were found and Mary Ann Cotton was charged with his murder but the trial was postponed as yet again Mary was pregnant, her 13th and last child was born in County Durham gaol on the 10th of January 1873 she named her Margaret Edith quick manning cotton.

The local newspapers front page after Mary's arrest

Mary Ann's trial began on the 5th March 1873, her defence questioned the polices evidence and claimed that Charles had inhaled arsenic from the green dye in wallpaper hung in the Cotton home and  that the Bismuth (a powder to help ease stomach ache) Mary had gone to collect for from a local chemist had in fact been arsenic after the chemist was distracted and reached for the wrong bottle on the shelf. The jury retired and after 90 minutes dismissed her defences arguments and returned a guilty verdict. The Times reported on the 20th March 'after conviction the wretched woman exhibited strong emotion but this soon gave way to to her habitual cold demeanour'

Several petitions were presented to the home secretary on Mary Ann's behalf claiming her innocence but to no avail Mary Ann Cotton was hung at Durham County goal on the 24th March 1873, she died not from a broken neck but strangulation after the rope was strung too short possibly on purpose as some people believe, of Marys 13 confirmed children and stepchildren only 2 survived, George Robinson and Margaret Edith Quick Manning Cotton.

in 2015 the British channel ITV made a drama called dark angel based on the book 'dark angel, Mary Ann Cotton, Britain's first female serial killer' by David Wilson and the rock group Macabre wrote a song titled 'Mary Ann' a few many other songs were also written about Mary and her murderous life.

I hope you've enjoyed this weeks instalment of Forgotten Killers, I won't be here next week but will return the week after with another look at the serial killers forgotten by time. please remember to follow my blog and you can find me on instagram @forgottenkillersonig.

 I wish you all a Merry Christmas  and take care.