Mary Ann Cotton

“Everyone starts out totally dependent on a woman. The idea that she could turn out to be your enemy is terribly frightening,” Lord Astor once said. Some medical experts believe that genetics are what predispose a person to violence. Other experts contend that it is solely an individual’s environment. Whether it was genetics, her childhood environment or a combination of both, Mary Ann Robson Mowbray Ward Robinson Cotton proved to be a textbook serial killer, long before the textbook was written.

 

Mary Ann was born into a lower-class family in Low Moorsley, England. Her father worked long hours in the mines. At home, Mary Ann knew her father only as a strict disciplinarian and religious fanatic. He moved the family to Sunderland when Mary Ann was eight years old. He died the following year in a mining accident. Mary Ann was considered fortunate because her mother remarried, preventing them from abject poverty. Unfortunately, for Mary Ann, she did not care for her stepfather much more than she had with her own father. Mary Ann left home in search of a better life. She worked as a housekeeper for a while and then began to train as a seamstress. It was during this time that Mary Ann met her first husband.

 

Husband #1

Pregnant with their first child, 19-year-old Mary Ann married William Mowbray in July 1852. Together they had nine children, and although child morbidity was higher in the nineteenth century, it was still rather odd that four of their first five children died before their first birthday. These were the first known victims to die at Mary Ann’s hands. Gastric fever was the listed cause of death. (Gastric fever has similar symptoms to arsenic poisoning).

 

As her father had done when she was eight years old, William moved the Mowbray family to Sunderland where he too went to work in the mines. While living in Sunderland three more of their children died. At that time, those deaths were diagnosed as the result of gastric fever. In January 1865, William died unexpectedly. Having determined his death to be from gastric fever, it would not be until the benefit of hindsight that doctors and police alike realized the real causes of these deaths. William’s life was insured by the British and Prudential Insurance office and Mary Ann collected a payout of £35 on his death. It was to become a familiar theme.

 

Husband #2

The 32-year-old widow, along with her two daughters, moved to Seaham Harbour, a wealthier part of England. There she became involved with Joseph Natress, who was already engaged to another woman. Unable to persuade Joseph out of his engagement, Mary Ann returned to Sunderland, but not before burying another of her children.

 

Mary Ann sent her remaining child, nine-year-old Isabella, to live with Mary Ann’s mother. Meanwhile, Mary Ann began working at The Sunderland Infirmary where she made legitimate daily use of arsenic. Arsenic combined with soap made an easy job of her cleaning duties at the infirmary. Displaying a pleasant personality, Mary Ann struck up a friendship with one of the patients, George Ward. The couple married in August 1865. A new husband did not change the psychopathic behavior Mary Ann exhibited. Moreover, when George died 14 months into their marriage, after a long illness characterised by paralysis and intestinal problems. The attending doctor later gave evidence that Ward was an ailing man but was surprised he had died so suddenly. Once again Mary Ann collected insurance money from the death of her husband and not one person held Mary Ann in suspicion.

 

Husband #3

At the age of 33, Mary Ann had lost two husbands and eight children. How many women could have emotionally and mentally survived such tragedy? Yet, Mary Ann seemed unmoved by these deaths. Instead, she was again on the prowl for her next husband. James Robinson was in her sights and it would cost him three children before he realized how horrific a person Mary Ann was.

 

Initially Mary Ann worked as a housekeeper for James. Not long after she was hired, James’ infant son died. James turned to Mary Ann for comfort. That comfort turned intimate and Mary Ann was once again pregnant. However, it was at this same time that her mother became gravely ill. Mary Ann went to care for her mother and to visit her now 11-year-old daughter Isabella. Although reportedly recovering nicely, Mary Ann’s mother died just nine days after Mary Ann’s arrival. Unfortunately for Isabella, her grandmother’s death meant returning to the care of her mother. Did Isabella fear for her life? It is not unreasonable to conclude that she did.

 

Together Mary Ann and Isabella returned to the Robinson home. Within a month of their return Isabella and two of James’ children died, all from gastric fever. Still no one suspected Mary Ann. Not even James was concerned that three of his five children had died since he first entrusted their care to Mary Ann. Instead, he again turned to her for comfort, this time marrying her. They wed in August 1867. One month later Mary Ann gave birth to her tenth child, a girl, Mary Isabella. The infant girl died a few days later. Finally, someone was suspicious of Mary Ann. James became concerned after Mary Isabella died and had became suspicious of his wife’s insistence that he insure his life. He had discovered that she had run up debts of £60 behind his back and had stolen more than £50 that she was supposed to have banked. The last straw was when he found she had been forcing his children to pawn household valuables for her. He threw her out of their home, without divorcing her. Oh, Mary Ann left, but not before taking every penny in James’ bank accounts.

 

Husband #4

Free from any of her supposed burdens, Mary Ann sought out the companionship of a wealthy widower. Mary Ann took up with Frederick Cotton. Still married to James Robinson, Mary Ann had little use for formalities such as a divorce. Pregnant with Frederick’s child, they married, adding bigamy to Mary Ann’s growing list of crimes. Having learned from her attempt to insure James, Mary Ann wasted no time in insuring Frederick and his children. Soon thereafter Frederick, three of his children and he and Mary Ann’s child all died in quick succession, and all from gastric fever. Insurance had been taken out on his and his son’s lives.

 

Lover

Not one to even pretend to mourn the loss of a loved one, Mary Ann soon had a lover living with her in the Cotton household. The calm down period between her killings was growing shorter and shorter. Her live-in lover was soon dead, just after revising his will in Mary Ann’s favour.

 

Death of Charles Edward Cotton and Inquest

Then Charlie Cotton died, Frederick’s seven-year-old son. The insurance policy Mary Ann had taken out on Charles’s life still awaited collection. And so it would have been, but for a careless conversation.

 

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. She complained that the last surviving Cotton boy, Charles Edward, was in the way and asked Riley if he could be committed to the workhouse.

 

Riley, who also served as West Auckland’s assistant coroner, said she would have to accompany him. She told Riley that the boy was sickly and added: “I won’t be troubled long. He’ll go like all the rest of the Cottons.”

Riley replied: “No, nothing of the kind — he is a fine, healthy boy”, and so he was shocked five days later when Mary Ann told him that the lad had died. Riley went to the village police and convinced the doctor to delay writing a death certificate until the circumstances could be investigated.

 

Mary Ann’s first port of call after Charles’s death was not the doctor’s but the insurance office. There, she learnt that no money would be paid out until a death certificate was issued. An inquest was held and the jury returned a verdict of natural causes. Mary Ann claimed to have used arrowroot to relieve his illness and said Riley had made the accusations because she had rejected his advances.

 

Then the local newspapers latched on to the story and discovered Mary Ann had moved around northern England and lost three husbands, a lover, a friend, her mother and a dozen children, all of whom had died of stomach fevers.

 

Arrest

Rumour turned to suspicion and forensic inquiry. The doctor who tended to Charles had kept samples and they tested positive for arsenic. He went to the police who arrested Mary Ann and ordered the exhumation of Charles’s body. She was charged with his murder — although the trial was delayed until after the delivery of the child by Quick-Manning.

 

Trial and Execution

The defence at Mary Ann’s trial claimed that Charles died from inhaling arsenic used as a dye in the green wallpaper of the Cotton home. The jury retired for 90 minutes before finding Mary Ann guilty.

 

The Times correspondent reported on 20 May: “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.”

 

Several petitions were presented to the home secretary, but to no avail. She was hanged at Durham County Jail on 24 March, 1873. She died slowly, the hangman having misjudged the drop required for a “clean” execution.

 

How did she get away with so many deaths?

• Poison was easy to buy. Arsenic mixed with soap was sold in chemist’s shops to kill bed bugs. The arsenic could be extracted easily.

• Arsenic poisoning gave the victim sickness and diarrhoea. So did gastric (or stomach) fever. Busy doctors couldn’t tell the difference.

• A cheap baby food was flour mixed with water. Mothers fed this to babies and didn’t realise that it gave their babies stomach upsets. Thus, sickness in babies was very common. A doctor would see a sick baby and not think it unusual or suspicious.

• Life expectancy was low in the Victorian times. In the 1880s a quarter of all babies died in their first year; half the population would die before the age of 20 and 75% by 40. Mary Ann was thought to be unlucky to lose so many during her stay in West Auckland but nobody (except Thomas Riley) thought it unbelievable.

• Mary Ann Cotton moved about the North East and each time she remarried she changed her name. Nobody could know the trails of death left in her wake because nobody made the connection between Mrs Mowbray, Mrs Ward, Mrs Robinson and Mrs Cotton.