Research: Mary Ann Cotton (Murderer)

Mary Ann Cotton: born Mary Ann Robson in October 1832 in Low Moorsley, County Durham – died 24 March 1873. Convicted of the murder of 21 people (most of whom were children) within the Victorian era. Her famed means of murder was Arsenic poisoning.

When Mary Ann was 8 years old her family moved into the countryside where at a new school she found it very difficult to make friends. Soon after the move her father fell 150 feet (46 m) to his death down a mine shaft at Murton Colliery, the reason for which remained unknown. Her father was known for being ardently religious and a fierce disciplinary. She was the most prolific British serial killer before Harold Shipman.

 In 1871, 40-year-old Mary Ann Cotton and her husband, 39-year-old Frederick moved into a home in County Durham, with his two stepsons and her 7-month-old baby.  Two months later Frederick died of gastric fever and one of Mary’s lovers, Joseph Natrass moved in. In the space of a month Belle’s baby, Natrass and Frederick’s son all died in the house.  On the 12 July 1872 the other son of Frederick died, all the deaths caused suspicion and a neighbour went to the police.

A post mortem was carried out on the stepson and it revealed him to be poisoned with arsenic.  The bodies of the other dead were exhumed and they showed that arsenic was the cause of death.  Mary was arrested and charged with the murder of her stepson.   She went to trial in March 1873, claiming that they were accidentally killed by arsenic contained in wallpaper, but the prosecution had evidence that she had purchased arsenic.  Mary Ann Cotton was found guilty and sentenced to death.

Cotton was suspected of the murders of 14 people, in her older life twenty one people close to her died.  Her motive was gain, as she would marry, kill and collect the insurance money, then repeat it again.  She was hanged in Durham prison on March 24, 1873.

On March 24, 1873, Mary Cotton was hanged. The execution was botched with Mary failing to die from the initial drop after the gallow’s trapdoor opened. Instead, she slowly choked to death as she dangled on the end of the noose. In spite of the fact that she maintained her innocence to the end, her reputation as the first female serial killer in Britain stands, and her story is the subject of a children’s rhyme:

Mary Ann Cotton –
As with all nursery rhymes passed on primarily by word of mouth, there are variations. A more complete version runs:

Mary Ann Cotton
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? Up in the air
Sellin’ black puddens a penny a pair.
Mary Ann Cotton,
She’s dead and she’s rotten
She lies in her bed
With eyes wide open.
Sing, sing, oh, what can I sing,
Mary Ann Cotton is tied up with string.
Where, where? Up in the air
Sellin’ black puddens a penny a pair.
Mary Ann Cotton
Gone but not forgotten,
In her grave she’s rotten;

Charlotte