It was a story which gripped Victorian Britain: One hundred and fifty years ago, multiple murderer Mary Ann Cotton was executed at Durham prison by the prolific hangman William Calcraft.
In an age long before the dawn of radio, television and the internet, the details of Cotton's trial and subsequent hanging were followed in the flourishing regional newspapers of the time by millions up and down the country with morbid fascination.
The 40-year-old was swiftly demonised, becoming widely known as the 'black widow' and being described as a ‘monster in human shape’ by the Newcastle Chronicle. Her notoriety even reached as far as the playground. North East children would recite a chilling nursery rhyme: “Sing, sing, oh, what can I sing? Mary Ann Cotton is tied up with string. Where, where? Up in the air, sellin’ black puddings a penny a pair.”
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Born Mary Ann Robson in October 1832 at Low Moorsley - now part of Houghton-le-Spring in County Durham, Mary Ann Cotton, would in effect become one of Britain's worst serial killers, a century before the term was coined. Suspected of poisoning to death 21 people, only modern-day mass murderers Harold Shipman and Peter Sutcliffe have been convicted of killing more.
In common with many people in the rabidly industrialising Britain of the mid-19th century, life for the young Mary Ann was hard. Her coal miner father fell to his death, forcing her to become a nurse and support the family.
Described as “strikingly beautiful” and seeking a husband, 20-year-old Mary Ann married labourer William Mowbray, and the suspicious deaths would soon begin. While living in Plymouth, she and William had five children - four of whom died of “gastric fever”. The couple then moved back to the North East where they had, and lost, three more children. In 1865 William, like his children, died of an intestinal disorder, leaving his widow with an insurance pay-out.
Little over a year later, husband number two - George Ward - died, again from intestinal problems. And Mary Ann again picked up a hefty sum of insurance.
Husband number three would be James Robinson and, in the meantime, the deaths continued - Mary Ann’s mother, a daughter, and two of James’ own offspring. The couple’s own child - a daughter - also died, before James kicked his wife out.
Mary Ann then bigamously married husband number four, Frederick Cotton. The deaths soon continued - Frederick, their child, Frederick’s sister, and Frederick’s own child, Charles Edward Cotton, all perished. A lover called Joseph Nattrass also died from stomach problems.
It was the death of little Charles which led to Cotton’s downfall. The effects of arsenic poisoning — vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain — were similar to common medical conditions such as gastroenteritis or dysentery, and until then had been undetectable. A recent pioneering advance in toxicology called the Marsh Test, however, meant arsenic could now be readily detected in a corpse. Charles' body was exhumed and traces of deadly arsenic were found.
Mary Ann Cotton's three-day trial at Durham Crown Court was extensively covered by newspaper reporters from around the country. The court heard how she lived off her successive husbands before eventually claiming their estates.
In an era of poor nutrition among the urban working class, the constant movement of people, and poor record-keeping, the repeated deaths had gone unchallenged. Thanks to new advances in forensic science, murderers like Mary Ann Cotton would now no longer be able to get away with their crimes.
Cotton was found guilty of Charles’ murder and responsible for the deaths by poisoning of 11 of her children, three husbands, one lover, and her mother. She was sentenced to death by hanging. When the dust finally settled, Cotton would be linked to as many as 21 suspected murders in total.
Mary Ann Cotton was executed at Durham jail on March 24, 1873, in front of 50 observers. The details were reported in great detail in newspapers across Britain. At ten minutes to eight, the dreaded sound of the 'death bell' ringing was heard throughout the jail. On the hour, the prisoner and a procession of officials, including the hangman, William Calcraft, and his assistant, slowly began making their way to the gallows yard.
Praying, whimpering and sobbing as as she walked, and supported on each side by a male warder, Cotton was dressed in a black gown with a black and white checked shawl thrown over her shoulders. Her head and throat were bare and her hands were clasped tightly in front of her.
One report noted: "Though her step was firm and her body erect, there was deep emotion observable in her face which had grown so pale, wan and worn since her trial." Reaching the quadrangle where her imminent death was about to take place, she exclaimed loudly: "Lord have mercy".
At the gallows, Calcraft covered the prisoner's face with a white cap, her legs were bound, and the noose was positioned around her neck at which point Cotton "visibly shuddered". Her last words were "Lord, have mercy on my soul" before the bolt was drawn and the prisoner instantly dropped three feet, her dead suddenly dropping to one side before her lifeless body finally stopped twitching. "All present were deeply moved," it was reported, "particularly the under-sheriff who was so overcome with horror at the sight that he fainted away." Cotton's body would be buried in an unmarked grave in the prison grounds.
Well over a century later, when Durham Prison was being modernised in the early 1990s, the graves of some of those who had been executed were disturbed, including that of Mary Ann Cotton. A pair of shoes belonging to her were found along with her bones. The bodies were removed and all were later cremated.
In 2016, the story of Mary Ann Cotton was told in the successful two-part ITV drama, Dark Angel, starring Downton Abbey actress Joanne Froggatt and Tyneside-born actor Alun Armstrong.
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