Murderous Monday - Women Who Kill - Mary Bateman The Yorkshire Witch

Mary Bateman was hung on 30th March 1809 near York Castle for murder by poison and witchcraft.

Mary Batemen was born Mary Harker in 1768 to farming parents in Thirsk.  She started out her adult life as a servant, con artist and petty thief.  But soon her greed for what others had was to drive her to murder.

At the age of 24 on the 26th February 1792 Mary married John Bateman after a courtship of only three weeks.  John was soon to tire of his wife's conniving ways, but only after she had sold every stitch of his clothing and all the furniture in the house after tricking her husband into leaving their lodgings by sending a forged letter stating that John's father was desperately ill.  John eventually joined the army to escape Mary.

By 1799 Mary was parting vulnerable women from their money pretending to be a fortune teller who could help her victims with special charms and spells.  However Mary wanted more and she was prepared to kill to get it.

In 1803 she befriended two Quaker sisters who along with their mother ran a draper's shop in St Peter's Square, Quarry Hill.  All three women were to die mysteriously after taking 'medicines' prescribed by Mary.  As soon as the women were dead Mary stripped the house and shop completely, telling their concerned neighbours that the sisters and their mother had died from the plague. 

Rebecca Perigo had developed a fearful fluttering in her chest that her doctor could not treat.  When it was suggested that and 'evil wish' had been placed upon her Rebecca's niece recommended Mary's services.  Mary told Rebecca and her husband William of a Mrs Blythe who lived in Scarborough and was better placed to help them, via Mary herself.  Soon Rebecca and William began receiving letters from the fictional Mrs Blythe, asking for household and personal items from the Perigo home so that she could better assist them in ridding Rebecca of the curse.


"My dear Friend

You must go down to Mary Bateman's at Leeds, on Tuesday next, and carry two guinea notes with you and give her them, and she will give you other two that I have sent to her from Scarborough, and you must buy me a small cheese about six or eight pound weight, and it must be of your buying, for it is for a particular use, and it is to be carried down to Mary Bateman's, and she will send it to me by the coach -- This letter is to be burned when you have done reading it."

Mrs Blythe's demands became increasingly bizarre and expensive and the Perigo's faith in her ability began to waver.  It was then that they received another letter with a frightening prediction scrawled within it's pages.


"My dear Friends

I am sorry to tell you you will take an illness in the month of May next, one or both of you, but I think both, but the works of God must have its course. You will escape the chambers of the grave; though you seem to be dead, yet you will live. Your wife must take half-a-pound of honey down from Bramley to Mary Bateman's at Leeds, and it must remain there till you go down yourself, and she will put in such like stuff as I have sent from Scarbro' to her, and she will put it in when you come down, and see her yourself, or it will not do. You must eat pudding for six days, and you must put in such like stuff as I have sent to Mary Bateman from Scarbro', and she will give your wife it, but you must not begin to eat of this pudding while I let you know. If ever you find yourself sickly at any time, you must take each of you a teaspoonful of this honey; I will remit twenty pounds to you on the 20th day of May, and it will pay a little of what you owe. You must bring this down to Mary Bateman's, and burn it at her house, when you come down next time."

The Perigo's did as they were instructed and soon fell deathly ill.  William ceased eating the pudding, but Rebecca continued to do so, taking the honey as well.  On 24th May 1807 Rebecca Perigo died.  When William informed 'Mrs Blythe' of his wife's death she was able to convince him that this was because Rebecca had not followed her exact instructions and had brought the death upon herself.  Again the letters and bizarre demands continued, only this time William had becomes suspicious of Mrs Blythe's abilities and intentions.

Mary Bateman was arrested and items from the Perigo home was found to be in her possession, as well as some quantity of arsenic.  It soon became apparent that there was no Mrs Blythe in Scarborough and that Mary had written all the letters.

Mary pleaded not guilty to murder, but confessed to the fraud that had taken place.  But the evidence was soon to mount against her.  A doctor testified that Rebecca's corpse showed poison to be the cause of death.  The supposed letters from Mrs Blythe stating that no one should know about the puddings or the mysterious white powders and that the letters should always be burnt and finally the honey and remains of the puddings were tested and found to contain corrosive sublime of mercury.

Mary was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death.

After her execution Mary's body was displayed at Leeds General Infirmary where a sum of £30 was raised by charging others to view it.  Pieces of her skin were stripped off and sold as magic charms to ward off evil.  Eventually she was dissected and the top half of her skeleton placed on display at Thackery Medical Museum.

Murderous Monday - Women Who Kill - Mary Ansell, A Sinful Sister.

On Wednesday 19th July 1899, Mary Ann Ansell met her maker at the end of James Billington's rope at St Albans Gaol.  She had poisoned her own sister, Caroline.  Mary Ann was the last woman to hang in Hertfordshire.

Mary Ann born in 1878 was the second eldest daughter of James and Sarah Ansell nee Rowley, Caroline born in 1873 was the eldest of the twelve children.

At the age of 26 Caroline was residing in Ward 7 at Watford's Leavesden Mental Asylum when she received an unexpected gift through the post, the brown paper package contained an inviting piece of cake.

Caroline ate some of the cake, sharing the rest with some of her fellow inmates.  Soon after everyone that had eaten the cake felt unwell.  Two of the inmates became seriously ill with severe stomach cramps, Caroline who had eaten most of the cake died four days later.  It soon became apparent that Caroline and the other inmates had been poisoned.  This was in all probability not the first attempt on Caroline's life by such means.  Before the cake Caroline had received a package of tea and sugar, which were quickly discarded due to their bitter taste and strange damp appearance.  But who would wish to end Caroline's life and why?

Two days after the death of Caroline, her sister Mary Ann and mother Sarah arrived at the Asylum.  They were shocked to hear that a post mortum had been ordered to ascertain the cause of death.  Mary Ann was anxious to obtain a death certificate for her sister, but found this impossible as one could not be issued without a cause of death.  Suspicion centred around the cake Caroline and the other inmates had eaten and a search for the wrapping was made.  It was soon found discarded in a nearby field and importantly it still contained the senders handwriting.  It was later found that Caroline had died of phosphorous poisoning.

Superintendent Wood of the Watford Police took over the case and soon his suspicions were drawn to Caroline's sister Mary Ann.  Mary Ann had recently taken out an insurance policy on her sister for the sum of £11, 5s, 0d, a large sum of money in those days, especially for a domestic servant.  Mary Ann had planned to use the money to marry her lover.  She had been witnessed by a sales assistant buying phosphorous in a shop near her place of work to reportedly use to kill rats.  More evidence came in the form of a Christmas card Mary had written, which was seen to bare the same handwriting as the wrapping that contained the poisoned cake.  Mary Ann was tried at Hertford Assizes and found guilty of the murder of her sister Caroline.  Mary Ann was to hang.

Their father James Ansell described the situation as 'a nightmare'.  He and his wife Sarah had already lost one daughter to tragic circumstances during the early part of their marriage and they had now lost a second to murder, a third daughter was about to be claimed by the state.

The morning of Wednesday 19th July 1899 was a sunny one.  Mary Ann, overcome by emotion had to be assisted to the scaffold, where she dropped seven foot to her instant death.

Murderous Monday - Women Who Kill - Mary Ann Cotton, Britain's First Female Serial Killer

"Mary Ann Cotton,

Dead and forgotten,

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."

On 24th March 1873 Britain's first femail serial killer, Mary Ann Cotton met her maker at the end of William Calcraft's rope.  She is believed to have killed 21 people by the means of arsenic poisoning between 1865 and 1872.

Mary Ann Cotton, was born Mary Ann Robson in October 1832 in Houghton-le-spring, County Durham to Michael and Margaret Robson (nee Lonsdale).  In December 1841 Mary's father, a coal miner, fell 150 feet to his death down a Murton Colliery mine shaft.  Her widowed mother soon married George Stott in 1843.  Mary did not get on well with her step father and left the family home at the age of 16 to become a nurse to Edward Potter.  Three years later she returned to the family home.

Mary Ann Cotton.

At the age of 20 in 1852 Mary Ann married colliery labourer William Mowbray.  They had nine children together, seven of which died in infancy from 'gastric fever'.  In January 1865 William died of an unknown intestinal disorder.  At the time his life was insured with British and Prudential Insurance, Mary collected the £35 pay out, nearly half a year's wages.

Soon after William's death Mary moved to Seaham Harbour and struck up a relationship with Joseph Nattrass.  Joseph was already engaged to another women and reluctant to break off the engagement.  Mary left Seaham after Joseph's wedding and returned to Sunderland, where her 3 year old daughter died, leaving only one surviving child, Isabella, whom she sent to live with her mother.

Mary Ann gained employment as a nurse at Sunderland Infirmary, where she met her second husband George Ward.  They married on 28th August 1865.  George continued to suffer greatly with ill health before he died in October 1866 of intestinal problems.  The doctor attending his case confirmed that George was an ill man, but his sudden death was unexpected.  Mary Ann collected the insurance money from her second husband's death.

Sunderland Royal Infirmary taken in 1900

In the November of 1866, James Robinson hired Mary as a housekeeper.  James was recently widowed and when his baby died of 'gastric fever', he turned to Mary Ann for comfort, she soon became pregnant.  When Mary Ann's mother became ill she immediately went to nurse her.  Although Margaret began to get better she started to complain of stomach pains before she died aged 54 in the spring of 1867, just nine days after Mary Ann's arrival.  Isabella was then brought back to live in the Robinson household where she soon developed stomach pains and died, along with two of James's other children.  All three children were buried in the last few weeks of April 1867.

James soon became suspicious of his wife's actions when she insisted that he insure his life.  He discovered that she had run up debts of over £60 as well as stealing £50 she was supposed to bank.  The last straw came when he found out she had been forcing the remaining children to pawn household items.  James eventually threw Mary Ann out, an action that was to save his life.

Desperate and living on the streets Mary Ann turned to her friend Margaret Cotton, who introduced her to her recently widowed brother Frederick Cotton.  Margaret had been acting as a stand in mother to Frederick's two young children, Seven year old Frederick Jr and five year old Charles.  In March 1970 Margaret was to die from and undetermined stomach ailment, leaving Mary Ann to comfort the grieving Frederick.  Mary Ann bigamously married Frederick in the September of 1870, their son Robert was born in the February of 1871.

The home of Frederick and Mary Ann Cotton, Front Street, West Auckland.

Mary Ann soon discovered that her ex lover Joseph Nattrass was living nearby and no longer married, she wasted no time in rekindling their affair.  Frederick was to go to his grave in December of that year.  After Frederick's death Joseph moved in with Mary Ann as her lodger, shortly afterwards Mary Ann became a nurse to Excise Officer John Quick-Manning.  She was soon to become pregnant by him with her twelfth child.  This presented a problem for Mary Ann, now certain family members were in her way.  Young Frederick Jr was to die in 1872, followed soon after by the infant Robert.  Joseph fared no better and died from 'gastric fever' not long after he had revised his will in Mary Ann's favour.  Mary Ann had still to collect the insurance policy she had taken out on young Charles's life.

Mary Ann had initially approached parish official Thomas Riley, asking him to admit Charles to the workhouse as he was in her own words, 'in the way'.  Thomas said that she would have to accompany the child in to the workhouse, upon which Mary Ann told Thomas that the child was sick before adding, "I won't be troubled for long, He'll go like the rest of the Cottons."  Five days later the boy was dead.  Concerned, Thomas contacted the local police and convinced the doctor to delay writing a death certificate.

Mary Ann's first port of call after poor Charles's death was the insurance office, where she found out no payment would be made without the death certificate.  An inquest into Charles's death was held, where Mary Ann claimed Riley's accusations against her were due to her spurning his advances.  A verdict of natural causes was returned.  Mary Ann may have gotten away with murder had the local papers not picked up on the story.  They soon found out that Mary Ann had moved about northern England, leaving a trail of dead loved ones behind her, all of whom died of stomach complaints.

Rumour soon turned to suspicion and Little Charles's body was exhumed and a autopsy performed, where high levels of arsenic where found.  Mary Ann was arrested and charged with murder, however her trial was delayed until after the birth of her twelfth child, Margaret Edith Quick-Manning Cotton on 10th January 1873.  Mary Ann's trial took place on 5th March 1873, it took the jury 90 minutes to find her guilty of the murder of Charles E Cotton.

The Times reported on 20th March 1873 ~

"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."

Execution site at Durham Gaol.

Several petitions for mercy were raised with the Home Secretary, but to no avail, Mary Ann Cotton was hanged at Durham Gaol on 24th March 1873, bringing an end to Britain's first serial killer.