What is mary ann cotton?

Mary Ann Cotton, born in 1832, is infamously known as Britain’s first female serial killer. Her life and criminal activities took place during the Victorian era, a time when forensic science was in its infancy, which allowed her to carry out her crimes largely undetected for many years.

Mary Ann was born in Low Moorsley, County Durham, England. She worked variously as a nurse and housekeeper, and was married several times. Her first husband was William Mowbray, with whom she had several children, many of whom died young, ostensibly from gastric fever or similar ailments.

Over a span of two decades, from the 1850s to the 1870s, it is suspected that Mary Ann Cotton murdered as many as 21 people, including her mother, three of her husbands, a lover, and numerous children (both her own and step-children). Arsenic poisoning was identified as the cause of death in many of the cases, which contributed to the symptoms being mistaken for gastric ailments.

Mary Ann's motives were largely financial; she was known to collect life insurance policies on many of her victims. It was the suspicious death of her stepson, Charles Edward Cotton, that finally led to her downfall. His death prompted an investigation, which revealed arsenic poisoning.

In 1873, Mary Ann Cotton was tried for the murder of Charles Edward Cotton. She was found guilty and subsequently hanged at Durham County Gaol on March 24, 1873.

Her legacy endures in popular culture, as her story captures the morbid fascination with Victorian-era crime and the vulnerabilities in society that allowed a prolific serial killer to evade justice for so long.