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Mary CarletonBritish scammer
Date of Birth: 11.01.1642
Country:  Great Britain |
Content:
Biography of Mary Carlton
Mary Carlton, a British con artist, was known for her series of fraudulent schemes over a span of ten years. Often, the men she deceived were too ashamed to report her to the police. Carlton was born as Mary Moders in Canterbury, England. The earliest recorded information about her is connected to a wandering shoemaker named Thomas Stedman, whom she married and had two children with, both of whom died in infancy. She later divorced Stedman and remarried a surgeon from Dover. However, Carlton did not bother to officially divorce Stedman, which eventually led to her arrest for bigamy.
After her trial, Mary fled to Cologne, Germany, where she engaged in a romance with a local nobleman. The nobleman showered her with valuable gifts and insisted on marriage, but Mary refused and fled the country, taking all the gifts and a significant amount of money that belonged to her landlady. She escaped to the Netherlands and then returned to England in 1663. Upon her return, she claimed to be an orphaned princess from Cologne named Mary van Wolway, daughter of Henry van Wolway, Lord of Holmstein. She managed to marry John Carlton, the stepbrother of the owner of one of her favorite taverns. However, shortly after their wedding, Carlton received an anonymous letter revealing the true story of his wife.
In 1663, Mary stood trial, accused of impersonating another person and marrying under a false name. She claimed that Carlton had also deceived her by pretending to be a lord. According to Mary, the anonymous letter was an attempt by John to annul their unprofitable marriage. Ultimately, Mary was acquitted. Soon after, a play titled "The Case of Madam Mary Carleton," supposedly written by Mary herself but possibly using a ghostwriter, was published. The play became popular, and Mary gained many admirers, even marrying one of them. However, the marriage was short-lived, as Mary fled from her drunken husband one day, taking all his money, valuables, and keys.
Once again free, Carlton resumed her role as a wealthy heiress pursued by an overly persistent suitor, this time with the support of a father figure. To make the story more believable, Mary hired someone to write her letters with "news from home." Thanks to these letters, Carlton gained the trust of a housewife and married her nephew. However, Mary fled again, after significantly lightening her latest husband's wallet. Over the next ten years, Mary continued to carry out similar schemes, sometimes acting alone and other times with the help of her maid.
Carlton was arrested only once, for stealing a silver mug, which led to her exile to Jamaica. However, she managed to return to England on her own will, against all laws, after two years. In December 1672, Mary was recognized by one of the men she had deceived. On January 16, 1673, Carlton stood trial, and due to her previous unauthorized return from exile, she was sentenced to death by hanging.
