Meri Enn Cotton The woman is a poisoner. Country: Great Britain

Biography of Mary Ann Cotton

Born in the small English village of Low Moorsley in October 1832, Mary Ann Robson did not experience much joy in her childhood. Her parents were no older than 20 when they got married. Working as a miner, her father struggled to earn enough money to support the family. When Mary turned eight, the family moved to another town, and Mary and her brother Robert started attending a new school, where the shy Mary failed to make friends. Soon after, her father died in a mining accident. Life in Victorian England was difficult in itself, but especially so for a widow with young children. Mary's mother remarried shortly after, and although Mary did not love her new stepfather, she enjoyed the material benefits that came with her mother's new husband's decent income. At the age of sixteen, unable to tolerate the strict discipline enforced by her new stepfather, Mary left her childhood home and found work as a servant on a neighboring farm. After three years of service and numerous scandals related to her promiscuous lifestyle, Mary left to pursue a career in tailoring. This happened shortly before she, already pregnant, got married for the first time. Her first husband was William Mowbray, a miner. During the early years of their marriage, they traveled across the country in search of work. William tried to support the family by working as a miner and a laborer on the railway. Within the first five years, Mary gave birth to five children, four of whom died in infancy. Although infant mortality was high in Victorian England, this number was unusually high, but it was likely seen as mere "misfortune." Mary Ann Cotton was eventually caught when an autopsy on one of her children revealed the presence of cyanide, which caused the death. She was charged with six murders, but there was evidence that she had actually taken the lives of more than 20 victims over a 20-year period.