In June 2015 it was announced that English actress Joanne Froggatt, winner of a Golden Globe Award, has been signed up to play Victorian abusive wife and parent and wholesale poisoner, Mary Ann Cotton – executed in 1873 – in an ITV [British TV] two-part drama called Dark Angel. The TV film was inspired by David Wilson’s 2013 book Mary Ann Cotton: Britain’s First Female Serial Killer.
But the fact is that Mary Ann Cotton was far from being the first. Here are 29 cases which precede that of Cotton. Most of them were executed for their brutal crimes and many were the subjects of broadside ballads.
The earliest case on this list is that of Margaret Davey (or “Davie”) who “poisoned 3 households.” She was punished for the murders by being boiled to death at Smithfield in 1542.
Not too long before the discovery of Cotton’s long string of killings, Agnes Norman of Newington Butts (in London), only 15 years old, was found in 1871 to have had a mania for killing, having snuffed out the lives of a dog, two cats, six or eight birds (parrots included), and some gold fish – as well as murdering four children and attempting to murder another.
The earliest case on this list is that of Margaret Davey (or “Davie”) who “poisoned 3 households.” She was punished for the murders by being boiled to death at Smithfield in 1542.
Not too long before the discovery of Cotton’s long string of killings, Agnes Norman of Newington Butts (in London), only 15 years old, was found in 1871 to have had a mania for killing, having snuffed out the lives of a dog, two cats, six or eight birds (parrots included), and some gold fish – as well as murdering four children and attempting to murder another.
1542 – Margaret Davey – England
1684 – Elizabeth Ridgway – Leichestershire, England
1693 – Mary Compton, Mary Compton the Younger, Ann David – Poplar, London, England
1740 – Elizabeth & Mary Branch – Taunton, Somerset, England, England
1740 – Elizabeth & Mary Branch – Taunton, Somerset, England, England
1828 – Jane Scott – Lancaster, England
1835 – Fanny Billing & Catherine Frary – Burnham Market, Norfolk, England
1843 – Sarah Dazley – Bedford, England
1843 – Elizabeth Eccles – Bolton, England
1844 – Eliza Joyce – Boston, England
1845 – Sarah Freeman – Bridgewater, England
1846 – Mary Pimlett – Runcorn, England
1847 – Sarah Chesham – Clavering, near Chelmsford, England
1849 – Mary Ann Geering – Lewes, England
1849 – Rebecca Smith – Westbury, Wiltshire, England
1850s – Allie Belchie– Lintlaw, Buncle Parish, Scotland
1851 – Mary Emily Cage – Ipswich, England
1865 – Charlotte Winsor – Torquay, England
1870 – Margaret Waters – London, England
1871 – Ann Burns – Wigan, Lancashire, England
1871 – Agnes Norman – London, England (15-y-o)
1871 – Frances (Hannah) Rogers – Manchester, England
1871 – Agnes Norman – London, England (15-y-o)
1871 – Frances (Hannah) Rogers – Manchester, England
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