Mary Bateman – “The Yorkshire Witch”.

Mary Bateman was born in 1768 Asenby, Yorkshire England, she was also known as Mary Harker. Mary was a servant and alleged con artist. Her father was a farmer and so-called con artist, she could read and write, which was seen as a good education at this time. At the age of 20, she left the town of Asenby, for the city of York. This is where she committed petty crimes such as stealing, she became increasingly bolder and bolder.

Bateman once lived in a house off Church Row, Leeds, which is now the Lamb and Flag pub — **Mary once lived in a house off Church Row, Leeds, which is now the Lamb and Flag pub**

In 1972 she married john Bateman, after only meeting him 3 weeks previously. It was around this time she started “fortune-telling”, during this period this would have been very dangerous. Due to this she never used her real name while practising; instead, she went under “Mrs Moore”.

An illustration from 1809 of serial killer Mary Bateman mixing poison. Outside the window, you can see a woman - presumably Bateman later on - hanging from a gallows. — Drawing showing Mary Bateman mixing the poison.

Through her fortune-telling, she made many claims, such as representing herself as a person endowed with the supernatural powers.

In 1803, it was alleged she has murdered individuals by using poison, to steal and rob from individuals in the city of Leeds. It was thought she got away with murder due to blaming the death on the bubonic plague; as a result, she walked away with all the money.

In 1806, she had created a new name “Mrs. Blythe” at this time she created the hoax known as The Prophet Hen of Leeds. in which eggs laid by a hen were purported to predict the end times.

In this time, she would make a mistake in meeting a couple, that would lead to her death. Rebecca Perigo became convinced that someone had laid an “evil wish” upon her. Due to this Rebecca and her husband would meet Mary, she told the worried husband, that she was the woman who would be able to help his wife.

Bateman began feeding them pudding which was laced with poison. Both Rebecca and her husband ate the dessert. However, Rebecca ate more than her husband, and she died in May 1806. No post-mortem was carried out, although there was a suspicion of poison. Her husband continued to pay money to Mary until he realised one of the “charms” was a worthless piece of paper.

Illustration showing Mary Bateman and the Perigo Couple

William arranged a meeting with Bateman on the pretence of buying some more of Mrs Blythe’s potion. This time William brought with him a constable. This was found to contain arsenic and oatmeal.

A portrait of serial killer Mary Bateman by F Mansell c. 1809 — Mary Bateman

She told authorities she was innocent right until they searched her home. They found personal belongings of her victims, including Rebecca and her husband. Although Rebecca was the only one proven to be murdered by Mary, it has been said there was many undiscovered. She admitted to stealing positions but denied any murders.

The trial was conducted at York before Sir Simon Le Blanc on the 17th March 1809. The trial lasted a total of 11 hours, and she was found guilty set to hang at York castle. Through floods of tears, Mary claimed she was pregnant and couldn’t be hanged. This claim was found to be a lie, so the death by hanging occurred.

York Castle, circa 1820. Serial killer Mary Bateman was hanged in the precincts of the castle in 1809 in front of 5,000 people — York castle.

She was 40 years old, and thousands of people attended her execution. In a strange and gruesome fact, some of which then paid to see her corpse and bought cured cuts of her skin as charms.

Her skeleton now belongs to Leeds University. It was (until 2015) on display at the Thackray Museum.