Mary Bateman

Mary Bateman (1768 – 20 March 1809) was an English criminal and alleged witch, known as the Yorkshire Witch, who was tried and executed for murder during the early 19th century. Biography Most of the details of Mary Bateman's life are known from The Extraordinary Life and Character of Mary Bateman, published soon after her trial and death. She was born in Asenby in the North Riding of Yorkshire in 1768. Her father was a farmer. She learned to read and write and, from age 13, worked as a servant girl in Thirsk, North Riding of Yorkshire. She moved to York aged 20 and worked as a dressmaker. However, she fled to Leeds the next year after being involved in a burglary. During the next four years she worked as a mantua maker, and also began to build a reputation as a fortune-teller and 'wise woman'. In 1792, she married John Bateman, who was a wheelwright. During these early years of her marriage, she also undertook several robberies and was caught several times, escaping prison by bribing those who witnessed her activities. In 1796, John joined the Army, and Bateman accompanied him away from Leeds, however within one year they had returned to Leeds. Amongst other crimes, she is reported to have once roamed the streets of Leeds after a major fire begging for money and goods for victims, but instead retained the charitable gifts for herself. According to author Summer Stevens, she also worked as an abortionist. In 1806, Bateman joined the followers of the prophetess Joanna Southcott and attended meetings. As part of a Southcottian sect, she created the hoax known as The Prophet Hen of Leeds, in which eggs laid by a hen were purported have written on them 'Christ is coming' – a message believed to precede end times. Three of these eggs were displayed by Bateman and members of the public were charged a penny to see them. When the hen was taken away from her, it laid no more prophetic eggs. It was later found that she had written on the eggs using ink and reinserted them into the hen's oviduct.