Mary Carleton: Difference between revisions
Infobox addition |
m Added 1 {{Bare URL inline}} tag(s) using a script. For other recently-tagged pages with bare URLs, see Category:Articles with bare URLs for citations from August 2024 |
||
(41 intermediate revisions by 28 users not shown) | |||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} |
|||
⚫ | |||
{{More citations needed|date=June 2019}} |
|||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
|image = |
|||
| honorific_prefix = |
|||
|caption = |
|||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
|death_date |
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1673|01|22|1642|08|11|df=y}} |
||
|death_place = London, England |
| death_place = [[Tyburn]], [[London]], [[England]] |
||
⚫ | |||
| death_cause = [[Execution by hanging]] |
|||
⚫ | |||
| body_discovered = |
|||
|occupation = |
|||
| resting_place = St Martin's Churchyard, [[London]], [[England]] |
|||
⚫ | |||
| resting_place_coordinates = |
|||
|spouse = Thomas Stedman, John Carleton, others |
|||
| monuments = |
|||
⚫ | |||
| residence = |
|||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
| conviction_status = [[Executed]] |
|||
| spouse = {{plainlist| |
|||
* Thomas Stedman |
|||
* {{marriage|John Carleton|1663}} |
|||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
}} |
}} |
||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
==Early life== |
==Early life== |
||
Born Mary Moders in [[Canterbury]]. Her father was a fiddle player.<ref>https://archives.canterbury-cathedral.org/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=CCA-U326%2f1%2f2&pos=1 {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref> According to later accounts she married a [[journeyman]] shoemaker named Thomas Stedman and gave birth to two children who died in infancy. She later left her husband to move to [[Dover]] where she married a surgeon by the name of Thomas Day, prompting her arrest and trial in [[Maidstone]] for [[bigamy]]. |
|||
After the trial she visited [[Cologne]] where she had a brief affair with a local nobleman. He gave her valuable presents, pressed her for marriage and began the preparations for a wedding. She, however, slipped out of Germany with all the presents and most of her landlady's money, returning to England through the [[Netherlands]]. |
After the trial she visited [[Cologne]] where she had a brief affair with a local nobleman. He gave her valuable presents, pressed her for marriage and began the preparations for a wedding. She, however, slipped out of Germany with all the presents and most of her landlady's money, returning to England through the [[Netherlands]]. |
||
==Life of crime== |
==Life of crime== |
||
She returned to London in 1663 and took on the persona of an orphaned Princess van Wolway from Cologne. She claimed that she was born in Cologne and that her father was Henry van Wolway, Lord of Holmstein and that she had fled a possessive lover. |
She returned to London in 1663 and took on the persona of an orphaned Princess van Wolway from Cologne. She claimed that she was born in Cologne and that her father was Henry van Wolway, Lord of Holmstein and that she had fled a possessive lover. In April 1663, she used this guise to marry a surgeon John Carleton, who was the brother-in-law of the landlord of the ''Exchange'' tavern which she frequented. After the wedding, however, an anonymous letter exposed her.<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Carleton, Mary |first=Jennett |last=Humphreys|volume=9}}</ref> |
||
[[File:Mary Carleton (née Moders) ('The German Princess with her Suppos'd Husband and Lawyer') by James Basire.jpg|thumb|[[James Basire]], engraving of Mary Carleton as ''The German Princess with her Suppos'd Husband and Lawyer''.]] |
[[File:Mary Carleton (née Moders) ('The German Princess with her Suppos'd Husband and Lawyer') by James Basire.jpg|thumb|[[James Basire]], engraving of Mary Carleton as ''The German Princess with her Suppos'd Husband and Lawyer''.]] |
||
Her trial in 1663 was the first recorded appearance of Mary Carleton. She was charged for masquerading as a German princess and marrying John Carleton in London under that |
Her trial in 1663 was the first recorded appearance of Mary Carleton. She was charged for masquerading as a German princess and marrying John Carleton in London under that identity. She claimed that John Carleton himself had claimed to be a lord, and was only trying to extract himself from marriage as he had discovered there was no money in it. Both sides of the conflict published pamphlets to support their own story. Mary Carleton was eventually acquitted. |
||
Afterwards Mary Carleton wrote her own account, ''The Case of Madam Mary Carleton'', |
Afterwards Mary Carleton wrote her own account, ''The Case of Madam Mary Carleton'', under her own name directly addressing Prince Rupert.<ref>Works Cited, ca. 1663 (The Case of Madam Mary Carlton). The Case of Madam Mary Carleton Lately Stiled the German Princess, Truely Stated: With an Historical Relation of Her Birth, Education, and Fortunes; in an Appeal to His Illustrious Highness Prince Rupert. by the Said Mary Carleton. , London, 1663. {{ProQuest|2138580306}}</ref> She also acted in a play about her life and gained a number of admirers who gave her more valuable gifts. She eventually married one of her admirers. Predictably she left him too, taking with her his money, valuables and keys while he was drunk. |
||
Carleton next pretended to be a rich virgin [[heir]]ess fleeing an undesirable suitor whom her father had arranged for her. She even arranged that someone would send her letters that supposedly contained updates of family news. When her new landlady found and read them, she was convinced and became a [[matchmaking|matchmaker]] between Carleton and her nephew. |
Carleton next pretended to be a rich virgin [[heir]]ess fleeing an undesirable suitor whom her father had arranged for her. She even arranged that someone would send her letters that supposedly contained updates of family news. When her new landlady found and read them, she was convinced and became a [[matchmaking|matchmaker]] between Carleton and her nephew. |
||
Carleton arranged a new letter |
Carleton arranged a new letter: it claimed that her brother was dead and he had left her all he had, including her father's forthcoming inheritance, but that her father intended marrying her to a suitor she detested. Her lover invited her to live with him but Carleton and an accomplice, disguised as a maid, stole his money. |
||
Over the following ten years Carleton used similar methods to defraud various other men and landlords, often with the aid of her maid. Some of the men were too embarrassed to reveal they had been duped. She was many times accused of theft but was jailed only briefly. |
Over the following ten years Carleton used similar methods to defraud various other men and landlords, often with the aid of her maid. Some of the men were too embarrassed to reveal they had been duped. She was many times accused of theft but was jailed only briefly. |
||
{{Infobox criminal |
|||
| name = Mary Carleton |
|||
⚫ | |||
| conviction = 16 January 1673 |
|||
⚫ | |||
| occupation = |
|||
⚫ | |||
==Incarceration and execution== |
==Incarceration and execution== |
||
[[File:The life and character of Mrs. Mary Moders, alias Mary Stedman, alias Mary Carleton, alias Mary - the famous German princess Fleuron T106293-1.png|thumb]] |
|||
She was once arrested after stealing a silver tankard, and was sentenced to [[penal transportation]] and sent to [[Jamaica]]. However, |
She was once arrested after stealing a silver tankard, and was sentenced to [[penal transportation]] and sent to [[Port Royal]], [[Jamaica]] in 1671, where she worked as a prostitute. However, in 1672, she either sneaked or conned her way aboard a ship and returned to London, again pretending to be a rich heiress and married an apothecary at [[Westminster]]. Naturally, she stole his money and left him. |
||
In December 1672 Carleton was captured when a |
In December 1672, Carleton was captured when a [[Prison officer|turnkey]] from [[Newgate Prison]], while searching for stolen loot at that time, recognized her. On 16 January 1673 she was tried in the [[Old Bailey]]. Because she had returned from penal transportation without permission, she was sentenced to death. She tried to [[plead the belly]], but a jury of matrons was brought in to examine her, and found that this was not the case. |
||
At the place of execution at [[Tyburn]], she told the waiting crowd that she had been a very vain woman, yet she hoped God would forgive her, as she forgave her enemies. Carleton was [[hanged]] on 22 January 1673. She was buried at the St. Martin's Churchyard. Later, someone wrote on her grave: |
|||
⚫ | |||
<blockquote>The German Princess here, against her will, lies underneath, and yet, oh strange! lies still.</blockquote> |
|||
==Books== |
|||
⚫ | |||
==Further reading== |
|||
* [http://www.wwp.brown.edu/texts/wwoentry.html Mary Carleton - ''The Case of Madam Mary Carleton'' (1663)] |
* [http://www.wwp.brown.edu/texts/wwoentry.html Mary Carleton - ''The Case of Madam Mary Carleton'' (1663)] |
||
*{{cite book | last1=Bernbaum|first1=Ernest |last2=Levis|first2=Howard C. |author3=Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection (Library of Congress) | date= 1914 | title=The Mary Carleton narratives, 1663-1673, a missing chapter in the history of the English novel. | publisher=Cambridge, Harvard University Press; [etc., etc.] | url=https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/public/gdcmassbookdig/marycarletonnarr00bern/marycarletonnarr00bern.pdf}} |
|||
* "Memoirs of the German Princess by Paul Scanlon" 2013 |
|||
* {{cite book | vauthors=((Scanlon, Paul A.)) | date= 2013 | title=Memoirs Of The German Princess| publisher=Wilmington, Delaware: World of Books Inc. | url=https://www.abebooks.com/Memoirs-German-Princess-Scanlon-Paul-A/31004224415/bd | isbn=978-1-300-86393-9}} |
|||
==References== |
==References== |
||
{{reflist}} |
{{reflist}} |
||
==External links== |
==External links== |
||
* [http://www.exclassics.com/newgate/ng34.htm Mary Carleton in the Newgate Calendar] |
* [http://www.exclassics.com/newgate/ng34.htm Mary Carleton in the Newgate Calendar] |
||
{{Authority control}} |
{{Authority control}} |
||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carleton, Mary}} |
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carleton, Mary}} |
||
[[Category:1642 births]] |
[[Category:1642 births]] |
||
Line 68: | Line 80: | ||
[[Category:Executed English women]] |
[[Category:Executed English women]] |
||
[[Category:Impostors]] |
[[Category:Impostors]] |
||
[[Category: |
[[Category:British people convicted of bigamy]] |
||
[[Category:Executed people from Kent]] |
[[Category:Executed people from Kent]] |
||
[[Category:People from Canterbury]] |
[[Category:People from Canterbury]] |
||
[[Category:People executed by the Kingdom of England by hanging]] |
[[Category:People executed by the Kingdom of England by hanging]] |
||
[[Category: |
[[Category:17th-century English women]] |
||
[[Category:17th-century English criminals]] |
Latest revision as of 12:32, 28 August 2024
This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2019) |
Mary Carleton | |
---|---|
Born | Mary Moders 11 August 1642 |
Died | 22 January 1673 | (aged 30)
Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
Resting place | St Martin's Churchyard, London, England |
Nationality | Englisch |
Other names | Mary Stedman |
Known for | Marriage fraud |
Criminal status | Executed |
Spouses |
John Carleton (m. 1663) |
Children | 2 (died in infancy) |
Conviction(s) | Petty theft Returning from penal transportation |
Criminal penalty | Death |
Mary Carleton (born Mary Moders; 11 August 1642 – 22 January 1673) was an English socialite and fraudster who became famous for using a number of false identities, such as a German princess, to marry and defraud upper-class men.
Early life
[edit]Born Mary Moders in Canterbury. Her father was a fiddle player.[1] According to later accounts she married a journeyman shoemaker named Thomas Stedman and gave birth to two children who died in infancy. She later left her husband to move to Dover where she married a surgeon by the name of Thomas Day, prompting her arrest and trial in Maidstone for bigamy.
After the trial she visited Cologne where she had a brief affair with a local nobleman. He gave her valuable presents, pressed her for marriage and began the preparations for a wedding. She, however, slipped out of Germany with all the presents and most of her landlady's money, returning to England through the Netherlands.
Life of crime
[edit]She returned to London in 1663 and took on the persona of an orphaned Princess van Wolway from Cologne. She claimed that she was born in Cologne and that her father was Henry van Wolway, Lord of Holmstein and that she had fled a possessive lover. In April 1663, she used this guise to marry a surgeon John Carleton, who was the brother-in-law of the landlord of the Exchange tavern which she frequented. After the wedding, however, an anonymous letter exposed her.[2]
Her trial in 1663 was the first recorded appearance of Mary Carleton. She was charged for masquerading as a German princess and marrying John Carleton in London under that identity. She claimed that John Carleton himself had claimed to be a lord, and was only trying to extract himself from marriage as he had discovered there was no money in it. Both sides of the conflict published pamphlets to support their own story. Mary Carleton was eventually acquitted.
Afterwards Mary Carleton wrote her own account, The Case of Madam Mary Carleton, under her own name directly addressing Prince Rupert.[3] She also acted in a play about her life and gained a number of admirers who gave her more valuable gifts. She eventually married one of her admirers. Predictably she left him too, taking with her his money, valuables and keys while he was drunk.
Carleton next pretended to be a rich virgin heiress fleeing an undesirable suitor whom her father had arranged for her. She even arranged that someone would send her letters that supposedly contained updates of family news. When her new landlady found and read them, she was convinced and became a matchmaker between Carleton and her nephew.
Carleton arranged a new letter: it claimed that her brother was dead and he had left her all he had, including her father's forthcoming inheritance, but that her father intended marrying her to a suitor she detested. Her lover invited her to live with him but Carleton and an accomplice, disguised as a maid, stole his money.
Over the following ten years Carleton used similar methods to defraud various other men and landlords, often with the aid of her maid. Some of the men were too embarrassed to reveal they had been duped. She was many times accused of theft but was jailed only briefly.
Incarceration and execution
[edit]She was once arrested after stealing a silver tankard, and was sentenced to penal transportation and sent to Port Royal, Jamaica in 1671, where she worked as a prostitute. However, in 1672, she either sneaked or conned her way aboard a ship and returned to London, again pretending to be a rich heiress and married an apothecary at Westminster. Naturally, she stole his money and left him.
In December 1672, Carleton was captured when a turnkey from Newgate Prison, while searching for stolen loot at that time, recognized her. On 16 January 1673 she was tried in the Old Bailey. Because she had returned from penal transportation without permission, she was sentenced to death. She tried to plead the belly, but a jury of matrons was brought in to examine her, and found that this was not the case.
At the place of execution at Tyburn, she told the waiting crowd that she had been a very vain woman, yet she hoped God would forgive her, as she forgave her enemies. Carleton was hanged on 22 January 1673. She was buried at the St. Martin's Churchyard. Later, someone wrote on her grave:
The German Princess here, against her will, lies underneath, and yet, oh strange! lies still.
In 1673 Francis Kirkman wrote, and issued under his own name, The Counterfeit Lady Unveiled, a fictional autobiography.
Further reading
[edit]- Mary Carleton - The Case of Madam Mary Carleton (1663)
- Bernbaum, Ernest; Levis, Howard C.; Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection (Library of Congress) (1914). The Mary Carleton narratives, 1663-1673, a missing chapter in the history of the English novel (PDF). Cambridge, Harvard University Press; [etc., etc.]
- Scanlon, Paul A. (2013). Memoirs Of The German Princess. Wilmington, Delaware: World of Books Inc. ISBN 978-1-300-86393-9.
References
[edit]- ^ https://archives.canterbury-cathedral.org/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=CCA-U326%2f1%2f2&pos=1 [bare URL]
- ^ Humphreys, Jennett (1887). Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 9. London: Smith, Elder & Co. . In
- ^ Works Cited, ca. 1663 (The Case of Madam Mary Carlton). The Case of Madam Mary Carleton Lately Stiled the German Princess, Truely Stated: With an Historical Relation of Her Birth, Education, and Fortunes; in an Appeal to His Illustrious Highness Prince Rupert. by the Said Mary Carleton. , London, 1663. ProQuest 2138580306