Mary Bateman (1768-1809): AKA the "Yorkshire Witch"

Mary was born into a "respectable" but poor Yorkshire farming family. She went into domestic service in Thirsk- but was discharged for theft. After working in York she fled to Leeds without pay or possession, again being charged with theft.

In 1792 she married John Bateman, after a three week courtship and her lists of thefts and frauds increased. He left her to join the supplementary militia, and abandoned to her own resources, Mary set up a fortune telling business in Leeds (1799). Channelling a "Mrs Moore" Mary became famous for miraculous healing, warding off evil spirits, and pocketing money.

However, the spirits appear to have left Mary in 1809 when she was charged with the murder of Mrs Rachel Perigo of Bramley-- through poison, evil wishes and spells.

After a sensational trial, Mary was executed by hanging at York Castle in front of a crowd of thousands, who paid to see her corpse and cut of pieces of her flesh for charms. Her skeleton now resides in the Thackeray Medical Museum in Leeds, for all to look at

Mary's life and afterlife embodies the skeletal frame of re-reading women in history: so often visible to many, scrutinized by many hands, but the complexities of their circumstances, their lives and bodies; their own words, seem rarely spoken for themselves.