(1852-?) his death
In 1852, at the age of 20, Mary Ann married colliery labourer William Mowbray at Newcastle Upon Tyne register office; they soon moved to South West England. At the time of her trial there were reports of four or five of their children dying young while they were living away from County Durham. None of these deaths is registered but this was not compulsory until 1874. The only birth recorded was that of their daughter, Margaret Jane, born at St Germans in 1856.
William and Mary Ann moved back to North East England, where William worked as a fireman aboard a steam vessel sailing out of Sunderland, then as a colliery foreman. Another daughter, Isabella, was born in 1858, and Margaret Jane died in 1860. Another daughter, also named Margaret Jane, was born in 1861 and finally a son, John Robert William, was born in 1863, but died a year later from gastric fever.
William died of an intestinal disorder in January 1865. The lives of William and of their children were insured by the British and Prudential Insurance office and Mary Ann collected a payout of £35 on William's death (equivalent to £3,018 in 2015, about half a year's wages for a manual labourer at the time) and smaller amounts for the children.