Mary Ball (c. 28 June 1818 â 9 August 1849) was an English housewife from Nuneaton, Warwickshire who poisoned her husband with arsenic. She was hanged in Cuckoo Lane, outside Coventry Gaol, before a crowd of about twenty thousand. She was the last person to be publicly executed in Coventry.
A plaque on the former County Hall in Coventry marks the nearby site of her execution.
A historical account of the life, death and trail of Mary, The Life, Trial and Hanging of Mary Ball, was written by her great-great grandson Robert Muscutt. A novelised account of Mary's life, The Defiance of Mary Ball, was written by the same author.
A musical concept album presenting a fictionalised account of Mary's story called "Mary Ball - The Musical Concept Album", was released in August 2024 by composers Ben Fellows and Richard Barnfather.