She learned to read and write and, from age 13, worked as a servant girl in Thirsk, North Riding of Yorkshire.

[2][3] 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.

[3] 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.

In October 1808 William Perigo accused Bateman of poisoning his wife, as well as defrauding money from them for the two years preceding to pay for "charms" and cures.

[2][3] Although Bateman proclaimed her innocence, a search of her home turned up poison as well as many personal belongings of her victims including the Perigo couple.

[3] According to The Criminal Chronology of York Castle by William Knipe, which was written in 1867, the trial lasted 11 hours, though the jury took only a few moments to find her guilty of the charges of fraud and the murder of Rebecca Perigo.

[12] A popular account, The Extraordinary Life and Character of Mary Bateman was published, which was already in its twelfth edition two years after her execution.

[2][5] The episode of the prophetic eggs was cited by Charles Mackay as a minor example of the credulity of the public in his Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.

[8] Historian Owen Davies describes Bateman as having a "pathological need to steal", implying that there was a psychological reason behind the motivations for some of her crimes.