Mary Prout was born into an Amroth mining family 1843. She was one of at least six children (one of which appears to have died in childhood) at a time of great poverty in the area. Mary received little or no formal education and was unable to read or write.

In February 1864, aged just 22 years old, Mary arrived at Narberth Workhouse. She had become pregnant while in domestic service and subsequently rejected by both her employers and her family. Her daughter Rhoda was born in April and Mary was described as a ‘civil and orderly’ inmate, grateful for the shelter the workhouse offered them both. However, on May 20^th, Mary and Rhoda were evicted when the Board of Guardians discovered that Mary had a grandmother who could care for her.

Mary left the workhouse for Amroth, on foot and in a state of despair. It was early evening and passers-by noted the baby’s incessant crying and refusal to feed, as well as Mary’s ‘air of sadness.’ She arrived alone at her grandmother’s house and declared that her baby had died at the workhouse. However, the sudden disappearance of the infant provoked local gossip and it was later discovered that Mary had thrown her baby into an open mine shaft, driven by anxiety and despair.

Mary was charged with murder and at her trial in Haverfordwest, the Master of the Union’s wife described in tragic detail the ‘little cotton shirt…little flannel petticoat and frock’ that the baby had been wearing, and that they were ‘her own property*’. It emerged that a fellow workhouse inmate, Esther Thomas, had shown kindness to Mary and given her a cap for Rhoda to wear as she did not ‘thrive well’. At Mary’s trial she described her as ‘paying every attention to her child. She seemed fond of it’.

Mary Prout was sentenced to death at Haverfordwest. However, her plight moved many of the townspeople to appeal against her conviction and Mary was spared the death sentence. After serving time in prison, she returned to the area and married a man from Saundersfoot. She died in 1914 aged 71 years.

Ganed Mary Prout i deulu o fwyngloddwyr yn Amroth yn 1843. Roedd hi’n un o chwech o blant (ac ymddengys bod un ohonynt wedi marw yn ystod plentyndod) ar adeg o dlodi mawr yn yr ardal. Ychydig iawn o addysg ffurfiol gafodd Mary, ac ni allai ddarllen nac ysgrifennu.

Fis Chwefror 1864, cyrhaeddodd Mary Prout, 22 oed, yn Wyrcws Arberth. Roedd hi wedi dod yn feichiog tra’n gweithio fel morwyn, ac oherwydd hynny cafodd ei gwrthod gan ei chyflogwyr a gan ei theulu. Ganed ei merch Rhoda fis Ebrill, a chafodd Mary ei disgrifio fel person ‘boneddigaidd ac ufudd’, oedd yn ddiolchgar am y lloches yr oedd y tloty yn ei gynnig i’r ddwy. Fodd bynnag, ar Fai yr 20fed, cafodd Mary a Rhoda eu troi allan o’r wyrcws pan ddarganfu’r Bwrdd Gwarcheidwaid bod gan Mary fam-gu allai ofalu amdanynt. 

Gadawodd Mary y wyrcws am Amroth, ar droed ac mewn anobaith llwyr. Sylwodd teithwyr eraill bod y baban yn crïo yn ddi-baid ac yn gwrthod cael ei bwydo, a sylwi ar yr ‘olwg drist’ oedd ar Mary. Cyrhaeddodd ar ei phen ei hun yng nghartref ei mam-gu gan ddweud bod ei baban wedi marw yn y wyrcws. Fodd bynnag, roedd diflaniad sydyn y baban wedi ennyn chwilfrydedd a siarad ymhlith y trigolion lleol, ac yn ddiweddarach darganfuwyd bod Mary wedi taflu ei baban i lawr siafft mwyngloddio agored, mewn digalondid ac anobaith. 

Cafodd Mary ei chyhuddo o lofruddiaeth ac yn yr achos llys yn Hwlffordd, disgrifiodd gwraig Meistr yr Undeb yn fanwl ‘y crys bach cotwm … y ffedog fach wlanen a’r ffrog’ yr oedd y baban yn eu gwisgo, ac mai ‘ei heiddo hi ei hun oedd y dillad hyn*’. Datgelwyd bod Esther Thomas, un arall o breswylwyr y tloty, wedi bod yn garedig wrth Mary ac wedi rhoi cap iddi i Rhoda wisgo gan nad oedd hi’n ‘dod ymlaen yn dda’. Yn achos llys Mary, disgrifiwyd hi fel un oedd yn ‘talu pob sylw i’w phlentyn. Roedd hi’n hoff ohoni yn ôl pob golwg’. 

Cafodd Mary ei dedfrydu i farwolaeth yn Hwlffordd. Fodd bynnag, roedd ei hanes torcalonnus wedi peri i nifer o drigolion y dref apelio yn erbyn ei dedfryd, a llwyddwyd i achub Mary rhag y gosb eithaf. Ar ôl treulio amser yn y carchar, dychwelodd i’r ardal a phriodi gŵr o Saundersfoot. Bu farw yn 1914 yn 71 oed.