A Thousand Blows: What Happened To Mary Carr In Real Life

Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for A Thousand Blows season 1.Mary Carr (Erin Doherty) was a real person, long before she was a character in A Thousand Blows, and viewers may wonder what happened to her in real life. Like many of the characters of A Thousand Blows, the Forty Elephants featured in A Thousand Blows are based on a real-life all-female London gang. They existed from at least the 1870s all the way to the 1950s, and over the decades, they made quite a name for themselves. Since they were the subject of quite a bit of attention, history has remembered the Forty Elephants and their queens.

A Thousand Blows is a unique combination of a sports series and a crime drama, and much of the latter genre is due to Mary Carr. Mary and the Forty Elephants created quite a problems throughout A Thousand Blows, and her plan to steal from the Chinese delegation to the United Kingdom was the bedrock of the entire season. She's an endlessly important and interesting character - and a big reason A Thousand Blows' Rotten Tomatoes score is so high - so many viewers may want to know what happened to her in real life.

Mary Carr Was An Original Leader Of The Forty Elephants

Carr Was Elected Queen Of The Forty Elephants In 1890

Erin Doherty as Mary Carr at the boxing ring in A Thousand Blows season 1

The earliest records of Mary Carr's life indicate that she was an accomplished thief and criminal from a very young age. Carr was born in 1862, convicted of shoplifting at age 14, and by 1881, she was in a female prison for an unknown crime (via BBC). In 1890, Carr was elected queen of the Forty Elephants, though it's unclear who she replaced. Just as A Thousand Blows depicted, Carr ruled the Forty Elephants mostly unopposed, and though the gang was egalitarian in nature - they split the proceeds of each "hoist" evenly - Carr made executive decisions.

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If anything, however, A Thousand Blows actually made Mary Carr nicer than she was in real life. Carr and the Forty Elephants took advantage of the notion prevalent in the Victorian era that women were more innocent than men to distract shop clerks and rob high-end stores. The Forty Elephants also reportedly blackmailed men by falsely accusing them of rape, which A Thousand Blows didn't delve into (via BBC). It also seems that A Thousand Blows completely fabricated Mary's heist at the Chinese summit. Though she ruled with the proverbial iron fist, Mary Carr's leadership of the Forty Elephants wasn't set in stone.

Mary Was Eventually Usurped By Alice Diamond

Diamond Became Queen Of The Forty Elephants After Carr Went To Prison

Alice Diamond (Darci Shaw) in A Thousand Blows season 1, episode 3

From 1890 to 1896, Mary Carr led the Forty Elephants unopposed. However, just as the ending of A Thousand Blows season 1 indicated, her sway over her fellow gangsters began to wane. In 1896, Carr was convicted of kidnapping a child from the Epsom racetracks, and she was sentenced to three years in prison for the crime (via BBC). Carr's frequent incarceration seriously chipped away at her authority as queen of the Forty Elephants. While she was serving one of several stints in jail, another member of the Forty Elephants, Alice Diamond (Darci Shaw) took her place.

Diamond became queen of the Forty Elephants after Mary Carr, and she led the gang to even greater heights than Mary was capable of. Alice Diamond reportedly used her surname as a bit of a pun, as she would wear diamond rings both as a status symbol and as a makeshift form of brass knuckles (via BBC). A Thousand Blows has already hinted that Diamond would inherit the title of queen from Mary, as the latter has taken the younger woman under her wing in many ways. It's even possible that Diamond's rise to power is a hint of things to come in A Thousand Blows season 2.

What Mary's Future Could Tease For A Thousand Blows Season 2

Mary Carr Could Have A Bleak Future That Involves Prison Time In A Thousand Blows

After she was usurped as the queen of the Forty Elephants, Mary Carr still had an eventful life. Shortly after she was released from prison in 1899, Carr was once again imprisoned in 1900 for possessing stolen goods. She had a few more arrests later in her life - notably for a robbery in 1909 - but she mostly faded out of the history books until her death, which was estimated to have happened in 1924. Luckily, the real Mary Carr provides almost countless directions for A Thousand Blows to take her character into the future.

A Thousand Blows could let Mary leave the Forty Elephants by simply having her arrested, just as the real Mary Carr was imprisoned sporadically through the years.

At the end of A Thousand Blows season 1, Mary was trying to leave London and start a new life away from the Forty Elephants and all of her worries. Mary Carr's real history may provide a way for her to get a fresh start, even though Hezekiah (Malachi Kirby) refused her offer. A Thousand Blows could let Mary leave the Forty Elephants by simply having her arrested, just as the real Mary Carr was imprisoned sporadically through the years. Alternatively, A Thousand Blows may choose to make Alice Diamond's takeover of the Forty Elephants even more hostile than it was in real life.