Confidence Trickster. Mary Willcocks was a poor peasant girl, who became famous duping noted members of society into believing she was a real princess from Javasu, named Princess Caraboo. She did this to evade the poor house. She was courted by the monied classes and became accepted in their circles until her true identity was discovered. Embarrassed by this revelation, the same people made her an offer she could not refuse, go to America or Prison. After returning from America she returned to Bristol, was married and made a living selling Leeches until her death in 1864. She is buried in Hebron Road Cemetery under her married name Mary Baker. The headstone has not been found as yet. The film 'Princess Caraboo' was made in 1994.
∼In April of 1817, a strangely dressed young woman was found wandering the streets of Almondsbury, Gloucestershire, England. She apparently could not speak or comprehend English, and no one could understand the language she spoke. Finally, a Portugese sailor stepped forward to translate for her. She said her name was Princess Caraboo, and she was from the island of Javasu in the Indian Ocean. She claimed to have been kidnapped by pirates, and had escaped by jumping overboard when the ship was in the Bristol Channel.

For more than two months, Caraboo enjoyed the hospitality of the local dignitaries. Then, after a portrait of her appeared in an area newspaper, an acquaintance came forward and revealed her true identity.

"Princess Caraboo" was actually Mary Baker, a cobbler's daughter and servant girl. Her "language" had been nothing more than a combination of gibberish and Gypsy words.

Shortly after her discovery, she moved to Philadelphia for a time, then returned to England in 1821, where she remarried, raised a family, and spent the rest of her life.