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William Cotton, Q.C., J.P., D.L.
1786 - 1866

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• Suffix	Q.C., J.P., D.L.
  Birth	12 Sep 1786	London (London), Middlesex, England
  	Date and place as Leyton Essex given in Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 4, p. 1246 (ancestry.com). Note, however, that UK 1861 census gives birthplace as Charterhouse Square, London. Also, UK 1851 census gives birthplace as Middlesex City London. See also Christening notes. Date from Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal, The Anne of Exeter Volume, p. 442 (ancestry.com).
  Christened	4 Oct 1786	London (London), Middlesex, England
  	Christened at Saint Botolph Without Aldersgate, London. Date and place from LDS IGI Individual Record for Wm Cotton, son of Joseph Cotton and Sarah. Original christening record at London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 (ancestry.com) for St Botolph Aldersgate, gives: Christnings in October 1786 / 4 / Wm S of Joseph & Sarah Cotton / Septr 12th.
  Gender	Male
  Education	Bef 1801	Chigwell, Essex, England
  	Chigwell Grammar School
  	From Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 4, p. 1246 (ancestry.com).
  Appointed	1837
  	Sheriff, co. Essex
  	From Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 4, p. 1247 (ancestry.com).
  Appointed	1838
  	Sheriff, County of Essex
  	From List of Sheriffs for 1838, in Appendix to Chronicle, The Annual Register for the Year 1838, p. 173, and The Gentleman's Magaqzine, March 1838, p. 311, which reads: LIST OF SHERIFFS FOR 1838. ... Essex---W. Cotton, of Wallwood, Leyton, Esq.
  Occupation	1807-1838	London (Limehouse), Middlesex, England
  	as Partner in Huddart & Co., cordage manufacturing company at Limehouse
  	From Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 4, p. 1246 (ancestry.com).
  Census	6 Jun 1841	London (Marylebone), Middlesex, England
  	UK
  	as William Cotton / age 54 / occupation Independent / born in Middlesex / living at Nr 6 Devonshire Place, Marylebone, London, with wife Sarah Cotton, daughters Sarah and Phoebe Cotton, son Joseph E Cotton, niece Mary Bowdler, 8 servants.
  Honorary Degree	5 Jul 1848	Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
  	D.C.L., Oxford University
  	From Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 4, p. 1247 (ancestry.com). Cotton, William, created D.C.L. 5 July, 1848, governor of the Bank of England 1844, and of Christ's Hospital 1821, director 1822-66, high sheriff Essex 1837 (3rd son of Joseph Cotton, a director E.I.C.S., deputy-master of the Trinity House), died 1 Dec., 1866. See Gent.'s Mag., 1867, p. 111, father of William Charles, Henry, and Arthur Benjamin, whom see. From Foster, Joseph. Alumni Oxonienses: The Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886 and Alumni Oxonienses: The Members of the University of Oxford, 1500-1714. Oxford: Parker and Co., 1888-1892 (ancestry.com).
  Honors	1851	England
  	invention of sovereign-weighing machine, with medal from 1851 Exhibition commissioners
  	From Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 4, p. 1246 (ancestry.com).
  Census	30 Mar 1851	London (St. George Hanover Square), Middlesex, England
  	UK
  	as William Cotton / Head / married / age 64 / occupation Bank Director D.C.L. / birthplace Middlesex City London / living at 17 Dover Street, Mayfair, with wife Sarah Cotton, sons William Charles and Henry Cotton, daughters Phoebe and Agnes Cotton, 8 servants.
  Census	7 Apr 1861	Hastings, Sussex, England
  	UK
  	as William Cotton / Head / married / age 76 / occupation Justice of the Peace Essex / birthplace London Charter House Square / living at 2 Robertson Terrace, Hastings, with wife Sarah Cotton, sons Henry and Arthur B Cotton, daughter[-in-law] Clemence E Cotton, daughter Agnes Cotton, grandson Theodore D Acland, grandson Edward Cotton, granddaughter Clemence M Cotton, grandson Henry S Cotton, granddaughter Phoebe Cotton, 7 servants.
  Appointed	J.P. and D.L., co. Essex
  	From Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 4, p. 1247 (ancestry.com).
  Will	6 Jul 1865
  	From The Law Times, 30 March 1867, p. 434.
  Of	1819-1866	Leyton, Essex, England
  	Walwood House, Leytonstone
  	From Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 4, p. 1247 (ancestry.com).
  Organizations	Fellow of the Royal Society
  	From Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 4, p. 1247 (ancestry.com).
  Organizations	Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
  	Also supported Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, Colonial Bishoprics Fund, Additional Curates Society, etc. From Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 4, p. 1247 (ancestry.com).
  Occupation	1821-1866	London, London, England
  	Director, Bank of England, and Governor 1843-1845
  	Invented an automatic weighing machine for sovereigns, introduced in 1844, known as "the governor", weighing sovereigns at the rate of 23 per minute, and capable of discriminating to 1/10,000 of a grain.. From Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 4, p. 1246 (ancestry.com).
  Will	Jun 1866
  	Codicil
  	From The Law Times, 30 March 1867, p. 434.
  Will	Nov 1866
  	Codicil
  	From The Law Times, 30 March 1867, p. 434.
  Died	1 Dec 1866	Leyton, Essex, England
  	Date from Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 4, p. 1247 (ancestry.com). Date from Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal, The Anne of Exeter Volume, p. 442 (ancestry.com). Death notice in The Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 222, January 1867, p. 121, reads: Dec. 1. ... At Walwood House, Leytonstone, aged 80, William Cotton, esq. See OBITUARY.
  Will proved	Mar 1867	London, Middlesex, England
  	Report in The Law Times, 30 March 1867, p. 434, reads: The will of the late William Cotton, Esq., F.R.C., D.C.L., late Governor of the Bank of England, and many years a director, was proved, in the London court, under 70,000l. personalty. The executors are Benjamin Cotton, Esq., the brother, of Forest House, Chigwell; Henry Cotton, Esq., the son; and Edmund Hay Currie, Esq. The will is dated July 6, 1865, and there are two codicils, June and Nov. 1866, and the testator died at his residence, Walwood House, Leytonstone, Essex, Dec. 1, at the age of eighty. He has left considerable property to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for teh support of the church of St. Paul's, Stepney, erected at his entire expense, and leaves the patronage and advowson thereof to his son, the Rev. Arthur Benjamin Cotton, the present incumbent. He devises to his son Henry his manor of Gibbins and Cleeves, in Essex, and leaves his Bow-common estate in trust for his wife for her life, and after her decease he bequeaths the same amongst his sons and daughters in certain specified portions.
  _UID	9E19CAC6AEE9458B910D9CEEE5CB627F679A
  Buried	Leyton, Essex, England
  	Buried in churchyard of St. John the Baptist, Leytonstone, a church which he had himself been largely instrumental in building. A painted window to his memory was placed, by public subscription, in St. Paul's Cathedral. From Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 4, p. 1247 (ancestry.com).
  Notes	Third son of Joseph Cotton. Philanthropist, on behalf of employees of Huddart firm at Limehouse, in St. Anne's schools at Limehouse, in support of the London Hospital, in building the churches of St. Peter's Stepney, St. Thomas Bethnal Green (as memorial to a son he lost), St. Paul's Stepney and a number of other churches, in organizing the Metropolis Churches Fund which later became the London Diocesan Church Building Society, on original council of King's College, and a governor of Christ's Hospital from 1821, originator of system of public baths and washhouses, and involved in establishing the first model lodging-houses. From Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 4, p. 1246 (ancestry.com).
  Person ID	I7567	Halhed Genealogy
  Last Modified	4 Jan 2011

  
  

  Father	Capt. Joseph Cotton,   b. 7 Mar 1746, St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England ,   d. 26 Jan 1825, Leyton, Essex, England
  Mother	Sarah Harrison,   b. 15 Aug 1751, Upminster, Essex, England ,   d. 2 Feb 1818, Leyton, Essex, England
  Married	28 Jan 1779	London (Holborn), Middlesex, England
  Family ID	F2966	Group Sheet

  
  

  Family	Sarah Lane,   b. 31 May 1790, London (London), Middlesex, England ,   d. 22 Dec 1872
  Married	3 Feb 1812	Leyton, Essex, England
  	Year from Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 4, p. 1247 (ancestry.com). At St Mary's, Leyton. Place from LDS IGI Individual Record for William Cotton marriage to Sarah Lane, which gives date as 4 Feb 1812. Date given as 14 Feb 1912 in Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal, The Anne of Exeter Volume, p. 442 (ancestry.com). Marriage notice in The Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 82, pt. 1, February 1812, p. 188, reads: Feb. 3, ... At Leyton, Essex, William Cotton, esq. to Sarah, only daughtere of Thomas Lane, esq. of the Grange, Leyton.
  Children	1. Rev. William Charles Cotton,   b. 1813, Stratford, Essex, England ,   d. 22 Jun 1879, Chiswick, Middlesex, England   2. Sarah Cotton,   b. 21 Jul 1815, Leytonstone, Essex, England ,   d. 25 Oct 1878, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England   3. Phoebe Cotton,   b. 8 May 1817, Leyton, Essex, England ,   d. 7 May 1857, Torquay, Devon, England   4. Rt. Hon. Sir Henry Cotton, Q.C.,   b. 20 May 1821, Leytonstone, Essex, England ,   d. 22 Feb 1892, Forest Mere nr Liphook, Hampshire, England   5. Joseph Edward Cotton,   b. 18 May 1823,   d. 6 Feb 1842, Essex, England   6. Agnes Cotton,   b. 24 Feb 1828, Leytonstone, Essex, England ,   d. 20 May 1899, Leytonstone, Essex, England   7. Rev. Arthur Benjamin Cotton,   b. 22 Sep 1832, Leytonstone, Essex, England ,   d. 6 Feb 1918, Wrotham, Kent, England
  Last Modified	4 Jan 2011
  Family ID	F2965	Group Sheet