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George Cotton
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George Edward Lynch Cotton (29 October 1813 – 6 October 1866) was the Bishop of Calcutta. He was also an English educator and clergyman, known for his connections with British India and the public school system.
Key Information
Life in England
[edit]
He was born at Chester, a grandson of the late George Cotton, Dean of Chester.[1]
His father, Thomas George D'Avenant Cotton—born in Acton, Cheshire, England on 28 June 1783 to George and Catherine Maria (née Tomkinson) Cotton—was a captain in the Royal Fusiliers and died in the Peninsular War in 1813 at the Battle of Nivelle, two weeks after George's birth.[2][3][4] He received his education at The King's School, Chester,[5] Westminster School,[6] and at Trinity College, Cambridge.[7] Here he joined the Low Church party, and was a close friend of several disciples of Thomas Arnold, including CJ Vaughan and WJ Conybeare. Arnold's influence determined the character and course of Cotton's life.[8]
He graduated BA in 1836, and became an assistant master at Rugby School. He became master of the fifth form in about 1840.[8] In 1852 he accepted the appointment of headmaster at Marlborough College, reviving its financial, educational and reputational status.[3] Both Rugby School and Marlborough College boarding houses were subsequently named after him.[citation needed]
Cotton married his cousin, Sophia Ann Tomkinson, daughter of Rev. Henry Tomkinson and niece of T. J. Phillips Jodrell, on 26 June 1845. They had two children; a son, Edward Cotton-Jodrell (later MP for Wirral) and a daughter, Ursula Mary, who also married within the clergy.[9][10]
India
[edit]In 1858 Cotton was offered the office of the Bishop of Calcutta, which, after much hesitation, he accepted. The government of India had just been transferred from the British East India Company to the crown, and questions of education were eagerly discussed, following Macaulay's famous Minute on Indian Education.
Cotton established schools for British and Eurasian (and Indian) children including the Bishop Cotton School Shimla. The Bishop Cotton Boys' School and Bishop Cotton Girls' School in Bangalore were established in his memory. The Bishop Cotton School in Nagpur also bears his name. He founded many other schools in India, including St. James' School in Calcutta, and Cathedral and John Connon in Bombay.
As the senior Anglican prelate in India, he also consecrated a number of new churches throughout the subcontinent, including St. Luke's Church, Abbottabad, and others on what then used to be the Punjab Province and later became the North West Frontier Province.
A memoir of his life with selections from his journals and correspondence, edited by his widow, was published in 1871.
Death
[edit]On 6 October 1866, he had consecrated a cemetery at Kushtia on the Ganges in the then Bengal Presidency, and was crossing a plank leading from the bank to the steamer when he slipped and fell into the river Gorai. He was carried away by the current and never seen again.[8]
It has been suggested that the phrase "to bless one's cotton socks" is traceable to Cotton's death. It is said that while Bishop of Calcutta, Cotton ensured that children in his schools had socks to wear, and he blessed the socks upon their arrival, as he did other goods. Over time, "Cotton's socks" became "Cotton socks". Upon his sudden death, the Archbishop was asked, "Who will bless his cotton socks".[11]
Bibliography
[edit]- Cotton, George Edward Lynch (1871). Cotton, Sophia Ann (ed.). Memoir of George Edward Lynch Cotton, D.D.:Bishop of Calcutta and metropolitan with selections from his journals and correspondence. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
References
[edit]- ^ "The Peerage – Thomas Davenant Cotton". Retrieved 21 February 2012.[better source needed]
- ^ Cotton 1871, p. 1.
- ^ a b Arbuthnot, A. J.; Savage, . David W. "Cotton, George Edward Lynch (1813–1866)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6412. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Arbuthnot, Alexander John (1887). . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 12. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ "Inspirational Alumni Members". The King's School Chester. Archived from the original on 15 December 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
- ^ Cotton 1871, pp. 2–6.
- ^ "Cotton, George (CTN832GE)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ a b c Chisholm 1911.
- ^ Burke's Landed Gentry: Burke's Landed Gentry : A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry. Vol. 1 (9 ed.). 1898. p. 816.
- ^ Burke's Landed Gentry: Burke's Landed Gentry : A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry. Vol. 2 (9 ed.). 1898. p. 345.
- ^ ""Quite often I have my cotton socks 'blessed'. Can anyone tell me the origin of this saying?"". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
Attribution:
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cotton, George Edward Lynch". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 255.
External links
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Works by or about George Cotton at Wikisource- Bibliographic directory from Project Canterbury
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George Cotton
View on GrokipediaEarly life
Birth and family
George Edward Lynch Cotton was born on 29 October 1813 in Chester, England. His father was Captain Thomas Davenant Cotton of the 7th Fusiliers, who was killed at the Battle of Nivelle in the Peninsular War shortly after George's birth. [1] He was educated at The King's School, Chester, then Westminster School, followed by Trinity College, Cambridge, where he received his BA in 1836 with first-class honours in classics. [1] On 26 June 1845 he married his cousin Sophia Ann Tomkinson; they had two children: son Edward (later Cotton-Jodrell, MP for Wirral) and daughter Ursula Mary. [2]Career
Rugby School and Marlborough College
Cotton joined Rugby School as an assistant master in 1837 under headmaster Thomas Arnold, later becoming master of the fifth form. He spent 15 years at Rugby, applying Arnold's principles of Christian education and moral discipline. [1] In 1852 he became headmaster of Marlborough College, where he strengthened discipline, introduced organised sports, and revived the school's reputation over six years. [1]Bishop of Calcutta
In 1858 Cotton was appointed Bishop of Calcutta and Metropolitan of India. He supervised Anglican dioceses and chaplaincies across India. [1] He proposed and gained approval for an educational plan for European and Eurasian children, establishing boarding schools in hill stations (Shimla, Darjeeling, Mussoorie) modelled on English public schools with Church of England teaching, and day schools in the plains. Many schools founded or inspired by his work bear his name, including Bishop Cotton School in Shimla. [1] His devotional writings supported Christian formation in schools. A memoir of his life, journals, and correspondence was edited by his widow Sophia Ann Cotton and published in 1871. [2]Death
Cotton died on 6 October 1866, aged 52, in an accidental drowning. After consecrating a cemetery at Kushtia on the Ganges, he slipped from a plank while boarding a steamer on the River Gorai in Bengal and was swept away by the current; his body was never recovered. [1]References
- https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Cotton,_George_Edward_Lynch