George Cotton

George Edward Lynch Cotton
Bishop of Calcutta
Bishop Cotton
Church	Church of England
See	Calcutta
In Office	1858–1866
Personal details
Born	October 29, 1813(1813-10-29) Chester, England
Died	October 6, 1866(1866-10-06) (aged 52) Kushtea, India

George Edward Lynch Cotton (October 29, 1813 – October 6, 1866) was an English educator and clergyman, known for his connections with British India and the public school system.

Life in England

He was born at Chester. He received his education at The King's School, Chester,^[1] Westminster School, and at Trinity College, Cambridge.^[1] 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.

He graduated B.A. in 1836, and became an assistant master at Rugby School. He became master of the fifth form in about 1840. In 1852 he accepted the appointment of headmaster at Marlborough College.

India

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.

Cotton established schools for British and Eurasian children. The Bishop Cotton Schools in Bangalore and Shimla bear his name; he founded many other schools in India, including St. James' School in Calcutta and Cathedral and John Connon in Bombay.

On October 6, 1866, he had consecrated a cemetery at Kushtea on the Ganges, and was crossing a plank leading from the bank to the steamer when he slipped and fell into the river. He was carried away by the current and never seen again.

Cotton married Sophia Ann Tomkinson, daughter of Reverend Henry Tomkinson, on 26 June 1845. Their son Edward Cotton-Jodrell was later MP for Wirral.

A memoir of his life with selections from his journals and correspondence, edited by his widow, was published in 1871.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Church of England titles
Preceded by Daniel Wilson	Bishop of Calcutta 1858–1866	Succeeded by Robert Milman

Bishops of Calcutta Thomas Middleton • Reginald Heber • Thomas James • John Turner • Daniel Wilson • George Cotton • Robert Milman • Ralph Johnson • James Welldon • Reginald Copleston • George Lefroy • Foss Westcott • George Hubback • Aurobindo Nath Mukherjee • Lakdasa De Mel • Joseph Amritanand • Dinesh Chandra Gorai • Samuel Raju • Ashoke Biswas

Persondata
Name	Cotton, George Edward Lynch
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1813-10-29
Place of birth	Chester, England
Date of death	1866-10-06
Place of death	Kushtea, India