William Cotton (Lord Mayor)

For other people named William Cotton, see William Cotton (disambiguation).

Sir William James Richmond Cotton (13 November 1822 - 4 June 1902) was an English merchant and Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1874 to 1885.

Cotton was born at Stratford, London, the son of William Cotton and his wife Caroline Richmond.[1] He became a London merchant and owned iron mines in Norway as well as the Sun and Topping wharves at London Bridge. He was a commissioner of the Inland Revenue and a director of the Liverpool and London Globe Fire and Life Assurance Co. He was a J.P. for Middlesex, Hertfordshire and the City of London. Cotton was a member of the Haberdashers Company, the Saddlers Company the Turners Company and the Fan Makers Company. He was a trustee of St Andrew Undershaft, chairman of the Mary Datchelors Middle Class Girl's School, a governor of Queen Anne's Bounty, a governor off the Royal Hospitals, a member of the committee of Aske's Charity and president of the City of London Rifle Corps.[2]

Cotton was elected an alderman for the city in 1866. In 1868, he stood for parliament unsuccessfully at Southwark. He was Sheriff of London and Middlesex from 1868 to 1869. At the 1874 general election he was elected Member of Parliament for City of London.[3] He was Lord Mayor of London from 1875 to 1876. He lost his seat in parliament in the 1885 UK general election after representation was reduced from four to two under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.

Cotton was a member of the London School Board for nine years and became its chairman, and was also chairman of the Police Committee for seventeen years. He became Chamberlain of the City of London in 1892,[4] and was knighted in July 1892.[5]

Richmond-Cotton died at the age of 79.

Cotton married Caroline Richmond Pottinger in 1848.[4]

References

  1. ^ Cotton DNA Project
  2. ^ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1881
  3. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 3)
  4. ^ a b New York Times 6 June 1902
  5. ^ London Gazette: no. 26306. p. 4005. 12 July 1892. Retrieved 7 December 2010.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Robert Wigram Crawford
John Hubbard
George Goschen
William Lawrence		 Member of Parliament for the City of London
1874 – 1885
With: John Hubbard 1874–87
Philip Twells 1874–80
George Goschen to 1880
William Lawrence 1880–85
Sir Robert Fowler, Bt 1880–91		 Succeeded by
John Hubbard
Sir Robert Fowler, Bt