William Cotton

William Cotton, born in 1786 in Leytonstone, was a founding member of the council of King’s College London. Cotton was a merchant, inventor, banker, and philanthropist, who during his lifetime built numerous churches and schools for the working classes. Cotton came from a well-established upper middle-class family. His father (Joseph Cotton, 1745-1825) had made his money as a captain for the East India Company (EIC) taking advantage of expanding imperial trade and was later appointed a director of the EIC. His grandfather (Dr Nathaniel Cotton, 1705-1788) was a highly respected physician. Cotton was a deeply religious man and during his lifetime was involved with societies such as the Colonial Bishoprics Fund, Hackney Phalanx of Prominent Churchmen and Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. Cotton believed that moral reform was the best form of patriotism. Importantly, he argued that the poor needed to be relieved of their poverty before their morals could be judged. His philanthropy therefore focused on the promotion of institutions that could relieve economic and social pressures. This included his zeal for building churches, promoting public baths, wash houses and model lodging houses.

However, Cotton’s behaviour was not always so exemplary. During his time at Chigwell Grammar, 15-year-old Cotton was accused of setting fire to the headmaster’s garden. Cotton married Sarah Fowler in 1812. The couple had seven children together and Cotton maintained a keen interest in their upbringing and education. Reflecting both his business shrewdness and his familial shipping legacy, Cotton first began his career at the Limehouse shipping firm Huddart & Co. which he later adopted full control of, he also invented steam driven rope making machinery and in 1851 was awarded the Telford Medal from the Institution of Civil Engineers. During his tenure at the Bank of England, Cotton alongside Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel and Conservative plantation owner, Henry Goulburn, produced the Bank Charter Act of 1844. One of his most valued inventions was an automatic weighing machine for sovereigns, colloquially referred to as ‘the governor’, which won a medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and was used extensively at the Bank of England. William Cotton became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1821, was elected chairman of the London Hospital in 1827 and became treasurer in 1837 echoing some of the roles he undertook for the newly founded King’s College London in 1829. He also used the many connections he made through these roles to fundraise for King’s College London. However, the man he had the most contact with at King’s was his friend Henry Nelson Coleridge, who was also an important council member. Cotton was described by historian Hearnshaw as a ‘venerable member’ of King’s and one whose death in 1866 marked ‘the first age of the college’ coming to an end.