George Edward Lynch Cotton | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Calcutta | |
 Bishop Cotton | |
| Church | Church of England |
| Diocese | Calcutta |
| In office | 1858–1866 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1813-10-29)29 October 1813 Chester, England |
| Died | 6 October 1866(1866-10-06) (aged 52) |
George Edward Lynch Cotton (29 October 1813 – 6 October 1866) was theBishop of Calcutta. He was also an English educator and clergyman, known for his connections withBritish India and thepublic school system.
He was born atChester, a grandson of the lateGeorge Cotton,Dean of Chester.[1]
His father, Thomas George D'Avenant Cotton—born inActon, Cheshire, England on 28 June 1783 to George and Catherine Maria (née Tomkinson) Cotton—was acaptain in theRoyal Fusiliers and died in thePeninsular War in 1813 at theBattle of Nivelle, two weeks after George's birth.[2][3][4]He received his education atThe King's School, Chester,[5]Westminster School,[6] and atTrinity College, Cambridge.[7] Here he joined theLow Church party, and was a close friend of several disciples ofThomas Arnold, includingCJ Vaughan andWJ Conybeare. Arnold's influence determined the character and course of Cotton's life.[8]
He graduated BA in 1836, and became an assistant master atRugby School. He became master of the fifth form in about 1840.[8] In 1852 he accepted the appointment of headmaster atMarlborough College, reviving its financial, educational and reputational status.[3] Both Rugby School and Marlborough Collegeboarding houses were subsequently named after him.[citation needed]
Cotton married his cousin, Sophia Ann Tomkinson, daughter of Rev. Henry Tomkinson and niece ofT. 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]
In 1858 Cotton was offered the office of theBishop of Calcutta, which, after much hesitation, he accepted. The government ofIndia had just been transferred from theBritish East India Company to the crown, and questions of education were eagerly discussed, followingMacaulay's famousMinute on Indian Education.
Cotton established schools for British and Eurasian (and Indian) children including theBishop Cotton School Shimla. TheBishop Cotton Boys' School andBishop 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, includingSt. James' School in Calcutta, andCathedral and John Connon inBombay.
As the senior Anglican prelate in India, he also consecrated a number of new churches throughout the subcontinent, includingSt. Luke's Church, Abbottabad, and others on what then used to be thePunjab Province and later became theNorth West Frontier Province.
A memoir of his life with selections from his journals and correspondence, edited by his widow, was published in 1871.
On 6 October 1866, he had consecrated a cemetery atKushtia on theGanges in the thenBengal Presidency, and was crossing a plank leading from the bank to the steamer when he slipped and fell into the riverGorai. 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]
Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cotton, George Edward Lynch".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 255. Works by or aboutGeorge Cotton atWikisource| Church of England titles | ||
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| Preceded by | Bishop of Calcutta 1858–1866 | Succeeded by |
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