COTTON
,
Sir
STAPLETON
(
1773
-
1865
),
6th baronet
, afterwards
1st viscount Combermere
,
field-marshal
,
came of the house of
Salusbury
of
Llewenni
(q.v.)
— pedigree in
J. E.
Griffith
,
Pedigrees
, 222.
Sir
John
Salusbury
(d.
s.p.
1684
)
left the estate to his sister
HESTER
(d.
1710
), who m.
Sir
Robert
Cotton
,
1st baronet
, of
Combermere
(d.
1713
); their son
Sir
THOMAS
COTTON
,
2nd baronet
(d.
1715
), m.
Philadelphia
Lynch
. They had three children, of whom the youngest,
Hester
, m.
John
Salusbury
of
Bachygraig
, and was the mother of
Hester Lynch
(
Thrale
)
Piozzi
(q.v.)
. The eldest,
Sir
ROBERT
COTTON
,
3rd baronet
, d.
1748
; his brother,
Sir
,
Lynch Salusbury
Cotton
,
4th baronet
(d.
1775
), had a son,
Sir
ROBERT
COTTON
,
5th baronet
(d.
1807
), who m.
FRANCES
STAPLETON
, co-heiress of the house of
Bodrhyddan, Flints.
(
J. E.
Griffith
, op. cit., 260-1). Their son, b.
14 Nov. 1773
(at
Llewenni
), is the subject of the present notice. His very distinguished military career is described fully in the
D.N.B.
He served in
Flanders
, at the
Cape
, and in
India
, where he came to the notice of
Sir
Arthur
Wellesley
, who used him as
cavalry commander
in the
Peninsular War
, and would, if he had had his way, have chosen him to
command the cavalry
at
Waterloo
. He was afterwards
governor
of
Barbados
(
1817-20
),
Com.-in-Chief
in
Ireland
(
1822-5
) and in
India
(
1825-30
), and became
field-marshal
in
1855
. He was raised to the
peerage
in
1814
and created
viscount
in
1827
. D.
21 Feb. 1865
. His younger grandson,
Col.
R. S. G.
Cotton
, of
Llwyn Onn
,
Llanfairpwll
(
1849
-
1925
), presented the library of the
University College of North Wales
with an interesting collection of manuscripts relating to the family estates in the
West Indies
.
James Henry
Cotton
,
dean of Bangor
(q.v.)
, was the
field-marshal
's first cousin, their fathers being brothers.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor.
