Lieutenant-General Sir Sydney John Cotton GCB (2 December 1792 – 19 February 1874) was a British Army officer. He was the commandment of the Moreton Bay penal colony in Australia.
Sir Sydney Cotton | |
|---|---|
| Born | 2 December 1792 |
| Died | 19 February 1874 (aged 81) |
| Buried | Brompton Cemetery, London |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service/ |  British Army |
| Rank | Lieutenant-General |
| Commands held | Northern District |
| Battles/wars | Indian Rebellion |
| Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath |
Military career edit
Born the second son of Henry Calveley Cotton of Woodcote, Oxfordshire, England, and his wife Matilda, daughter and heiress of John Lockwood of Dews Hall, Essex, Cotton joined the British Army in 1810 as a Cornet in the 22nd Light Dragoons.
He served in India from 1810 to 1835.
He served extensively in Australia (1835 to 1842) including being the commandant of the Moreton Bay penal colony (now the city of Brisbane) from 1837 to 1839.[1]
He returned to India for further service 1842 to 1863, including service throughout the Indian Rebellion of 1857–58.
For his frontier services, Cotton was appointed KCB and after returning to England he became General Officer Commanding Northern District in July 1865.[2] He was promoted to lieutenant-General in 1866 and, after publishing "Nine Years on the North-West Frontier of India from 1854 to 1863" in 1868, he was advanced to GCB in 1872.
He was Governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea from 1872 until 1874.[3]
He is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.
Mount Cotton, Queensland is named after him.
See also edit
- Rev. Richard Lynch Cotton (1794–1880), younger brother
- Sir Arthur Thomas Cotton (1803–1899), younger brother
References edit
- ^ Cranfield, Louis R. (Louis Radnor), 1927- (1 January 1964), Early commandants of Moreton Bay, Royal Historical Society of Queensland, retrieved 10 October 2020
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Army Commands" (PDF). Retrieved 25 November 2015.
- ^ Survey of London, volume 11, edited by Walter H. Godfrey (editor), Published 1927
External links edit
- Australian Dictionary of Biography
- Colonial Secretary's papers 1822-1877, State Library of Queensland- includes digitised letters written by Cotton to the Colonial Secretary of New South Wales