Sir Rowland Cotton (baptized 29 January 1581died 22 August 1634) was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

at various times between 1605 and 1629. Cotton was the son of William Cotton, a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

draper. He matriculated from

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

in 1596 and was admitted at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

on 13 June 1599. He was a friend and patron of

John Lightfoot John Lightfoot (29 March 1602 – 6 December 1675) was an English churchman, rabbinical scholar, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge and Master of St Catharine's College, Cambridge. Life He was born in Stoke-on-Trent, the son of ...

. He succeeded his father in 1607, inheriting estates in

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

and

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. He lived at Bellaport Hall,

Norton in Hales Norton in Hales is a village and parish in Shropshire, England. It lies on the A53 between the town of Market Drayton and Woore, Shropshire's most northeasterly village and parish. Staffordshire is to the east of the parish and Cheshire to the ...

, Shropshire. In 1605, he was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Newcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle-under-Lyme ( RP: , ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. The 2011 census population of the town was 75,082, whilst the wider borough had a population of 1 ...

and knighted in 1608. He was appointed to the bench as

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for Shropshire by 1614 to his death, and as a commissioner of oyer and terminer for Wales and the Marches by 1616 to death. He served as Mayor of Newcastle in 1614–15. He was appointed also

High Sheriff of Shropshire This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of Shropshire The sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the high sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibili ...

for 1616–17 and the following year a member of

Council of the Marches The Court of the Council in the Dominion and Principality of Wales, and the Marches of the same, commonly called the Council of Wales and the Marches () or the Council of the Marches, was a regional administrative body based in Ludlow Castle wi ...

for life. In 1626 he was elected MP for

. He was elected MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme again in 1628 and sat until 1629 when

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. He married twice: firstly Frances (who died in childbirth on 23 November 1606), the daughter of Sir Robert Needham of Shavington Hall and secondly Joyce, the daughter and coheiress of Sir Richard Walsh of

Shelsley Walsh Shelsley Walsh is a small village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, on the western side of the River Teme. For administrative purposes it is presently located in the Teme Valley ward of the county’s Malvern Hills district. In the 2011 ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

. He died in August 1634 aged 53 and was buried at

. The parish church St Chad's contains a monument with effigies of Cotton and his first wife, Frances. The monument was designed by

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings. As the most notable archit ...

around the year 1611, and a drawing by Jones survives. Rowland Cotton was associated with the court of

Prince Henry Prince Henry (or Prince Harry) may refer to: People *Henry the Young King (1155–1183), son of Henry II of England, who was crowned king but predeceased his father *Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (1394–1460) *Henry, Duke of Cornwall (Ja ...

, as was Jones. The tomb is the earliest known architectural work of Inigo Jones, and the design has some similarities with Jones' scenery for the '' Barriers'' and the '' Masque of Oberon''.Giles Worsley, ''Inigo Jones and the European Classical Tradition'' (Yale, 2007), pp. 6, 8-9. He left no children and his estates reverted to his brother William on the death of his wife.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cotton, Rowland 1581 births 1634 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Members of Lincoln's Inn Members of the Parliament of England for Newcastle-under-Lyme English MPs 1604–1611 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 High Sheriffs of Shropshire