Sir John Hynde Cotton, 3rd Baronet (bap. 1686 – 1752) of

Madingley Hall Madingley is a small village near Cambridge, England. It is located close to the nearby villages of Coton and Dry Drayton on the western outskirts of Cambridge. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 210. The village was kno ...

, Cambridgeshire was an English landowner and

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

politician who sat in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...

for 44 years from 1708 to 1752. The historian

Eveline Cruickshanks Eveline Cruickshanks (1 December 1926 – 14 November 2021) was an historian of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century British political history, specialising in Jacobitism and Tory (British political party), Toryism. She was of English, Scottish ...

called him "one of the most zealous Jacobites in England".

Early life

Cotton was baptized on 7 April 1686, the eldest and only surviving son of

Sir John Cotton, 2nd Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

, of Landwade and

, Cambridgeshire who had been MP for Cambridge. He was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and was admitted at

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

on 29 September 1701 and awarded MA in 1705. He succeeded to the

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

and Madingley Hall on the death of his father on 15 January 1713. He adopted the surname of Hynde Cotton in deference to the Hynde family, traditional owners of the Hall: his paternal grandfather, the first Baronet, had married into the Hynde family.

Politics

Cotton was returned as the

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

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

for 1708–1722 followed by terms as the member for

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

for 1722–1727, Cambridge again for 1727–1741 and

Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...

for 1741–1752. After an MP deserted the Tories and made a speech loyal to Sir

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...

, Cotton criticised him to Walpole, saying "That young dog promised that he would always stand by us". Sir Robert replied: "I advise my young men never to use always". "Yet", said Cotton, stammering, "you yourself are very apt to make use of all ways".

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician. He had Strawb ...

wrote that Cotton "had wit and the faithful attendant of wit, ill nature; and was the greatest master of the arts of the House, where he seldom made but short speeches, having a stammering in his elocution, which however he knew how to manage with humour. In the end of Queen Anne's reign he was in place; during Sir Robert Walpole's administration constantly and warmly in opposition; and was so determined a Jacobite, that though on the late coalition he accepted a place in the household and held it two years, he never gave a vote with the court, which argued nice distinction, not only in taking the oaths to the King (for that all the Jacobites in Parliament do) but in taking his pay and yet obstructing his service: and as nice in the King's ministers, who could discover the use of making a man accept a salary, without changing his party".

Private life

Cotton married firstly (with c.£8,500) Lettice Crowley, daughter of Sir Ambrose Crowley of Greenwich on 24 May 1714. The couple were married by the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

at St Mary's Church, Kensington. She died in August 1718 and he married secondly Margaret Craggs, the daughter of James Craggs on 3 June 1724. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his only surviving son, John Hynde Cotton, child of his first wife. They lived at Madingley Hall for 40 years during which time he transformed it from a panelled Tudor house into a Baroque building.

Notes

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cotton, Sir John Hynde, 3rd Baronet 1686 births 1752 deaths People from Cambridgeshire People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Baronets in the Baronetage of England Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Tory MPs (pre-1834) British MPs 1708–1710 British MPs 1710–1713 British MPs 1713–1715 British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754 English Jacobites