Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Sir Sydney John Cotton (2 December 1792 – 19 February 1874) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer. He was the commandment of the

Moreton Bay penal colony The Moreton Bay Penal Settlement operated from 1825 to 1842. It became the city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. History The Moreton Bay Penal Settlement was established on the Redcliffe Peninsula on Moreton Bay in 1824, under the instruct ...

in Australia.

Military career

Born the second son of Henry Calveley Cotton of

Woodcote Woodcote is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, about southeast of Wallingford and about northwest of Reading, Berkshire. It is in the Chiltern Hills, and the highest part of the village is above sea level. Woodcote lies betwee ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, England, and his wife Matilda, daughter and heiress of John Lockwood of Dews Hall,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, Cotton joined the British Army in 1810 as a Cornet in the 22nd Light Dragoons. He served in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

from 1810 to 1835. He served extensively in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

(1835 to 1842) including being the commandant of the Moreton Bay penal colony (now the city of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

) from 1837 to 1839. He returned to India for further service 1842 to 1863, including service throughout the

Indian Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

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. He was promoted to

lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

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 The Royal Hospital Chelsea is a retirement home and nursing home for some 300 veterans of the British Army. Founded as an almshouse, the ancient sense of the word "hospital", it is a site located on Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea. It is an ...

from 1872 until 1874.Survey of London, volume 11, edited by Walter H. Godfrey (editor), Published 1927
/ref> He is buried in

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Estab ...

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 ...

Mount Cotton, Queensland Mount Cotton is a rural locality in the City of Redland, Queensland, Australia. In the , Mount Cotton had a population of 6,835 people. The area was colonised by Germans in the late 1860s after possible frontier wars with First Nations people ...

is named after him.

References

External links

Australian Dictionary of Biography
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cotton, Sydney 1792 births 1874 deaths Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Burials at Brompton Cemetery British Army lieutenant generals British non-fiction writers British military personnel of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 41st Regiment of Foot officers 28th Regiment of Foot officers 19th-century English people British male writers

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Moreton Bay penal settlement Male non-fiction writers

Military career

See also

References

External links