George Cotton (abt. 1495 - 1545)

Born about 1495 in Coton, Shropshire, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 25 Mar 1545 at about age 50 in Combermere, Cheshire, England

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Biography

George Cotton was the 2nd son of John Cotton and Cecily Mainwaring.^[1] He was born at Coton, Shropshire. Douglas Richardson gives his birthdate as about 1505^[2][3] but his younger brother Richard was appointed an attorney to the Sheriff's Court, London in 1518 and would almost certainly have been at least 18 then, so George's birth year is likely to have been before 1500.^[4] It has been guesstimated as about 1495.

Before 11 November 1537 George married Mary Onley, daughter of John Onley^[1] and Thomas Pontesbury.^[2][3] They had at least five children:

• Richard Cotton, Esq^[1][2][3]
• Mary Cotton, wife of Sir Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby, and of Sir Henry Grey, Lord Grey of Ruthin, 6th Earl of Kent^[1][2][3]
• Elizabeth Cotton, wife of William Francis^[2][3]
• Dorothy Cotton, wife of Edward Torback^[1][2][3]
• Winifred Cotton, wife of Thomas Dering, Esq.^[2][3]

George was an Esquire of the Body to Henry VIII. He held the stewardships of Chirk, Chirkland and Yale in Denbighshire, Wales, and of Bromfield in Shropshire.^[2][3]

In 1526 George was made one of the governors for Henry VIII's illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy. From 1536 to 1538 he and his brother Richard were given official positions in the households of the future queens Mary I and Elizabeth I. In 1538 they were transferred to the household of the future Edward VI, where George was Vice-Chamberlain.^[4]

George was knighted in 1542.^[5] That year, following the dissolution of the monasteries, George and his wife were granted the Combermere Abbey, Cheshire and the manor of Wilkesley, Cheshire which the Abbey had owned.^[6] The next year they acquired Poulton, Cheshire from Henry VIII.^[2][3]

George died on 25 March 1545 at Combermere, Cheshire.^[2][3] His will was dated February 1544/5. In it he mentioned:^[7]

• his "brother Comptroller", which would be Richard
• his brothers Ralph and Robert
• his nephew and godson George Cotton

His wife remarried, her second husband being Ralph Bagnall.^[2][3]

Research Notes

Visitation of Shropshire

The Mainwaring pedigree in the Harleian Society edition of the 1623 Visitation of Shropshire says that George's wife was Mary Mainwaring, who married George'sson Richard.^[8]

Daughter Winifred

Carl Boyer, in his book on the ancestry of Robert Abell, suggests that daughter Winifred may have been a daughter of Richard's son George.^[9]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} George Ormerod. The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, revised edition, Vol. III, George Routledge and Sons, 1882, pp. 414-415, Hathi Trust
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10} Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), Vol. I, p. 1, ABELL 10, Google Books
3. ↑ ^{3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10} Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), Vol I, p. 106-, ABELL 10
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Harrison Dwight Cavanagh. Colonial Chesapeake Families, Volume 2, pub. the author, 2014, p. 328, Google Books
5. ↑ W A Shaw. The Knights of England, Vol. II, Sherratt and Hughes, 1906, p. 53, Internet Archive
6. ↑ 'Henry VIII: February 1541, 26-28', in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 16, 1540-1541, ed. James Gairdner and R H Brodie (London, 1898), pp. 267-281. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol16/pp267-281 [accessed 3 July 2022
7. ↑ The National Archives, PROB 11/30/417, Discovery Centre catalogue entry
8. ↑ George Grazebrook and John Paul Rylands. The Visitation of Shropshire taken in the year 1623 with additions..., Part II, Harleian Society, 1889, p. 349, Internet Archive
9. ↑ Carl Boyer, 3rd. The Medieval English Ancestors of Robert Abell, pub. the author, 2001, pp. 70-71, Familysearch

• Boyer, Carl, 3rd. The Medieval English Ancestors of Robert Abell, pub. the author, 2001, pp. 70-71, Familysearch
• Cotton pedigree in Joseph Morris “Genealogy of Shropshire” (10 volumes), vol. 2 p. 955; vol. 4 p. 2069

Acknowledgements

Magna Carta Project

This profile was re-reviewed for the Magna Carta Project by Michael Cayley on 3 July 2022.

George Cotton is in a Richardson-documented trail from Gateway Ancestor Robert Abell to Magna Carta Surety Baron Saher de Quincy (Magna Carta Ancestry, vol. I, pages 1-2 ABELL). This trail was developed for the Magna Carta Project by Jayme Arrington and reviewed/approved/badged in September 2017 by Liz Shifflett. See the Magna Carta Trails on Frances Cotton's profile to view the profiles on this trail.

See Base Camp for more information about identified Magna Carta trails and their status. See the project's glossary for project-specific terms, such as a "badged trail".