Author: Cotton, John
Biography:
COTTON, John (fl 1830)
The title page of his one published book, Queen Hynde (1830), claims two other works: “The Praises of Tobacco” and “The Pair of Snuffers.” The first of these is likely an essay (mainly prose with some verse) published in the Monthly Magazine in June 1827; the second has not been traced. However, that tobacco is the subject of both suggests that the author was linked to the John Cotton tobacco company, established in Edinburgh in about 1773. If so, he was the John Cotton born 8 Aug. 1801 to George Cotton and his wife Ann Whyte (or White) in Edinburgh. He seems not to have married; the 1861 Census shows him living at 15 Union St., Edinburgh, with his sister Janet. His occupation is given as tobacco manufacturer. John Cotton died at home on 21 June 1868. (Monthly Magazine 3.18 [1827] 581-84; ancestry.co.uk 25 Feb. 2022; Edinburgh Evening Courant 22 June 1868) SR