Author: Cotton, Nathaniel
Biography:
COTTON, Nathaniel (c. 1706-88: ancestry.co.uk)
His father’s name was Samuel and possibly he was the “Nathaneel Cotton” who was baptised in Bull Lane Independent chapel, Stepney, London, on 12 Mar. 1706 OS. He went to Leiden to study medicine under Hermann Boerhaave (matric 23 Sept. 1729, MD 7 Aug. 1730). On his return to England he took over the patients of a Dr. Crawley who, according to GM, had a “house for the reception of lunaticks” in Bedfordshire. Cotton moved the patients to a house in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, and later moved again to larger premises which were known as the Collegium Insanorum. In 1738 he married Anne Pembroke in St. Albans; she had a marriage settlement of £1400 from her father with a further £600 on the death of her mother. They had seven children of whom five survived. Anne died in Apr. 1749 and on 22 Aug. 1751 in London he married Hannah Everett (d 1772). He and Hannah had four children. Cotton published medical works including a treatise on an outbreak of scarlet fever in St. Albans in 1749 and his Visions in Verse was first issued in 1751 and reprinted numerous times. He cared for William Cowper (q.v.) in his madhouse from 1763-65; his treatment seems to have helped Cowper who later recorded that the bill for Cotton’s services was at least £140. Cotton was a friend of Edward Young (q.v.) and cared for him not as a physician but as a friend at the end of his life. Cotton died at St. Albans on 2 Aug. 1788 and was buried with his wives in the churchyard of St. Peter’s; the inscription on the tombstone says merely “Here are deposited the remains of Anne, Hannah and Nathaniel Cotton.” His will was proved on 20 Aug. 1788. The 1791 collection of his works, listed in this bibliography, was edited by his son, the Rev. Nathaniel Cotton. (ancestry.co.uk 24 Apr. 2024; ODNB 24 Apr. 2024; findmypast.co.uk 24 Apr. 2024; “Memoirs of Dr. Nathaniel Cotton,” GM June 1807; National Archives UK PROB 11/1168/325) SR
Other Names:
- Dr. Cotton
- Nathaniel Cotton, the elder
- [Nathaniel] Cotton