Person:William Cotton (19)

William Cotton was baptised on 2nd June 1782 at King's Walden in Hertfordshire, son of Edward and Alice Cotton.

On 20th June 1802, aged twenty, he married Ann Cain in the neighbouring parish of St Paul's Walden, which is where she was from. Edward's brother Thomas was one of the witnesses to the marriage. William and Ann's first known child was not baptised until 1808, although it is worth noting that there was an infant Thomas Cotton buried at St Paul's Walden on 9th June 1803 for whom no obvious baptism can be found; perhaps he was their first child but died before he could be baptised. William and Ann had a daughter, Elizabeth, baptised in 1808.

In April 1809, with the Napoleonic Wars underway, William volunteered to join the British Army. He left St Paul's Walden and made his way to Sunderland, nearly 250 miles to the north, where he enlisted in the 71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot, 1st Battalion, in which he served as a private. He was described as being 5'7" tall, with brown hair and dark eyes, and a labourer by trade.

That summer the regiment was sent to the Walcheren campaign in the Netherlands, where the British were trying to control access to the port of Antwerp by controlling the island of Walcheren at the mouth of the River Scheldt. The campaign saw heavy losses from the poor conditions on the island; there were 106 deaths in combat, but over 4,000 casualties to disease. The regiment returned to Britain in the spring of 1810. They departed in September 1810 for the Iberian peninsula, where they spent the next three and a half years fighting in the Peninsular War at various battles across Portugal and Spain. After the Battle of Vitoria in June 1813 the British managed to push the French Army back into France, culminating in the Battle of Toulouse in April 1814, four days after Napoleon's surrender. The regiment returned to Britain in July 1814.

After Napoleon's return to power the regiment was again sent to mainland Europe in April 1815, and fought at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815.^[5]

With Napoleon defeated, the army was reduced in size. It is not clear precisely when William left, with his service notes merely recording that he was discharged "having completed his period of service", but not specifying what that period was. William seems to have returned to St Paul's Walden by 1816; he and Ann had a son, Edward, baptised there in June 1817. When William did return, he would have found that Ann had also had another son, Thomas, whilst he had been away. Thomas's baptism in July 1815 names no father, but against Ann's name has a note "husband beyond sea". When Thomas married in 1846 he gave his father's name as James Saunders.

William and Ann went on to have four more children baptised at St Paul's Walden between 1817 and 1825: Edward, Mary, Sarah and Maria. The youngest, Maria, was not actually born in St Paul's Walden. Ann was convicted in 1824 of larceny and sent to Hertford Gaol for six months, with Maria being born whilst Ann was imprisoned.

In 1825, William seems to have been involved in an affray on the public highway. He was convicted and sent to jail in St Albans for three months. He appears to have died just as those three months were coming to an end. On 12th July 1825, aged 43, William was buried at St Paul's Walden, but his abode was given as St Albans.

Ann outlived William by 36 years.

1. ↑ Church of England. King's Walden Parish Registers.

   Christnings / 1782 / William Son of Edward & Allice Cotton - June 2d

   This baptism has been linked to the William who married Ann Cain in 1802 on the basis that it is at around the time implied by the age quoted when he died, in the neighbouring parish to the one in which he married and settled (and the parish quoted in his military records), and the William baptised in 1782 had a brother called Thomas baptised in 1779 who was presumably therefore the Thomas who witnessed William and Ann's marriage. William and Ann also named one of their sons Edward, which was the name of the father of the William baptised in 1782.

2.   71st Foot Soldiers, 1st Battalion, 1809-1818, in Canada, British Regimental Registers of Service, 1756-1900 (The National Archives, Kew / ancestry.co.uk)
   Class WO25; Piece 456.

   Privates
   Name: Cotton W[illia]m
   Age: 27
   Size: 5'7"
   Complexion: Dark
   Visage: long
   Eyes: Dark
   Hair: brown
   Kingdom: England
   County: Hertford
   Town or Parish: Kings Walden
   Trade: Labourer
   Enlisted: 22 Ap[ri]l 1809
   By whom: Volunteer
   Where: Sunderland
   Observations and Remarks: Disch[arge]d having Completed his period of service

   Despite the name of this record set being "Canada, British Regimental Registers of Service" it is in fact of the British Army. It seems to have been compiled to cover regiments which saw service in Canada, but for the period in which William served this regiment was only engaged in European service.

3.   County Chronicle (Hertford, Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies)
   Page 3, 19 Apr 1825.

   ST. ALBAN'S LIBERTY SESSIONS.
   The Parish of Paulswalden, against James Flitton, George Reeves, Abraham Tyler, and William Cotton.-This was an indictment against these defendants for an affray in the public highway, of the parish of Paulswalden, on the night of Saturday the 9th April instant. They were found Guilty, and each sentenced by the Court to three months' Imprisonment and hard labour. The said James Flitton was also indicted for assaulting the constable in the execution of office; also in the parish of Paulswalden on the night in question, and was sentenced by the Court to be further Imprisoned for one month, and kept to hard labour.

4. ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. St Paul's Walden Parish Registers. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Pauls Walden in the County of Hertford in the Year 1825
   No. 234
   Name: William Cotton
   Abode: St Albans
   When buried: July 12th
   Age: 43 y[ea]rs [1781/2]
   By whom the Ceremony was performed: Rev[eren]d Arthur Drake, Off[iciatin]g Minister

5. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/71st_(Highland)_Regiment_of_Foot