Richard Lynch Cotton

Richard Lynch Cotton (14 August 1794 – 8 December 1880) was a British vicar and academic administrator at the University of Oxford.^[1]

Richard Lynch Cotton

St James' parish church in Denchworth, Berkshire, where Cotton was vicar from 1823 to 1838

Cotton was born in Whitchurch, Oxfordshire,^[2] the son of Henry Calveley Cotton and Matilda Lockwood, one of 11 children (eight sons and three daughters).^[3] He was educated at Charterhouse School and Worcester College, Oxford, where he attained a BA degree in 1815. He was a Fellow of the College from 1816 to 1838 and Provost from 1839 to 1880.^[4] He was awarded a Doctor of Divinity in 1839. While Provost at Worcester, Cotton also became Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University in 1852.

Cotton was Vicar of Denchworth, north of Wantage in Berkshire, from 1823 to 1838. He published his lectures and sermons.^[5] On 25 June 1839, he married Charlotte Bouverie Pusey, daughter of Hon. Philip Pusey and Lady Lucy Sherard (daughter of Robert Sherard, 4th Earl of Harborough).^[3] She lived at 38 St Giles' in Oxford, now part of St Benet's Hall, after Cotton's death during 1881–82.^[6]

See also

• Sir Sydney John Cotton (1792–1874), elder brother
• Sir Arthur Thomas Cotton (1803–1899), younger brother