Quex Park Case Study: Family Tree

Family tree

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Figure 3. Portrait of John Cotton (1735-1803) in the Powell-Cotton Museum. Courtesy of the Powell-Cotton Museum Trustees.

John Cotton (1735-1803) (see figure 3) was appointed a Commander of the East India Company Marine Service on 27 October 1762. Between 1762 and 1781, he made six voyages to China as Commander of the Hawke.[1] He resigned in 1791 and the following year, was elected an Elder Brother of Trinity House to aid marine navigation.

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Figure 4. Portrait of Charles Bowland Cotton (1768-1847) in the Powell-Cotton Museum. Courtesy of the Powell-Cotton Museum Trustees.

John Cotton’s son, Charles Bowland Cotton (1768-1847) (see figure 4) began his East India career as a captain’s servant, sailing to India on the Warren Hastings in 1784, and rising to Second Officer in 1792. In 1795 he took charge of the East Indiaman, The Cuffnells. Charles sailed to China in 1796 and 1798, the year of his marriage to HarriotRoberts, niece of the late John Powell (hence the later family name, Powell-Cotton). In December 1796, his ship anchored 12 miles down river from Canton to offload eastbound cargo, including goods brought from India. By mid January, the return consignment began to be loaded. More than 5000 chests of assorted teas, 120 bales of silk and 100 boxes of Nankeen (either cotton or porcelain) were stored in the holds.[2] On 28 February 1797, he set sail for England. His third and final voyage to China on The Cuffnells was in 1802. Charles kept a log book of his travels, though its focus was largely on his naval exploits, rather than any personal objects he might have acquired and brought home.[3]

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Figure 5. Portrait of Henry Perry Cotton (1806-1881) in the Powell-Cotton Museum. Courtesy of the Powell-Cotton Museum Trustees.

Two of John Cotton’s sons would later serve in the army of the East India Company. Henry Perry Cotton (see figure 5) was born in 1806 at Southwood House in Ramsgate. His older brother Charles died in India in 1821 whilst serving in the Madras Cavalry. Henry was now the oldest son and heir, and soon followed his late brother into the India army, serving in the Bengal (7th light), part of the East India Company force. He rose to Lieutenant in June 1827 and was appointed Aide-de-Camp to General Pine.[4] In 1828 he married the General’s youngest daughter, Georgina, at Calcutta Cathedral. They returned to England where their first son, Henry Horace was born in 1830. When Henry Perry’s father and then uncle died, he inherited the family’s London and Thanet estates. He soon moved his growing family into Quex, and died there in 1881. His oldest son, Henry Horace Powell Cotton inherited the London and Thanet estates during a period of economic decline.

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Figure 6. Photograph of Percy Cotton aged 18. Powell-Cotton Museum Archives Pic. 4.1. Courtesy of the Powell-Cotton Museum Trustees.

Henry Horace, his wife Matilda, and their three children, Percy, Ida, and Gerald lived in South Kensington, and later made Quex their Thanet home. Henry Horace spent a considerable amount of money extending Quex House, and within a decade, it had been extensively re-modelled.

On the death of his father in 1894, the subject of this case-study, Major Percy Powell-Cotton (see figure 6) would steer the Quex estate in a new and more financially stable direction. As a traveller, naturalist, collector, and landowner, he would also begin his life’s work, the Powell-Cotton Museum. In addition to the Museum, Percy kept a daily journal, and was a keen photographer. These sources not only provide a remarkable record of nineteenth-century family life, but also serve to help us understand Percy’s fascination with his family’s past and his artistic tastes and influences.

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Figure 7. Photograph of Henry Perry-Cotton and family c.1858. Powell-Cotton Museum Archives Pic 4.1. Courtesy of the Powell-Cotton Museum Trustees.

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Figure 8.Quex House c. 1870. Powell-Cotton Museum Archives Pic 4.1. Courtesy of the Powell-Cotton Museum Trustees.

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[1] British Library India Office records- please contact Quex Park for further information.

[2] British Library India Office records- please contact Quex Park for further information.

[3] British Library India Office records- please contact Quex Park for further information.

[4]   Powell-Cotton Museum Archive Doc 4.5 Press cuttings.