13 Facts About Willoughby Cotton

Willoughby Cotton was born in 1783, to Vice-Admiral Rowland Cotton and Elizabeth Aston.

Willoughby Cotton entered Rugby School at the age of 12 in 1795.

Willoughby Cotton was among the students to be expelled as a result of this confrontation.

Willoughby Cotton quickly gained his Lieutenancy, on 25 November 1799 and took part in Lord Cathcart's Hanover Expedition in 1805.

The 1st Battalion and Willoughby Cotton were involved in the 1807 Copenhagen Expedition, again commanded by Lord Cathcart.

Willoughby Cotton was deployed to the Iberian Peninsula in April 1809, where he served as Adjutant-General to the Light Division under Brigadier-General Robert Craufurd.

Willoughby Cotton was present throughout the retreat to the lines of Torres Vedras and subsequent advance, seeing action at the Battle of Coa.

Willoughby Cotton then served in France, commanding the Light Division during the Passage of Adour on 23 February 1814.

Willoughby Cotton was involved in the Siege of Bayonne and commanded the piquets of the Second Brigade of Guards on the night of the French Sortie, 14 April 1814.

Willoughby Cotton became the Lieutenant-Governor of Plymouth and General Officer Commanding Western District in 1835 and was Commander-in-chief of the Bombay Army from April 1847 until he retired in December 1850 and was invested as a Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Bath.

Willoughby Cotton was groom of the bedchamber to the Duke of Gloucester.

Willoughby Cotton, appears as a character in George MacDonald Fraser's novel Flashman, set during the First Anglo-Afghan War.

Willoughby Cotton is portrayed as a competent general, who is jovial and popular.