Sir Robert Cotton (2 May 1644 – 17 September 1717) was an English politician. He sat as a Member of Parliament from 1679 to 1701 and briefly in 1702.

Life

He was the third son of Sir Thomas Cotton, 2nd Baronet, the second son by Sir Thomas's second wife Alice. He was granted the manor of Hatley,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

by his half-brother in 1662, the year of his father's death. He sat as a Member of Parliament for

from 1679 to 1695, for

Newport, Isle of Wight Newport is the county town of the Isle of Wight, an island county off the south coast of England. The town is slightly north of the centre of the island, located in the civil parish of Newport and Carisbrooke. It has a quay at the head of the n ...

from 1695 to 1701 and briefly for

Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...

in 1702. He was selected as

High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire This is an ''incomplete'' list of sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in England from 1154 until the abolition of the office in 1965. Exceptionally, the two counties shared a single sheriff. Sheriffs had a one-year term of office, bei ...

for Jan–Nov 1688. A

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

, he was one of the joint holders of the

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. History The practice of having a government official ...

position from 1691, after the dismissal of

John Wildman Sir John Wildman (2 June 1693) was an English politician and soldier. Biography Wildman was born to Jeffrey and Margaret Wildman (née Poaker) in the Norfolk town of Wymondham. He was christened at Wymondham on 24 January 1621, the youngest ...

,''The House of Commons 1690-1715'', Volume 2, edited by David Hayton, Eveline Cruickshanks, Stuart Handley, pp. 744-5.
/ref> until he retired in 1708.

References

1644 births 1717 deaths Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament for constituencies in Cornwall English MPs 1680–1681 English MPs 1681 English MPs 1685–1687 English MPs 1689–1690 English MPs 1690–1695 English MPs 1695–1698 English MPs 1698–1700 English MPs 1701–1702 High sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Postmasters general of the United Kingdom Younger sons of baronets {{1698-England-MP-stub