Joseph Cotton (mariner)

Joseph Cotton FRS (7 March 1745 – 26 January 1825), was an English mariner and merchant, a director of the East India Company and deputy-master of Trinity House.

He made a fortune from two voyages as captain of the Royal Charlotte,[2] an East Indiaman.

He then retired and lived the rest of his life in Leyton, Essex, living at Leyton House from 1789 to 1803,[3] and in Walnut Tree House (today Essex Hall) beginning in 1813.

[4] In 1788, he was elected an "elder brother" of Trinity House, and in 1803 became deputy-master, holding the latter post for about twenty years.

He attempted to introduce ramie, a fibre plant, for use in manufacturing, and was awarded a silver medal for this in 1814 by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Manufactures; however, the fibre found little commercial usage.