William Cotton FRS (12 September 1786 – 1 December 1866) was an English inventor, merchant, philanthropist, and Governor of the Bank of England from 1842 to 1845.

Cotton was born in Leytonstone, the son of Joseph Cotton, who made his fortune as a Captain with the East India Company and was later Deputy Master of Trinity House in 1803, and a director of the East India Company.

His brother, John Cotton, later became a director and chairman of the East India Company.

During his time at the bank, he developed a machine for the weighing of gold sovereigns, which was capable of weighing twenty-three coins every minute to an accuracy of one ten-thousandth of a grain.

[1] In his lifetime Cotton was active in funding Canon Nathaniel Woodard's national network of Woodard Schools, and passive in the funding and establishment of new churches throughout the East End of London.