William Cotton (banker)

William Cotton (born September 12, 1786 in Leyton , † December 1, 1866 in Leytonstone ) was an English inventor, businessman, philanthropist and director of the Bank of England from 1842 to 1845.

Life

Cotton went to school in Leyton at Chigwell School. His father was Joseph Cotton, Deputy Master of Trinity House in 1803, and director of the British East India Company . His brother, John Cotton, later became director and chairman of the company.

In 1807 Cotton became a partner in the rope manufacturer Huddart & Co. in Limehouse and was later general manager there until 1838. In 1842 he became a director of the Bank of England, first the normal period of two years, then with a third year extension, in recognition of his contributions to the introduction of the new statute for the bank of 1844.

Cotton had been a member of the Royal Society since 1821 . During his life he also campaigned for the Woodard schools and for new churches in the eastern part of London.

The cotton scales

During his time at the bank, he developed a machine for weighing gold sovereigns that was able to weigh 23 coins per minute with an accuracy of one ten-thousandth of a grain , the so-called cotton balance , a magnetic balance (cotton balance). These scales not only measure the magnetic field of the coins with great accuracy, but also speed. The magnetic field causes the weight of the substance to appear to increase. A magnetic sample is attracted by an inhomogeneous magnetic field and the corresponding force is measured. Coins that were too light were rejected by the machine.

There is also a Cotton scale, also a magnetic scale which, according to the French, was invented in 1900 by Aimé Cotton (1869–1951).

Works

• Everybody's Guide to Money Matters: with a description of the various investments chiefly dealt in on the stock exchange, and the mode of dealing therein (English) 1898

Web links

• Biographical information at www.thepeerage.com
• Everybody's Guide to Money Matters at chestofbooks.com