30. Frederick and Hannah Cotton of British Burma

Cotton probably derives from cottage, probably via a place called Coton. Fox means 'wily' or, as babynamewizard.com puts it, 'Foxes are smart, creative, and cunning creatures- as well as adorable.'

Frederick John Cotton (1818, Moulmein) married Hannah Fox (1822, Madras, India) in Moulmein in 1838. Frederick was a clerk to the Commissioner at the time.

Moulmein (now known as Mawlamyine or မတ်မလီု) is the capital of Mon State, Burma, and the country's fourth city. It is located 300 km south east of Rangoon, and is the main port and trading centre in the south-east. Its prosperity was initially based principally on the timber trade.

A Moulmein pagoda (credit)

Moulmein was the first capital of British Burma after being ceded to Britain under the Treaty of Yandabo at the end of the First Anglo-Burmese War in 1826 - eight years after Frederick's birth there. This was the longest and most expensive war in British Indian history. 15,000 European and Indian soldiers died, together with an unknown number of Burmese military and civilian casualties. The high cost of the campaign to the British, perhaps £1 billion in today's money contributed to a severe economic crisis in British India which cost the East India Company its remaining privileges. Burma was completed conquered by 1885.

Frederick's father was probably John Cotton. Hannah's parents were probably Henry Fox and Sarah Smaller (1806). If so, Sarah gave birth to her first children when she was sixteen years of age.

Frederick had already had three children by this time. Extraordinarily, he had two daughters baptised on 19 April 1834 - one of born on 9 March, and the other on 3 April. There is no record of either mother and the daughters are described as 'base' daughters, i.e. illegitimate. One of the anonymous mothers is by far the most likely source of the trace of Burmese blood in our ancestry. It is noteworthy that Hannah's father's second wife was recorded as an 'Indo Britain' (sic) at the time of their wedding. Frederick had six more children, with Hannah.

The children were:

• 47.2.1 - Jennette Cotton (1830)
• 47.2.2 - Jane Cotton (1830)
• 47.2.3 - James Cotton (1834)
• 47.2.4 - Hannah Cotton (1839). Hannah died in 1839.
• 47.2.5 - Henrietta Isabella Cotton (1840)
• 47.2.6 - Sarah Amelia Rebecca Cotton (1841)
• 47.2.7 - Tessin Esther Cotton (1847)
• 47.2.8 - Hannah Clifford Cotton (1850)
• 47.2.9 - Frederick John Cotton (1852)

More on these individuals in Chapter 47.

Hannah died in 1852, six months after her youngest child was born. Frederick died in 1870.

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