Edward John Cotton was an English accountant who became manager of the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway and, subsequently, the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway where he was influential in developing tourism in the north of Ireland.

Biography

Edward John Cotton was born on 1 June 1829, at Rochester, Kent. The son of Edward and Hannah Cotton, he was christened on 24 June 1829, at the church of St Margaret, Rochester.

He entered railway service with the traffic department of the Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

 at Paddington, London in October 1845. Two years later he became a clerk at the embryonic Railway Clearing House

Railway Clearing House

The British Railway Clearing House was an organisation set up to manage the allocation of revenue collected by numerous pre-grouping railway companies...

 at a time when fewer than 20 railway companies were associated with it. There he gained a thorough knowledge of inter-company traffic and working arrangements. In 1851 he joined the North Eastern Railway

North Eastern Railway (UK)

The North Eastern Railway , was an English railway company. It was incorporated in 1854, when four existing companies were combined, and was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway at the Grouping in 1923...

 where he was given the task of training the staff in Clearing House business.

In 1853 Cotton moved to Kilkenny

Kilkenny

Kilkenny is a city and is the county town of the eponymous County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, in the south-east of Ireland...

 in Ireland to become manager to the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway. He was 24 years old and one of the youngest railway managers in the British Isles.

He was appointed Traffic Manager of the Belfast and Ballymena Railway (B&BR) in 1857. The B&BR was aware of the importance of third-class traffic and, in 1859, Cotton gave instructions that third class tickets were to be issued from all stations, making the B&BR one of the first railways in the British Isles to do so.

The B&BR was renamed the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway (BNCR) in 1860 and during his tenure Cotton saw the BNCR greatly expand as it acquired other railways. Under his management, the BNCR became Ireland’s most prosperous railway company. He was made a tempting offer to accept a position in India but the directors of the BNCR recognised Cotton’s ability and his value to the company and raised his salary in order to retain him. Eventually Cotton would become the highest paid railway official in Ireland.

Cotton played a leading role in establishing the Larne

Larne

Larne is a substantial seaport and industrial market town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland with a population of 18,228 people in the 2001 Census. As of 2011, there are about 31,000 residents in the greater Larne area. It has been used as a seaport for over 1,000 years, and is...

-Stranraer

Stranraer

Stranraer is a town in the southwest of Scotland. It lies in the west of Dumfries and Galloway and in the county of Wigtownshire.Stranraer lies on the shores of Loch Ryan on the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland...

 steamer service in 1862 but it was not a success and folded after 14 months operation. However, Cotton did not relinquish the idea and was instrumental in the steamer's successful resurgence under private ownership in July 1872. He became the manager of the newly created Larne & Stranraer Steamship Joint Committee in 1893.

In addition to his service with the BNCR he was concurrently manager of the Ballymena, Cushendall and Red Bay Railway

Ballymena, Cushendall and Red Bay Railway

The Ballymena, Cushendall and Red Bay Railway was a narrow gauge railway between Ballymena and Retreat, both in County Antrim, in what is now Northern Ireland. It operated from 1875 to 1940.-History:...

 from 1875 until 1884 when that line was acquired by the BNCR.

He was instrumental in developing tourism in the north of Ireland. He promoted the running of cheap excursion trains and was the driving force behind developing the tourist potential of Portrush

Portrush

Portrush is a small seaside resort town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, on the County Londonderry border. The main part of the old town, including the railway station as well as most hotels, restaurants and bars, is built on a mile–long peninsula, Ramore Head, pointing north-northwest....

 where the BNCR acquired its first hotel, Glenariff

Glenariff

Glenariff is a glen in the County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Like all glens in that area, it was shaped during the Ice Age by giant glaciers....

, and Whitehead

Whitehead, County Antrim

Whitehead is a small seaside town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, lying almost midway between the towns of Carrickfergus and Larne. It lies within the civil parishes of Island Magee and Templecorran, the barony of Belfast Lower, and is part of Carrickfergus Borough Council...

.

On 29 October 1895, Cotton celebrated the fiftieth year of his railway service, in honour of which he was presented with a portrait from the officers and staff of the BNCR and a valuable presentation from the directors.

Cotton married Rosina Harriott Lowe on 23 October 1852, at the church of St Bride, Fleet Street, London and their first child John Lowe Cotton was born on 20 September 1853.

He acted as Chairman of the Managers' Conference at the Irish Railway Clearing House in Dublin from 1864; none of the other managers ever dreamed of assuming the position when he was present. This practice continued until 1890, when the principle of formal election to the chairmanship was established, a change Cotton accepted with equanimity.

He was closely associated with the Railway Benevolent Institution.

The government appointed Cotton as a general investigator under the Congested Districts Board

Congested Districts Board for Ireland

The Congested Districts Board for Ireland was established by the Chief Secretary, Arthur Balfour in 1891 to alleviate poverty and "congested" living conditions in the west of Ireland....

 for Connaught

Connacht

Connacht , formerly anglicised as Connaught, is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the west of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for...

 and it was largely due to him that the light railways or so-called “Balfour lines” in these areas were constructed.

He was well known in literary circles throughout the north of Ireland as an interpreter of Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

 and was himself featured in one of Amanda McKittrick Ros’ remarkable novels, Delina Delaney, as “The Father of Steamy Enterprise”.

Edward John Cotton died after a short illness on 14 June 1899. His death was a severe blow to the BNCR; he had been a more than able manager and he had brought prosperity to the railway.

External links

• http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.britisles.ireland.kik.general/2756/mb.ashx Accessed 30 June 2007