Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Combermere


Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet was an English politician. He was Member of Parliament for Cheshire from 1679 to 1681 and from 1689 to 1702.
He was the eldest surviving son of Thomas Cotton of Combermere Abbey, Cheshire, and his wife Elizabeth Calveley, daughter of Sir George Calveley of Lea. His ancestor Sir George Cotton was granted Combermere by Henry VIII about 1541.
In 1677 he was made Baronet of Combermere in the County Palatine of Chester.
After he was accused of treasonable correspondence with the Electress of Hanover, Sophia, in 1685 he was committed to the Tower of London by the Earl of Sunderland, Secretary of State for the Southern Department. He was eventually cleared of the charges in part by the testimony of some of his political opponents.
In politics he was a staunch Whig and opponent of James II. He welcomed the Glorious Revolution but did not play a leading role in politics thereafter. Historians consider his voting pattern to be proto-"Country", which irked some of the less independent Whigs of his era. He was considered a principled and honest man.

Family

He 1684 he married Hester Salusbury, daughter and sole heir of Royalist politician and soldier Sir Thomas Salusbury. As a result, the family's seat at Combermere Abbey was enhanced with the Llewenni Estate in Denbighshire, northeast Wales. The couple had the following known issue: