Cotton Close

In 1784 William Cotton inherited a great collection of literary and artistic works on the death of his uncle, Charles Rogers. Rogers was a great collector and he had inherited a large amount of material from William Tounson of the Custom House, London.

Rogers had worked under Tounson and was influenced by him in adding to it. Unfortunately Cotton sold several of the more valuable items in 1799, including works by Raphael, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Rembrant, Van Dyck and Rubens. What was left still formed an impressive collection, and it was one that Cotton's son, also William, was to add to after he inherited it in 1816.

Cotton junior's most important contribution was his collection of Reynolds' relics. Cotton was a great fan and Rogers had been a great friend of Joshua Reynolds. In addition to writing a book about the great Plympton artist, Cotton junior was keen to establish a Reynolds Memorial Institution in Plympton.

That idea, still alive today, never got off the ground and in 1853 the Cottonian Collection first went on view in Plymouth Proprietary Library, with more added to it on Cotton's death in 1862.