# Richard Stapleton-Cotton

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Royal Navy Admiral (1873–1953)

Admiral Richard Stapleton-Cotton CB CBE MVO Born Richard Greville Arthur Wellington Stapleton-Cotton (1873-11-07)7 November 1873 Wellington Barracks, London Died 5 January 1953(1953-01-05) (aged 79) Merionethshire Allegiance United Kingdom Branch Royal Navy Service years 1887–1931 Rank Admiral Conflicts First World War Awards Member of the Royal Victorian Order Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companion of the Bath Other work Gentleman Usher of the Scarlet Rod

[Admiral](/source/Admiral_(Royal_Navy)) **Richard Greville Arthur Wellington Stapleton-Cotton** [CB](/source/Companion_of_the_Order_of_the_Bath) [CBE](/source/Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) [MVO](/source/Member_of_the_Royal_Victorian_Order) (7 November 1873 – 5 January 1953) was a British officer of the [Royal Navy](/source/Royal_Navy).

## Early life and family

Richard Greville Arthur Wellington Stapleton-Cotton was born at [Wellington Barracks](/source/Wellington_Barracks), London, on 7 November 1873, the second son of [Colonel](/source/Colonel) the Honourable Richard Southwell George Stapleton-Cotton (1849–1925), of Plas Llwynon, [Anglesey](/source/Anglesey), and his wife, the Honourable Jane Charlotte Methuen, daughter of [Frederick Henry Paul Methuen, second Baron Methuen](/source/Frederick_Methuen%2C_2nd_Baron_Methuen).[1][2] His father was the younger son of the [second Viscount Combermere](/source/Wellington_Stapleton-Cotton%2C_2nd_Viscount_Combermere) and had been the Inspector-General of Police in Guiana from 1889 to 1891, was an officer in the [Wiltshire Regiment](/source/Wiltshire_Regiment), having served in the [Anglo-Zulu War](/source/Anglo-Zulu_War) of 1879 and in [Bechuanaland](/source/Bechuanaland) in 1885, and served as a [Justice of the Peace](/source/Justice_of_the_Peace) for [Shropshire](/source/Shropshire) and [Cheshire](/source/Cheshire).[3]

In 1910, he married Olive Harriet Cotton-Jodrell,[4] a daughter of [Sir Edward Thomas Davenant Cotton-Jodrell](/source/Edward_Cotton-Jodrell), of Reaseheath and Yeardsley, Cheshire, [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament) for [Wirral](/source/Wirral_(UK_Parliament_constituency)), and his wife Mary Rennell Coleridge.[5]

Stapleton-Cotton and his dog Tinker are the only two males ever to be accepted as fully paid-up members of the [Women's Institute](/source/Women's_Institute): he played a major part in setting up the first WI meeting in the UK, held in Anglesey in 1915.[6]

### Ancestry

Ancestors of Richard Stapleton-Cotton 8. Field Marshal Rt. Hon. Stapleton Stapleton-Cotton, first Viscount Combermere[9] 4. Col. Rt. Hon. Wellington Henry Stapleton-Cotton, Viscount Combermere[7] 9. Caroline Greville[9][10] 2. Col. Hon. Richard Southwell George Stapleton-Cotton[1] 10. Sir George Sitwell, second Baronet[7] 5. Susan Alice Sitwell[7] 11. Susan Tait, daughter of Crauford Tait[7] 1. Admiral Richard Greville Arthur Wellington Stapleton-Cotton 12. Rt. Hon. Paul Methuen, first Baron Methuen[11] 6. Rt. Hon. Frederick Henry Methuen, second Baron Methuen[1] 13. Jane Dorothea St John-Mildmay[11][12] 3. Hon. Jane Charlotte Methuen[1] 14. Rev. John Sanford, of Nynehead[1] 7. Anna Horatia Caroline Sanford[1][8] 15. Eliza Georgiana Morgan[13]

## Naval career

Stapleton-Cotton entered the [Royal Navy](/source/Royal_Navy) as a cadet in 1887. He was promoted to [midshipman](/source/Midshipman) two years later and then became a Sub-Lieutenant in 1893, lieutenant two years later, commander in 1905 and captain in 1913. He was the Commander at[14] the [Royal Naval College at Osborne](/source/Royal_Naval_College%2C_Osborne) from 1906 to 1910.[1] Promoted to rear-admiral in 1923[15] and then to vice-admiral in 1928, he was placed on the retired list by 1931.[16] In 1932, he was promoted to the rank of admiral in the retired list.[17]

In 1905, he was appointed a Member of the [Royal Victorian Order](/source/Royal_Victorian_Order) (MVO).[1] He was also appointed a Commander of the [Order of the British Empire](/source/Order_of_the_British_Empire) (CBE) and a Companion of the [Order of the Bath](/source/Order_of_the_Bath) (CB).[18] From 1928 to 1932, Stapleton-Cotton served as [Gentleman Usher of the Scarlet Rod](/source/Gentleman_Usher_of_the_Scarlet_Rod), and then as Registrar and Secretary of the Order of the Bath from 1932 to 1948; in the latter capacity, he attended the [Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth](/source/Coronation_of_King_George_VI_and_Queen_Elizabeth) in 1937 and took part in the procession into the Abbey.[19]

## Later life

Admiral Stapleton-Cotton died on 5 January 1953, aged 79, in [Merionethshire](/source/Merionethshire). He left an estate worth over £24,000.[20]

## References

### Citations

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Crisp18-23_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Crisp18-23_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Crisp18-23_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Crisp18-23_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-Crisp18-23_1-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-Crisp18-23_1-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-Crisp18-23_1-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-Crisp18-23_1-7) Crisp, *Visitation of England and Wales*, vol. 18, p. 23

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** *Who Was Who*, vol. 5, 1961, p. 1038 for date of death.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** *Dod's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage*, 1920, pt. 1, p. 195

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** *England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes*, General Register Office, Marriage Records, Q3 1910, vol. 8a, p. 731

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** *Walford's County Families of the United Kingdom*, 1913, p. 257; Fox-Davies, *Armorial Families*, 1929, p. 441

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Prior, Neil (24 February 2014). ["WI started in Wales during Great War"](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-26133605). *BBC News*. Retrieved 25 January 2019.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Crisp18-21_7-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Crisp18-21_7-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Crisp18-21_7-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Crisp18-21_7-3) Crisp, *Visitation of England and Wales*, vol. 18, p. 21

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** London Metropolitan Archives, St George Hanover Square, Westminster, *Transcript of baptisms*, marriages and burials, Jan 1824-Dec 1824, DL/T/089/019.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Crisp18-20_9-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Crisp18-20_9-1) Crisp, *Visitation of England and Wales*, vol. 18, p. 20

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** daughter of Capt. William Fulke Greville RN.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Cokayne_11-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Cokayne_11-1) Cokayne, *Complete Peerage*, 1895, 1st ed., vol. 5, p. 305

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** daughter of Sir Henry Paulet St John-Mildmay, formerly St John.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** W.J. Fitzpatrick, *The Life, Times and Contemporaries of Lord Cloncurry*, 1855, pp. 302-303.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** ADM 196/89/155

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** *Navy List*, July 1924, p. 75

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** *Navy List*, July 1931, 552

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** *The London Gazette*, 21 October 1932, issue 33875, p. 6626

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** *The London Gazette*, 21 October 1932, issue 33875, p. 6626

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** *Who Was Who*, vol. 5, 1961, p. 1038; [*Supplement to the London Gazette*](https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34453/supplement/7047/data.pdf), 10 November 1937, no. 34453, p. 7047

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** *England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes*, General Register Office, Death Records, Q1 1953, vol. 8c, p. 1; *National Probate Calendar*, 1953

### Bibliography

- G.E. Cokayne (1895), [*The Complete Peerage*](https://archive.org/details/completepeerage01cokagoog), 1st edition, volume 5.

- F.A. Crisp (1914), [*Visitation of England and Wales*](https://archive.org/details/visitationofengl18howa), volume 18.

- A.C. Fox-Davies (1929), [*Armorial Families*](https://archive.org/details/armorialfamilies01foxd), seventh edition.

Honorary titles Preceded by Wyndham Murray Gentleman Usher of the Scarlet Rod 1928–1932 Succeeded by Charles Longcroft

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