Dictionary of Indian Biography/Cotton, Sir Arthur Thomas
COTTON, SIR ARTHUR THOMAS (1803–1899)
Irrigation Engineer : son of Henry Calverley Cotton : born May 15, 1803 : educated at Addiscombe : entered the Madras Engineers, arriving there 1821 : in the first Burmese war, 1825–6 : led storming parties : from 1828 employed upon irrigation works in Southern India, in the Cavery, Coleroon, Godavery and Krishna rivers, making anicuts (dams) on the Coleroon (1835–6), for the irrigation of the Tanjore, Trichinopoly, and South Arcot Districts : the anicut on the Godavery, below Rajamundry, for the irrigation of the Godavery district, 1847–52 : he projected the anicut on the Krishna, which other officers carried out. These works have been found invaluable in improving the condition of the people and the food supply, and averting famine, besides being very successful financially : other smaller works have followed them. Chief Engineer, 1852 : Commandant of Engineers, 1856 : he was knighted in 1861, made K.C.S.I. in 1866 : retired in 1862, and continued to advocate irrigation and canals as preferable to railway communication. He had a controversy with Sir Proby Cautley (q.v.) about the latter's Ganges Canal. He was admittedly the greatest Indian authority of his age on the subject of irrigation : he founded, it has been said, a School of Indian Hydraulic Engineering in the officers trained under him : General in 1877 : died July 24, 1899 : wrote a book on Public Works in India.