SIR

See also:

• ARTHUR (Fr. Arius)
• ARTHUR, CHESTER ALAN (1830 – 1886)

ARTHUR

See also:

• THOMAS
• THOMAS (c. 1654-1720)
• THOMAS (d. 110o)
• THOMAS, ARTHUR GORING (1850-1892)
• THOMAS, CHARLES LOUIS AMBROISE (1811-1896)
• THOMAS, GEORGE (c. 1756-1802)
• THOMAS, GEORGE HENRY (1816-187o)
• THOMAS, ISAIAH (1749-1831)
• THOMAS, PIERRE (1634-1698)
• THOMAS, SIDNEY GILCHRIST (1850-1885)
• THOMAS, ST
• THOMAS, THEODORE (1835-1905)
• THOMAS, WILLIAM (d. 1554)

THOMAS

See also:

• COTTON
• COTTON (Fr. coton; from Arab. qutun)
• COTTON, CHARLES (163o–1687)
• COTTON, GEORGE EDWARD LYNCH (1813–1866)
• COTTON, JOHN (1585–1652)
• COTTON, SIR ROBERT BRUCE

COTTON (1803-1899)  , English engineer, tenth son of Henry Calveley Cotton, was born on the 15th of May 1803, and was educated at Addiscombe . He entered the Madras engineers in 1819, served in the first Burmese war (1824-26), and in 1828 began his life-work on the irrigation works of southern India . He constructed works on the Cauvery,Coleroon,Godavari and Kistna rivers, making anicuts (dams) on the Coleroon (1836–1838) for the irrigation of the Tanjore, Trichinopoly and South Arcot districts; and on the Godivari (1847–1852) for the irrigation of the Godavari district . He also projected the anicut on the Kistna (Krishna), which was carried out by other officers . Before the beginning of his work Tanjore and the adjoining districts were threatened with ruin from lack of water; on its completion they became the richest part of Madras, and Tanjore returned the largest revenue of any district in India . He was the founder of the school of Indian hydraulic engineering, and carried out much of his work in the face of opposition and discouragement from the Madras government; though, in the minute of the 15th of May 1858, that government paid an ample tribute to the genius of Cotton's " master mind." He was knighted ill 1861 . Sir Arthur Cotton believed in the possibility of constructing a complete system of irrigation and navigation canals throughout India, and devoted the whole of a long life to the partial realization of this project . He died on the 24th of July 1899 . See Lady Hope, General Sir Arthur Cotton (1900) .