Home Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture Money Videos
Sir Arthur Thomas Cotton
Table of Contents
Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images
Cotton, Sir Arthur Thomas
Related Questions
Discover
Young men throw balloons and glitter from above the mosque at the celebration Eid Al-Fitr after prayers playing with balloons outside of Al-seddeeq mosque, Al-Mansourah, Egypt. 17 July 2015.
Eid al-Fitr
Julius Caesar in full Gaius Julius Caesar (100? BCE-44 BCE) statue in Rimini, Italy. Roman general and statesman and dictator
The Time Julius Caesar Was Captured by Pirates
Black widow spider
9 of the World’s Deadliest Spiders
Pluto. The Changing Faces of Pluto. Most detailed view to date of the entire surface of the dwarf planet Pluto, as constructed from multiple NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs taken from 2002 to 2003.
10 Important Dates in Pluto History
A Factory Interior, watercolor, pen and gray ink, graphite, and white goache on wove paper by unknown artist, c. 1871-91; in the Yale Center for British Art. Industrial Revolution England
Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution
VAN, TURKEY - OCTOBER 25: A building and car ruined during the earthquake of Van-Ercis on October 25, 2011 in Van, Turkey. It is 604 killed and 4152 injured in Van-Ercis Earthquake.
What Is an Aftershock?
earthquake. Heavily damaged school in the town of Yingxiu after a major earthquake struck China's Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008.
The 6 Deadliest Earthquakes Since 1950
Science & Tech

Sir Arthur Thomas Cotton

British engineer
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Print
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Share
Share to social media
URL
https://64.176.36.150/biography/Arthur-Thomas-Cotton
Last Updated: • Article History
Cotton, Sir Arthur Thomas
Cotton, Sir Arthur Thomas
See all media
Category: Science & Tech
Born:
May 15, 1803, Woodcote, Oxfordshire, England
Died:
July 14, 1899, Dorking, Surrey (aged 96)
See all related content →

Sir Arthur Thomas Cotton (born May 15, 1803, Woodcote, Oxfordshire, England—died July 14, 1899, Dorking, Surrey) was a British irrigation engineer whose projects averted famines and stimulated the economy of southern India.

Cotton entered the Madras engineers in 1820, served in the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–26), and began his irrigation work in 1828. He constructed works on the Kaveri (Cauvery), Kollidam (Coleroon), and Godavari rivers. His dams on the Kollidam (1836) and the Godavari (1847–52) rivers irrigated wide areas.

Before Cotton began his work on the Kaveri River, Tanjore (now Thanjavur) and the adjoining areas were threatened with ruin from lack of water. After his project’s completion these areas became the richest part of Madras (now Tamil Nadu) state, and Tanjore returned a larger revenue than any other district in India. Cotton also founded an Indian school of hydraulic engineering. He was knighted in 1861 and retired from government service in 1862.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.