Clement Cotterell 1686-1758

Sir Clement COTTERELL or COTTRELL 1686-1758

Biographical Note

Younger son of Sir Charles Lodowick Cotterell, courtier and master of ceremonies for the Crown. Lincoln Fellow atTrinity hall, Cambridge 1709, LL.B 1710; in the same year he succeeded his father as master of ceremonies (his elder brother having died a few years earlier), and was knighted. In 1716 he married Bridget Sherborne (d.1731); they lived largely in London, but in 1741 Cotterell inherited an estate at Rousham, Oxfordshire from his cousin James Dormer, which became his principal residence. He then changed his name to Cotterell-Dormer. He also had a house in Twickenham, next to Alexander Pope, who was a friend, along with many literary and antiquarian figures of the time. He became a vice-president of the Society of Antiquaries.

Books

Cotterell was noted for his antiquarian and scholarly interests - Thomas Hearne described him as a very bookish man - and he assembled both a library and a large collection of prints. He acquired many manuscripts relating to court protocol. His father died in debt and his library had to be sold in 1711, so he inherited few books from that source. He used an engraved armorial bookplate (Franks 7022), with the spelling Cottrell. The extent of his library is not known but it would have been mostly inherited by his son Charles (1720-79).

Sources

• Clayton, Roderick. "Cottrell, afterwards Cottrell-Dormer, Sir Clement (1686–1758), courtier and antiquary." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903-4.