Willoughby Cotton Lieutenant General Sir Willoughby Cotton GCB , KCH ( 1783 – 1860 ) was a British soldier . Family . Willoughby Cotton was born in 1783 , to Admiral Rowland Cotton and Elizabeth Aston . They also had a daughter , Sydney Arabella Cotton . Rowland Cotton was from a well - established Chester family , while Elizabeth was the only daughter of Sir Willoughby Aston , 5th Baronet Aston , of Aston , Chester . Cotton married Lady Augusta Maria Coventry on 16 May 1806 in Marylebone , London . They had three children together , Augusta Mary Cotton , Willoughby Cotton and Maj . - Gen . Corbet Cotton . School years . Willoughby Cotton entered Rugby School at the age of 12 in 1795 . Cotton , aged 14 , was a ringleader in the “ Great Rebellion ” of November 1797 . Aggrieved by the attitude of the Head Master , Dr . Henry Ingles ( 1794 – 1806 ) , to the breaking of a window , students blew his classroom door off and followed this by burning desks and books upon the close , before retreating to the Island ( a Bronze Age burial mound surrounded by a moat . Ingles called in the local militia , whereupon the Riot Act was read and the island taken . Soldiers stole round to the rear , and wading across the moat , drawn sword in hand , took the whole party prisoners . Cotton was among the students to be expelled as a result of this confrontation . Military career . Cotton entered the Third Guards ( renamed the Scots Guards in 1831 ) as an Ensign in the First Battalion , on 31 October 1798 . He quickly gained his Lieutenancy , on 25 November 1799 and took part in Lord Cathcart ` s expedition to Hanover in 1805 . The First Battalion and Cotton were also involved in the 1807 Copenhagen Expedition , again commanded by Lord Cathcart . Cotton was appointed Adjutant - General to the reserve under the Command of Arthur Wellesley ( soon to become the Duke of Wellington ) and was involved in the Battle of Kioge on 29 August 1807 . Cotton was deployed to the Iberian Peninsular in April 1809 , where he served as Adjutant - General to the Light Division under Brigadier - General Robert Craufurd . Cotton was present throughout the retreat to the lines of Torres Vedras and subsequent advance , seeing action at the Battle of Côa . On 12 June 1811 he attained the rank of Lieutenant - Colonel in the Third Guards and then returned to England in August . Cotton returned to the Peninsular in April 1813 and was involved in the Capture of Burgos on 10 – 12 June ; which is different from the unsuccessful Siege of Burgos in 1812 . He was then present at the decisive battles of Vittoria on 21 June 1813 and Nive on 9 – 13 December . Cotton then served in France , commanding the Light Division during the Passage of Adour on 23 February 1814 . He was involved in the Siege of Bayonne and commanded the piquets of the Second Brigade of Guards on the night of the French Sortie , 14 April 1814 . It was during the French sortie that , according to the writings of fellow Guards officer Captain Gronow , Cotton was taken prisoner . He “ escaped by giving up his watch and all the money ” on him , receiving a beating for “ the smallness of the sum . ” Cotton returned to England with the First Battalion of the Third Guards in April 1814 , but returned to France in June 1815 due to the loss of Second Battalion Officers at the Battle of Waterloo . During his career , Cotton played major roles in the First Anglo - Burmese War in 1824 to 1826 , the 1831 – 32 slave revolt in Jamaica and the First Anglo - Afghan War from 1839 to 1842 . He was the Commander - in - chief of the Bombay Army from April 1847 to December 1850 and was invested as a Knight Grand Cross , Order of the Bath . He was also groom of the bedchamber to the Duke of Gloucester .