Sir Arthur Cotton

Photograph of the long masonry anicut across the Godavari at Dowlaishweram, water spilling over it, with a man standing on the work; printed across two pages. · George T. Walch (opens in a new tab) · Public domain

Arthur Cotton was the engineer of the Godavari anicut (dam).¹ The Godavari manual of 1878 calls it “this invaluable boon” (great gift) to the district.¹ His daughter, Lady Hope, wrote his life in 1900.² She says that he “was born on May 15, 1803”, the tenth son of Henry Calveley Cotton.²

Morris says that the idea of a dam across the Godavari went back to the astronomer Michael Topping before 1800.¹³ It was revived in 1844, when Sir Henry Montgomery was sent to report on the depressed district.¹³ Montgomery urged that “an experienced Irrigation Engineer” examine the delta.¹³ See East India Company.

The Godavari anicut

The Rajahmundry district had declined after the famine of 1833 and the closing of the Company’s cloth factories.⁴ Sir Henry Montgomery’s report of 1844 drew attention to the neglect of the Godavari water.⁴ Cotton, then a captain, reported on the district’s lack of irrigation works and proposed an anicut, a dam, across the river. The Board of Revenue supported the plan in April 1846, and the government sanctioned it in September.³⁵⁶

Work began in earnest in April 1847.⁷ Up to 6,500 men were at work in the seasons of 1848–50.⁷ In 1852 the government recorded that the anicut “may now be said to have arrived at completion”.⁸⁹ It gave the credit to “the unceasing exertion and energy of Colonel Cotton and the officers associated with him”.⁸⁹ By January 1853 it had sanctioned 15,34,952 rupees for the works.⁸⁹ See Rajahmundry and the map of the Godavari delta works.

Other works

On the Krishna, the Kistna manual says, Captain Lake’s plan for a dam was “endorsed by Major (now Sir Arthur) Cotton”.¹⁰ The plan then went to a committee in 1849.¹⁰ The anicut at Vijayawada (then Bezwada) was built from 1852 to 1855.¹⁰

At Visakhapatnam (then Vizagapatam), loose stone groins (low sea walls) checked the sea in front of the customs office.¹¹¹² They were put down “in 1844” by “Sir Arthur (then Major) Cotton”.¹¹¹² St John’s church there “was built in 1844 by Sir Arthur Cotton and consecrated in 1846”.¹¹¹²

On the upper Godavari, the Dummagudem anicut was “almost the sole relic of the great scheme conceived by Sir Arthur Cotton” for navigating the river.¹³¹⁴ The mission at Dummagudem was started through his influence.¹³¹⁴ See Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada.

Last years

Lady Hope says that “even after he had attained the age of ninety-six he suffered from no illness whatever”. He weakened in June 1899 and died after the middle of July.¹⁵¹⁶¹⁷ He was buried in a cemetery near Dorking.¹⁵¹⁶¹⁷ A portrait of him from a photograph of 1883 is the frontispiece of George Walch’s history of the Godavari works (1896).¹⁸