I'm trying to trace the arms quartered for this family in various visitations and also why one branch is using arms differently.
The visitation of Leicester 1619 and revised by Nichols Antiquities of Leicester give these arms as given for the Cotton family of Laughton, Leicestershire -
(By William Cotton, Esquire, of Laughton, Leicestershire. Heir to his father, Edward Cotton, Esquire, who who was heir to his brother, Thomas Cotton, Esquire)
This Cotton family entered Leicestershire by way of Thomas Cotton, Mayor of Leicester in 1515. He is given to have 'Came out of Staffordshire and lived in Cheshire during the reign of King Henry VII'
1. Argent, a bend sable, between three pellets.
These arms seem to be the Cotton arms of the main senior branch. Also according to ''Burkes'', These are the Arms of the Cotton family of Whittington, Gloucestershire. Cotton family of Laughton, Leic and Staffordshire, The arms of William Cotton, Bishop of Exeter, who died in 1621 (He descended from the senior line of Cheshire and was a grandson of Richard Cotton, Esquire, of Hamstall Ridware who died in 1534, I think this Richard was a brother of the Thomas Cotton who came to Leicester)
2. Azure, an eagle displayed argent.
These arms appear to be the arms of the de Ridware family and are quartered in the senior Cotton line from the marriage of William Cotton, Lord of the Manor of Cotton, Cheshire to Agnes de Ridware, daughter and heir of Walter de Ridware, Lord of the Manor of Hamstall Ridware, sometime in the late 1300s. Apparently the junior branch of Cottons adopted these arms in lieu of the previous one.
3. Gules three birds Or.
I'm not sure whose arms these are?
4. Argent, two bars nebule, and a canton gules.
I'm not sure whose arms these are?
The crest is given as 'An Eagle displayed' but some sources give the crest as 'Five snakes ppr. tied in a parcel, their heads in chief'
But then in the visitation of 1683 and revised by Nichols Antiquities.
The Cotton family of Dadlington, Leic, arms are given as - 'Azure. on a chevron argent, three Catherine wheels gules'
The Dadlington line descend from, Samuel Cotton, Esquire. Justice of the Peace and High Sheriff of Leicestershire. 2nd son of Thomas Cotton, Esquire, of Laughton and Elizabeth Shuckburgh, of Naseby, Northamptonshire. Thomas was heir to the previous William Cotton, Esquire, of Laughton.
The pedigree in 1683 is apparently given by, Thomas Cotton, Esquire, of Wykin Hall. Oldest son of the previously mentioned Thomas.
Why would this Junior line from the seemingly main line, change arms completely and not just difference?
''Burkes'' states that these Catherine wheel arms are - Cotton of Co. Leicestershire from the reign of Edward III. Which is quite vague and knowing Burkes, might not actually be true.
Nichols states that in Dadlington church there is a much degraded tomb to a Cotton which shows those arms on stained glass. The Cottons weren't possessed of an estate in Dadlington until after the marriage of Samuel Cotton to Rebecca Halford in 1659. In 1670 they first appear in the Dadlington registers, having come from an estate in Podington, Bedfordshire.
I shall attach as they appear in Nichols.
