Sir Henry Cotterell, 6th Baronet

Sir John Henry Geers Cotterell, 6th Baronet (8 May 1935 – 4 December 2017) was a Hereford businessman and politician.

Early life

Cotterell, usually went by his middle name of Henry, was born on 8 May 1935 in Belgrave Square, London. He was the son of Lt.-Col. Sir Richard Cotterell, 5th Baronet and Lady Lettice Lygon. His parents divorced in 1958 and his father married Hon. Molly Patricia Berry (daughter of William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose) while his mother never remarried. Among his siblings was Rose Evelyn Cotterell, the wife of Charles Hambro, Baron Hambro, heir to the Hambros Bank fortune. His maternal grandparents were William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp and Lady Lettice Mary Elizabeth Grosvenor (a daughter of Victor Alexander Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor).

He was raised at Garnons, the family seat in Herefordshire, but later moved to Byford Court when Garnons was requisitioned during the War. He was educated at Eton before he was commissioned in the service of the Royal Horse Guards at Windsor in 1955. He later served in Knightsbridge as part of the Household Cavalry's mounted regiment and attended Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.

Career

After studying at the Royal Agricultural College Cirencester in 1961, Cotterell returned to Garnons and retired from the military before serving as a county councillor for 25 years, first with the Herefordshire County Council and, after reorganisation, for the Hereford and Worcester County Council between 1977 and 1981. He served as Vice-Lord Lieutenant of Herefordshire in 1998. In 1988, when the Mappa Mundi was under threat, he was appointed chairman of the trustees of the Hereford Cathedral treasure to raise money to construct a new library, negotiating church and heritage politics in order to keep the Mappa Mundi in Hereford.