Cotton
houseMaster: Cotton
Richard Willmett
Richard arrived at Marlborough to teach Politics in 2014, having previously worked as a Parliamentary researcher for five years after reading for a degree in Politics at the University of Newcastle.
Richard moved into Barton Hill as Resident House Tutor in 2016 and would go on to further his pastoral experience as Designated Safeguarding Lead in 2021.
He was appointed Housemaster in Cotton in the summer of 2025.
Richard’s personal interests include reading about the Plantagenets, the Liberal Party of the Victorian and Edwardian eras and an arguably unhealthy amount of cricket, scoring for a variety of teams. Richard also writes about cricket and his work has been published in Wisden’s quarterly Nightwatchman publication.
Richard is married to Cora, who also works in Cotton as a Tutor. They have three sons.
Cotton Boarding House
Key Facts
Cotton is a mixed house with 50 boys (ten in each year group) and 12 Sixth Form girls. The building has a dining room in which pupils enjoy breakfast and supper together four times a week, and its own five-a-side football pitch and tennis court. Situated five minutes’ walk from Court, the House is named after Bishop George Cotton (1852–58), the second Master of the College, who was eaten by a crocodile in the Ganges! The House was built in 1872 and retains much of the original wood panelling of the time.
Location: Out-house, next to Littlefield
Gender: Mixed
Number of pupils: 62
Ben Allen
Assistant HM
Ben joined Marlborough in 2015 as a Physics beak. After five years in the C2 tutor team, he became RHT in 2020 before joining Cotton in September 2024. He coaches football and athletics.
Becky Taylor
Dame
Becky joined Cotton as Dame in the summer of 2020. She joined the College in 2017, working for the estates and capital projects team and also spent several years as a PA.
