Elizabeth Cotton, Lady Hope
| Elizabeth Hope | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Elizabeth Reid Cotton 9 December 1842 Tasmania, Australia |
| Died | 8 March 1922 (aged 79) Sydney, Australia |
| Nationality | British |
| Other names | Lady Hope, Elizabeth Denny |
| Occupation | Evangelist |
| Known for | Temperance movement |
| Spouse(s) |
Admiral James Hope Thomas A. Denny |
Elizabeth Reid Cotton, (9 December 1842 – 8 March 1922) who became Lady Hope when she married Sir James Hope in 1877, was a British evangelist active in the Temperance movement.
In 1915, she claimed to have visited the British naturalist Charles Darwin shortly before his death in 1882, during which interview Hope said Darwin spoke of second thoughts about publicising his theory of natural selection. That Hope visited Darwin is possibly true, though denied by Darwin's family, but her interpretation of what Darwin said at the putative interview is much less likely.
Elizabeth Cotton was born on 9 December 1842 in Tasmania, Australia. She was the daughter of British irrigation engineer, General Sir Arthur Cotton, and spent her childhood in Madras, India, while her father supervised water management and canal projects in Andhra Pradesh. Returning to England after her father's retirement in 1861, the family resided in Hadley Green and came under the influence of the Rev. William Pennefather, an evangelical Anglican clergyman. Cotton also met many contemporary evangelicals during a three-year stay in Ireland.
In 1869 the family settled in Dorking, Surrey, about 12 miles from Downe, home of Charles Darwin—where Elizabeth began evangelistic and philanthropic work, first organising a Sunday school and then a "Coffee-Room" where food and non-alcoholic drinks were served. (Florence Nightingale distributed copies of Cotton's book Our Coffee-Room and established her own coffee room in her village of Whatstandwell in Derbyshire.) Cotton held Bible classes and prayer meetings in the hall, and spoke at a Sunday evening service. A contemporary reported that she had "a pleasing, engaging manner and silvery voice, and her message was simple." In 1874–75, Cotton assisted in the evangelistic meetings held by American evangelists Dwight L. Moody and Ira Sankey, counseling women converts.
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