Samuel Elsworth Cottam (7 August 1863 – 30 March 1943) was an English poet and Anglican priest.

Biography

Cottam was born in Upper Broughton, Salford, in 1863. He graduated from Exeter College, Oxford, in 1885, where he was a friend of Edwin Emmanuel Bradford. He was a lifelong Anglo-Catholic, unlike Bradford who later became a Modernist. Cottam and Bradford were co-Chaplains of St George's Anglican Church in Paris, France. He was later incumbent at Wootton, Vale of White Horse, where John Betjeman and W. H. Auden went to see him celebrate sung mass.

Will

In his will, Cottam left trust funds for "the purchase of objects of beauty for the furtherance of religion in ancient gothic churches". This trust is now administered by the Friends of Friendless Churches and has been used to benefit many dozens of churches in England and Wales, by the addition of furnishings, stained glass and bells.