Sheriff Frank Ross Cotton
County of Westminster 1929-1964

Frank Cotton was the longest serving sheriff in British Columbia's history and compared to his peers, probably had the most interesting term in office. His experiences with evictions, murder trials, sequestered juries and hangings would have filled a book, had he been motivated to put his memoirs in writing. The events that did end up in print were newspaper reports that invariably had a sensational slant, much to his chagrin and annoyance. Of all the duties that attracted media coverage, Sheriff Cotton's most unpleasant obligation was to oversee court-ordered executions. Because a condemned man was always sentenced to die at the prison where he was being held and Cotton's bailiwick contained the provincial jail, he was required to enforce the death penalty forty-two times during his thirty-five years as sheriff.

Born in New Westminster on July 30, 1900 Frank Cotton was the son of the Royal City's first engineer. Growing up, he was aware of the role of the sheriff through his uncle, Henry McMartin, who was a deputy sheriff with the County of Westminster and also resided with the Cotton family in their New Westminster home at 418 1st Street. Frank began his forty-three year career with the sheriff's office in 1919 when Sheriff Thomas Armstrong hired him as a sheriff's officer. In 1922, he was promoted to deputy sheriff, and on January 1, 1929 he replaced his uncle as sheriff. He retired from his post on March 1, 1964 after the provincial government announced its intention to change his fee-for-service position to a civil service appointment. Under the fee-for-service system, the sheriff received an emolument for all of the services performed by the sheriff's office, an arrangement that proved very lucrative for the larger urban centered shrievalties like Westminster.

Sheriff Cotton was a pioneer of automobile motoring. He possessed the second license issued in New Westminster: British Columbia Driver's License #5002. For his honeymoon in 1927, he and his wife drove the newly opened Fraser Canyon road from New Westminster to Fort St. James in a model T, acquiring the recognition of being the first to do so.

Sheriff Cotton excelled in many sports, particularly lacrosse and badminton, and in 1921 he was the champion trap shooter in British Columbia. A long time member of the Vancouver Golf and Country Club, he was a skilful golfer shooting a score of sixty-nine once and winning the club championship five times. Frank Cotton passed away on August 4, 1994.

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