Thomas Wotton

Thomas Wotton was an English organ builder documented in Oxford between 1483 and 1489, according to the known period of his activity. His name is linked to commissions for instruments for the colleges of the city.

In 1486 he built a "pair of organs", that is, a single instrument, for the chapel of Magdalen College, for the sum of 28 pounds. The following year he agreed with R. Fitzjames, the head of Merton College, to build a similar instrument for the same sum, and in 1488 he repaired the Magdalen organ for 40 shillings. The antiquary Anthony Wood, who believed his Christian name was William, claimed that he would have been the father of Lambert Simnel, a pretender to the English throne in 1487. This is not a confirmed fact but a hypothesis that cannot be verified with certainty.