Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald
Encyclopedia
Admiral
Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, 1st Marquess of Maranhão, GCB
, ODM
(14 December 1775 – 31 October 1860), styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a senior British
naval flag officer
and radical
politician.
He was a daring and successful captain
of the Napoleonic Wars
, leading the French to nickname him Le Loup des Mers ('The Sea Wolf').
He was dismissed from the Royal Navy
in 1814, following a conviction for fraud on the Stock Exchange and he then served in the rebel navies of Chile
, Brazil and Greece during their respective wars of independence.
In 1832, he was pardoned and reinstated in the Royal Navy
with the rank of Rear Admiral of the Blue. After several further promotions, he died in 1860 with the rank of Admiral of the Red, and the honorary title
of Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom
.
His life and exploits served as one source of inspiration for the naval fiction of nineteenth and twentieth-century novelists, particularly Horatio Hornblower
and Patrick O'Brian
's Jack Aubrey
.
Thomas Cochrane was born at Annsfield, near Hamilton, South Lanarkshire
, Scotland
, the son of Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald
and Anna Gilchrist. She was the daughter of Captain James Gilchrist and Ann Roberton, the daughter of Major John Roberton, 16th Laird
of Earnock
.
Cochrane had six brothers. One was Major William Erskine Cochrane of the 15th Dragoon Guards
, who served with distinction under Sir John Moore in the Peninsular War
. Another was Captain Archibald Cochrane
.
Cochrane was descended from lines of Scottish aristocracy and military service on both sides of his family. Through his uncle, Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane
the sixth son of the 8th Earl of Dundonald, Cochrane was cousin to his namesake Sir Thomas John Cochrane
who also enjoyed a distinguished naval career and became Governor
of Newfoundland and later Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom
. The family fortune had been spent by 1793 and the family estate was sold to cover debts.
, Fife, where his family had an estate. There is now a bust in his honour outside the Culross Town House.
Through the influence of his uncle, Alexander Cochrane
, he was listed as a member of the crew on the books of four Royal Navy ships starting when he was five years old. This common, though unlawful practice (called false muster), was a means of acquiring the years of service required for promotion, if and when he joined the Navy. His father secured him a commission in the British Army
at an early age, but Cochrane preferred the Navy, which he joined in 1793 upon the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars
.
frigate
, the 28-gun , commanded by his uncle, Captain Alexander Cochrane
. He then transferred to the 38-gun fifth rate , also under his uncle's command. While on the Thetis he visited Norway then served at the North America station. There, in 1795, he was appointed acting
lieutenant
. The following year, on 27 May 1796, he was commissioned lieutenant, after passing the examination. After several transfers in America and a return home, he found himself as 8th Lieutenant on Lord Keith's flagship
in the Mediterranean in 1798.
During his service on Barfleur, Cochrane received a court-martial
for showing disrespect to Philip Beaver
, the ship's first lieutenant
. Though the board found him innocent, the board did reprimand him for flippancy. This was the first public manifestation of a pattern of Cochrane being unable to get along with many of his superiors, subordinates, employers and colleagues in several navies and Parliament, and even those with whom he had much in common and who should have been natural allies. For instance, his behavior led to a long enmity with John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent
.
In February 1800, Cochrane commanded the prize crew taking the captured French vessel Généreux
to the British base at Mahón
. The ship was almost lost in a storm, with Cochrane and his brother Archibald going aloft in place of a crew that were mostly ill. On 28 March 1800, Cochrane, having been promoted to commander, took command of the brig sloop . Later that year, a Spanish warship disguised as a merchant ship almost captured him. He escaped by flying a Danish
flag and fending off a boarding by claiming his ship was plague-ridden. Chased by an enemy frigate, and knowing it would follow him in the night by any glimmer of light from the Speedy, he placed a lantern on a barrel and let it float away. The enemy frigate followed the light and Speedy escaped.
In February 1801, at Malta
, he got into an argument with a French Royalist
officer at a fancy dress ball. Cochrane came dressed as a common sailor, and the Royalist mistook him for one. This argument led to Cochrane's only duel
. Cochrane wounded the French officer with a pistol shot but was himself unharmed.
One of his most notable exploits was the capture of the Spanish xebec
frigate El Gamo, on 6 May 1801. El Gamo carried 32 guns and 319 men, compared with Speedy's 14 guns and 54 men. Cochrane flew an American flag to approach so closely to El Gamo that its guns could not depress to fire on the Speedy's hull. This left the Spanish with no option but to board. However, whenever the Spanish were about to board, Cochrane would pull away briefly, and fire on the concentrated boarding parties with his ship's guns. Eventually, Cochrane boarded the Gamo, despite still being outnumbered about five to one, and captured her.
In Speedy's 13-month cruise, Cochrane captured, burned, or drove ashore 53 ships before three French ships of the line under Admiral Charles-Alexandre Linois
captured him on 3 July 1801. During his time as a prisoner Linois often asked him for advice and Cochrane later referred to how polite he was in his autobiography. A few days later he was exchanged for the second captain of another French ship. Then, on 8 August 1801, he received a promotion to the rank of post-captain
.
After the Peace of Amiens
, Cochrane attended the University of Edinburgh
. Upon the resumption of war in 1803, St Vincent assigned him in October 1803 to command of a sixth-rate ship which was the 22-gun . Cochrane alleged that the ship had poor handling, colliding with Royal Navy ships on two occasions (the Bloodhound and the Abundance), and afforded Cochrane no opportunities. In his autobiography he would compare the Arab to a collier
and his first thoughts on seeing Arab being repaired at Plymouth were that she would "sail like a haystack". Despite this, he still managed to intercept and board an American merchant ship, the Chatham, and create an international incident, leading to the consignment of HMS Arab and her commander to protect Britain's important whaling fleet beyond Orkney in the North Sea
.
In 1804, St Vincent stood aside for the incoming new government led by William Pitt the Younger
and Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville
took office. In December of that year Cochrane received an appointment to command of the new 32-gun frigate
, in which he undertook a series of notable exploits over the following eighteen months.
In August 1806, he took command of the 38-gun frigate , formerly the Spanish frigate Medea. One of his midshipmen was Frederick Marryat
, who later wrote fictionalized accounts of his adventures with Cochrane.
In Imperieuse Cochrane raided the Mediterranean coast of France. In 1808, Cochrane and a Spanish guerrilla force captured the fortress of Mongat, which sat astride the road between Gerona
and Barcelona
. This delayed General Duhesme's French army for a month. On another raid Cochrane copied code books from a signal station, leaving behind the originals so the French would believe them uncompromised. When Imperieuse ran short of water, she sailed up the estuary of the Rhone
to replenish. When a French army marched into Catalonia
and besieged Rosas, Cochrane took part in the defence of the town by occupying and defending Fort Trinidad ('Castell de la Trinitat') for a number of weeks before the fall of the city forced him to leave; Cochrane was one of the last two men to quit the fort.
While captain of Speedy, Pallas, and Imperieuse, Cochrane became arguably the most effective practitioner of coastal warfare during the period. Not only did he attack shore installations such as the Martello tower
at Son Bou
on Minorca
, but captured enemy ships in harbor by leading his men in boats in "cutting out" operations. He was a meticulous planner of every operation, which limited casualties among his men and maximized the chances of success.
In 1809, he commanded the attack by a flotilla of fire ship
s on Rochefort
, as part of the Battle of the Basque Roads
. The attack did considerable damage, but Cochrane blamed Admiral Gambier
, the fleet commander, for missing the opportunity to destroy the French fleet. Cochrane claimed that as a result of expressing his opinion publicly the admiralty denied him the opportunity to serve afloat. The evidence however shows that he was focussed on politics at this time and, indeed, refused a number of offers of command.
on a ticket of parliamentary reform (a movement which would later bring about the Reform Acts) for the potwalloper
borough of Honiton
. This was exactly the kind of borough Cochrane wished to abolish; votes were mostly sold to the highest bidder. Cochrane offered nothing and lost the election. In October 1806, he again ran for Parliament in Honiton and won. Cochrane initially denied that he paid any bribes, but he revealed in a Parliamentary debate ten years later that he had paid ten guineas
(£10 10s) per voter through Mr. Townshend, local headman and banker.
In May 1807, Cochrane was elected by Westminster
in a more democratic election. Cochrane campaigned for parliamentary reform, allied with such Radicals
as William Cobbett
, Sir Francis Burdett and Henry Hunt
. His outspoken criticism of the conduct of the war and the corruption in the navy made him powerful enemies in the government. His criticism of Admiral Gambier's conduct at the Battle of the Basque Roads
was so severe that Gambier demanded a court-martial
to clear his name. This made Cochrane important enemies in the Admiralty
.
In 1810, Sir Francis Burdett
, a Member of Parliament
and political ally, had barricaded himself in his home at Piccadilly
, London, resisting arrest by the House of Commons. Cochrane went to assist Burdett's defence of the house. His approach to this, however, was essentially similar to the approach he had taken in defending forts against enemy attack and would have led to numerous deaths amongst the arresting officers and at least partial destruction of Burdett's house, along with much of Piccadilly. On realising what Cochrane planned, Burdett and his allies took steps to end the siege.
Cochrane, though popular with the public, was unable to get along with his colleagues in the House of Commons, let alone the government. Usually, he had little success in promoting his causes, though there were exceptions: in 1812 he successfully confronted the Admiralty's prize court.
His conviction in the Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814
(see below) resulted in Parliament expelling him on 5 July 1814. However, his constituents in the seat of Westminster re-elected him at the resulting by-election
on 16 July. He held this seat until 1818. In 1818, Cochrane last speech in Parliament advocated parliamentary reform.
In 1830, Cochrane initially expressed interest but then declined. Not only had Lord Brougham's brother decided to run for the seat, but Cochrane also thought it would look bad for him to be publicly supporting a government from which he sought pardon for his fraud conviction.
In 1831, his father died and Cochrane became the 10th Earl of Dundonald
. As such, he was no longer entitled to sit in the Commons; the Scottish peerage elected representative peers to sit in the House of Lords
. He was never one of them, though several of his successors were.
Cochrane and Katherine would remarry in the Anglican Church in 1818, and in the Church of Scotland
in 1825. They had six children;
The confusion of multiple ceremonies led to suspicions that Cochrane's first son, Thomas Barnes Cochrane, was illegitimate, which delayed Thomas's accession to the Earldom of Dundonald on his father's death.
and British ambassador to Russia, who arrived in Dover from France on 21 February bearing news that Napoleon had been captured and killed by Cossacks. In reaction to the news and the possibility of peace, share prices rose sharply on the Stock Exchange
, particularly in a volatile government stock called Omnium which increased from 26 and a half to 32. However, it soon became clear that the news of Napoleon's death was a hoax. The Stock Exchange established a sub-committee to investigate, and they duly discovered that six men had sold substantial amounts of Omnium stock during the boom in value, and it was assumed that all six were responsible for the hoax and subsequent fraud. Cochrane had disposed of his entire £139,000 holding in Omnium – which he had only acquired a month before – and was named as one of the six conspirators, as was his uncle, Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone and his stock broker
, Richard Butt. Within days, an anonymous informant told the committee that Colonel de Bourg was an imposter; he was a Prussian aristocrat named De Berenger and he had been seen entering Cochrane's house on the day of the hoax.
The accused were brought to trial in the Court of King's Bench
, Guildhall
on 8 June 1814. The trial was presided over by Lord Ellenborough
, a High Tory and a notable enemy of the radicals who had previously sentenced radical politicians William Cobbett
and Henry Hunt
to prison in politically motivated trials. The evidence against Cochrane was inevitably circumstantial (as the prosecuting counsel pointed out) and hinged on the nature of his share dealings, his contacts with those who were clearly conspirators and colour of uniform De Berenger had been wearing when they met in his house. Cochrane admitted he was acquainted with De Berenger and that he had visited his home on the day of the fraud, but insisted he had arrived wearing a green sharpshooter's uniform and had merely called to request passage to the United States aboard Cochrane's new command the . Although in a sworn affidavit created before the trial, Cochrane's servants agreed that the collar of the uniform above the greatcoat had been green, they admitted to his solicitors that they thought the rest had been red, and were not called to give evidence. The prosecution summoned a key witness, hackney carriage driver William Crane, who swore that De Berenger was wearing a scarlet uniform when he delivered him to the house. Cochrane's defence also argued that he had given standing instructions to Butt that his Omnium shares were to be sold if the price rose by 1 per cent, and he would have made double profit if he waited until it reached its peak price. Unfortunately, all the conspirators had given identical instructions to their brokers.
On the second day of the trial, Lord Ellenborough began his summary of the evidence and drew attention to the matter of De Berenger's uniform which he regarded as damning evidence. The jury retired to deliberate and returned a verdict of guilty against all the defendants two and a half hours later. Belatedly, Cochrane's defence team found several witnesses who were willing to testify that De Berenger had arrived wearing a green uniform, but Lord Ellenborough dismissed their evidence as inadmissible because two of the conspirators had fled the country upon hearing the guilty verdict. On 20 June 1814, Cochrane was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, fined £1,000 and was ordered to stand in the pillory
opposite the Royal Exchange
for one hour. In subsequent weeks he was also dismissed from the Royal Navy by the Admiralty and expelled from Parliament following a motion
in the House of Commons which was passed by 144 votes to 44. On the orders of the Prince Regent
, Cochrane was further humiliated by the loss of his knighthood
in a degradation ceremony at Westminster Abbey
in which his banner
was taken down and kicked out of the chapel and down the steps outside. However, within a month, Cochrane was re-elected unopposed as the Member of Parliament for Westminster and following public outcry, his sentence to the pillory was rescinded for fears it would lead to the outbreak of a riot.
The question of Cochrane's innocence or guilt created much debate at the time and has divided historians ever since. Subsequent reviews of the trial carried out by three Lord Chancellor
s during the course of the 19th century concluded that Cochrane should have been found not guilty on the basis of the evidence produced in court. Cochrane maintained his innocence for the rest of his life and campaigned tirelessly to restore his damaged reputation and to clear his name. He believed the trial was politically motivated and that a "higher authority than the Stock Exchange" was responsible for his prosecution. A series of petitions put forward by Cochrane protesting his innocence were ignored until 1830 when King George IV
(the former Prince Regent) died and was succeeeded by William IV
who had served in the Royal Navy and was sympathetic to Cochrane's cause. Later that year the Tory government fell and was replaced by a Whig government in which his friend, Lord Brougham
, was appointed Lord Chancellor. Following a meeting of the Privy Council in May 1832 Cochrane was granted a pardon and restored to the Navy List
with a promotion to rear-admiral. Support from friends in the government, and the writings of popular naval authors such as Frederick Marryat
and Maria Graham increased public sympathy for Cochrane's situation, and in May 1847, with the personal intervention of Queen Victoria
, Cochrane's knighthood was restored and he was created a Knight Grand Cross
of the Order of the Bath
. Only in 1860 did his banner return to Westminster Abbey; the day before his funeral.
In 1876, his grandson received a payment of £40,000 from the British government, based on the recommendations of a Parliamentary select committee, in compensation for his conviction which was believed to be unjust.
Cochrane left the UK in official disgrace, but that did not end his naval career. Accompanied by Lady Cochrane and their two children, he reached Valparaíso
on 28 November 1818.
On 11 December 1818, at the request of Chile
an leader Bernardo O'Higgins
, Cochrane became a Chilean citizen, was appointed Vice Admiral, and took command of the Chilean Navy
in Chile's war of independence against Spain. He was the first Vice Admiral of Chile
. Cochrane reorganized the Chilean navy, introducing British naval customs. He took command in the frigate O'Higgins and blockaded and raided the coasts of Peru
as he had those of France and Spain. On his own initiative he organized and led the capture of Valdivia
, despite only having 300 men and two ships to deploy against seven large forts. However, he failed in his attempt to capture
the Chiloé Archipelago
for Chile. In 1820, O'Higgins ordered him to convoy the Liberation Army of General José de San Martín
to Peru, blockade the coast and support the campaign for independence. Later, forces under Cochrane's personal command cut out and captured the frigate Esmeralda
, the most powerful Spanish ship in South America. All this led to Peruvian independence, which O'Higgins considered indispensable to Chile's independence and security. Cochrane's victories in the Pacific were spectacular and important but the euphoria was almost immediately marred by accusations that he had been plotted against by subordinates and treated with contempt and denied adequate financial reward by his superiors. It is clear from the evidence that none of these accusations is true and that the root of the problem lay in Cochrane's own suspicious and uneasy personality.
Loose words of Katty resulted in a story that Cochrane have made plans to free Napoleon
from his exile on Saint Helena
and make him ruler of a unified South American state, a non-sense because Charles, the envoy, was killed two months before his "departure to Europe". Cochrane left the service of the Chilean Navy on 29 November 1822.
(in today Uruguay
, then Cisplatina
), along the 1822, the southern provinces fell under the control of the patriots led by the Prince Regent, later Emperor Pedro I, but Portugal still controlled some north important capitals, with major garrisons and naval bases like Belém do Pará
, Salvador da Bahia
and São Luís do Maranhão
.
Cochrane took command of the Brazilian Navy
on 21 March 1823 and its flagship
, the 'Pedro I'. He blockaded the Portuguese in Bahia
, confronted them at the Battle of May 4
, and forced them to evacuate the province in a vast convoy of ships which Cochrane's men attacked as they crossed the Atlantic. Cochrane then sailed to Maranhão
(then called Maranham) on his own initiative and bluffed the garrison into surrender by claiming that a vast (and mythical) Brazilian fleet and army were over the horizon. He then sent a subordinate, Captain John Pascoe Grenfell
, to Belém do Pará
to use the same bluff and extract a Portuguese surrender. As a result of Cochrane's efforts, Brazil was now totally de facto independent and free from any Portuguese troops. On his return to Rio de Janeiro
, the Emperor Pedro I rewarded him by making him the Marquess of Maranhão (Marquês do Maranhão) in the Empire of Brazil in 1824. He was also awarded an accompanying coat of arms. Although many suggested that the Brazilian title was not hereditary, the descendants of Lord Dundonald preserved the title among themselves.
Unfortunately, as in Chile, Cochrane's joy at these successes was rapidly replaced by quarrels over pay and prize money and a totally imaginary accusation that the Brazilian authorities were plotting against him.
In mid- 1824, Cochrane sailed north with a squadron to assist the Brazilian army, under General Francisco Lima e Silva, suppress a republican rebellion in the state of Pernambuco
which had begun to spread to Maranhão
and other northern states. The rebellion was rapidly extinguished. Cochrane then proceeded to Maranhão
where he took over the administration and demanded the payment of a vast sum of prize money which he claimed was owing to himself and the squadron as a result of the recapture of the province in 1823. He took all money from the public funds and sacked all merchant ships anchored in São Luís do Maranhão
. Then, defying orders to return to Rio de Janeiro
, Cochrane transferred to a captured Brazilian frigate, left Brazil on 10 November 1825 and returned to Britain.
independence from the Ottoman Empire
, which had deployed an army raised in Egypt to suppress the Greek rebellion. Cochrane's efforts generally met with limited success due to the poor discipline of the Greek soldiers and seamen. Still, one of his subordinates, Captain Hastings, attacked Ottoman forces at the Gulf of Lepanto, which indirectly led to intervention by Great Britain, France and Russia, the destruction of the Turko
–Egypt
ian fleet at the Battle of Navarino
, and the end of the war under mediation of the Great Powers.
Greece was probably the only campaign in Cochrane's naval career in which the results of his efforts were disappointingly slight. At the end of the war he resigned and returned to Britain. For the first time since he was convicted for the 1814 Stock Exchange Scandal his lively nature was brought to a standstill. Despite reports to the contrary, there is little evidence to suggest that he experienced a nervous breakdown.
. He was restored to the Royal Navy
list on 2 May 1832 as a Rear Admiral of the Blue
, but Cochrane's return to Royal Navy service was delayed by his refusal to take a command until his knighthood had been restored. Nevertheless, he was further promoted up the list of flag officers, as follows:
On 22 May 1847 Queen Victoria
reinstated him as a knight in the Order of the Bath
. He then served as Commander-in-Chief
of the North America and West Indies Station from 1848 to 1851. During the Crimean War
, the government considered him for a command in the Baltic, but decided that there was too high a chance that he would lose his fleet in a risky attack. On 6 November 1854, he was appointed to the honorary office of Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom
, an office that he would retain until his death.
In his final years he wrote his autobiography in collaboration with G.B. Earp. With his health deteriorating, in 1860 Cochrane twice underwent painful surgery for kidney stone
s. He died during the second operation on 31 October 1860, in Kensington
. He was buried in Westminster Abbey
, where his grave is in the central part of the nave. Each year in May representatives of the Chilean Navy
hold a wreath laying ceremony at his grave.
In 1806, Cochrane had a galley made to his specifications, which he carried on board Pallas and used to attack the French coast.
In 1812, Cochrane proposed attacking the French coast using a combination of bombardment ships, explosion ships and "stink vessels" (gas warfare). A bombardment ship consisted of a strengthened old hulk filled with powder and shot and made to list one side. It would then be anchored at night to face the enemy behind the harbour wall. This would allow saturation bombardment of the harbour, which would be closely followed by landings of troops. He put the plans forward again before and during the Crimean War. The authorities, however, decided not to pursue his plans.
In 1818, Cochrane patented, together with the engineer Marc Isambard Brunel
, the tunneling shield that Brunel and his son used in the building of the Thames Tunnel
in 1825–43.
Cochrane was an early supporter of steamships. He attempted to bring steamship Rising Star from Britain to Chile, but its construction took too long; it did not arrive until the war was ending. The Rising Star was a 410 ton vessel adapted to a revolutionary design at Brent's Yard at the Greenland Dock at the Thames: twin funnels, retractable paddle wheels and driven by a 60 horse-power engine. This happened again with a steamship he had hoped to bring to the Greek War of Independence
. In the 1830s, he experimented with steam power, developing a rotary engine and a propeller. In 1851, Cochrane received a patent on powering steamships with bitumen.
who had served under him as a midshipman. In the 20th century, the fictional careers of Horatio Hornblower
in the novels by C. S. Forester
and of Jack Aubrey
in the Aubrey–Maturin series
of novels by Patrick O'Brian
were in part modelled on his exploits.
|-
of the Brazilian Empire
Admiral (United Kingdom)
Admiral is a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, which equates to the NATO rank code OF-9, outranked only by the rank Admiral of the Fleet...
Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, 1st Marquess of Maranhão, GCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, ODM
Order of the Merit of Chile
The Order of the Merit of Chile is a Chilean military decoration and was created in 1929. Succeeding the Medal of the Merit, it was created during the term of the President Germán Riesco through the Minister of War decree No. 1350 on September 4, 1906...
(14 December 1775 – 31 October 1860), styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a senior British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
naval flag officer
Flag Officer
A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark where the officer exercises command. The term usually refers to the senior officers in an English-speaking nation's navy, specifically those who hold any of the admiral ranks; in...
and radical
Radicals (UK)
The Radicals were a parliamentary political grouping in the United Kingdom in the early to mid 19th century, who drew on earlier ideas of radicalism and helped to transform the Whigs into the Liberal Party.-Background:...
politician.
He was a daring and successful captain
Captain (Royal Navy)
Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...
of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, leading the French to nickname him Le Loup des Mers ('The Sea Wolf').
He was dismissed from the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
in 1814, following a conviction for fraud on the Stock Exchange and he then served in the rebel navies of Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Brazil and Greece during their respective wars of independence.
In 1832, he was pardoned and reinstated in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
with the rank of Rear Admiral of the Blue. After several further promotions, he died in 1860 with the rank of Admiral of the Red, and the honorary title
Title of honor
An honorary title or title of honor is a title bestowed upon individuals or organizations as an award in recognition of their merits.Sometimes the title bears the same or nearly the same name as a title of authority, but the person bestowed does not have to carry any duties, possibly except for...
of Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom
Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom
The Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom is a now honorary office generally held by a senior Royal Navy admiral. Despite the title, the Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom is usually a full admiral...
.
His life and exploits served as one source of inspiration for the naval fiction of nineteenth and twentieth-century novelists, particularly Horatio Hornblower
Horatio Hornblower
Horatio Hornblower is a fictional Royal Navy officer who is the protagonist of a series of novels by C. S. Forester. He was later the subject of films and television programs.The original Hornblower tales began with the 1937 novel The Happy Return Horatio Hornblower is a fictional Royal Navy...
and Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian, CBE , born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centred on the friendship of English Naval Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen...
's Jack Aubrey
Jack Aubrey
John "Jack" Aubrey, KB , is a fictional character in the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian. The series portrays his rise from Lieutenant to Rear-Admiral in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The twenty -book series encompasses Aubrey's adventures and various commands along...
.
Family
South Lanarkshire
South Lanarkshire is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of the former county of Lanarkshire. It borders the south-east of the city of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns and smaller villages....
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, the son of Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald
Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald
Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald was a Scottish nobleman and inventor. The son of Thomas Cochrane, 8th Earl of Dundonald, he joined the British Army as a youth and also served time in the Royal Navy before returning to Culross in 1778 after inheriting the Earldom of Dundonald from his...
and Anna Gilchrist. She was the daughter of Captain James Gilchrist and Ann Roberton, the daughter of Major John Roberton, 16th Laird
Laird
A Laird is a member of the gentry and is a heritable title in Scotland. In the non-peerage table of precedence, a Laird ranks below a Baron and above an Esquire.-Etymology:...
of Earnock
Earnock
This article is about the history of the Earnock area. For information on the current housing estate built in the Earnock area see Earnock Estate.Earnock was an ancient estate in an area south of Hamilton in Lanarkshire, Scotland...
.
Cochrane had six brothers. One was Major William Erskine Cochrane of the 15th Dragoon Guards
Dragoon guards
Dragoon Guards was the designation used to refer to certain heavy cavalry regiments in the British Army from the 18th century onwards. While the Prussian and Russian armies of the same period included dragoon regiments amongst their respective Imperial Guards, different titles were applied to these...
, who served with distinction under Sir John Moore in the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
. Another was Captain Archibald Cochrane
Archibald Cochrane (Royal Navy officer)
Captain Archibald Cochrane was a Royal Navy officer of the early nineteenth century, who served in the Napoleonic Wars. His most noticeable activity came early in his career when he was employed as a midshipman aboard his brother, Commander Thomas Cochrane's ship HMS Speedy...
.
Cochrane was descended from lines of Scottish aristocracy and military service on both sides of his family. Through his uncle, Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane
Alexander Cochrane
Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...
the sixth son of the 8th Earl of Dundonald, Cochrane was cousin to his namesake Sir Thomas John Cochrane
Thomas John Cochrane
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Thomas John Cochrane GCB was an English naval officer and colonial governor.-Naval career:...
who also enjoyed a distinguished naval career and became Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of Newfoundland and later Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom
Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom
The Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom is an honorary office generally held by a senior Royal Navy admiral. Despite the title, the Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom is usually a full admiral. He is the official deputy to the Lord High Admiral, an honorary office vested in the Sovereign from...
. The family fortune had been spent by 1793 and the family estate was sold to cover debts.
Early life
Cochrane spent much of his early life in CulrossCulross
The town of Culross, pronounced "Coo-ros", is a former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland.According to the 2006 estimate, the village has a population of 395...
, Fife, where his family had an estate. There is now a bust in his honour outside the Culross Town House.
Through the influence of his uncle, Alexander Cochrane
Alexander Cochrane
Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...
, he was listed as a member of the crew on the books of four Royal Navy ships starting when he was five years old. This common, though unlawful practice (called false muster), was a means of acquiring the years of service required for promotion, if and when he joined the Navy. His father secured him a commission in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
at an early age, but Cochrane preferred the Navy, which he joined in 1793 upon the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
.
Service in the Royal Navy
On 23 July 1793, aged 17, Cochrane joined the navy as a midshipman, spending his first months at Sheerness in a sixth-rateSixth-rate
Sixth rate was the designation used by the Royal Navy for small warships mounting between 20 and 24 nine-pounder guns on a single deck, sometimes with guns on the upper works and sometimes without.-Rating:...
frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
, the 28-gun , commanded by his uncle, Captain Alexander Cochrane
Alexander Cochrane
Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...
. He then transferred to the 38-gun fifth rate , also under his uncle's command. While on the Thetis he visited Norway then served at the North America station. There, in 1795, he was appointed acting
Acting (rank)
An Acting rank, is a military designation allowing an commissioned- or non-commissioned officer to assume a rank—usually higher and usually temporary—with the pay and allowances appropriate to that grade. As such, an officer may be ordered back to the previous grade...
lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
. The following year, on 27 May 1796, he was commissioned lieutenant, after passing the examination. After several transfers in America and a return home, he found himself as 8th Lieutenant on Lord Keith's flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
in the Mediterranean in 1798.
During his service on Barfleur, Cochrane received a court-martial
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
for showing disrespect to Philip Beaver
Philip Beaver
Philip Beaver was an officer of the Royal Navy, serving during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries...
, the ship's first lieutenant
First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
. Though the board found him innocent, the board did reprimand him for flippancy. This was the first public manifestation of a pattern of Cochrane being unable to get along with many of his superiors, subordinates, employers and colleagues in several navies and Parliament, and even those with whom he had much in common and who should have been natural allies. For instance, his behavior led to a long enmity with John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent
John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent
Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent GCB, PC was an admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom...
.
In February 1800, Cochrane commanded the prize crew taking the captured French vessel Généreux
French ship Généreux (1785)
The Généreux was a French Téméraire class ship of the line.She was launched in 1785 at Rochefort. With the Guillaume Tell, she was one of only two ships to escape the British attack at the Battle of the Nile in August 1798....
to the British base at Mahón
Mahon
Mahón is a municipality and the capital city of the Balearic Island of Minorca , located in the eastern part of the island. Mahon has the second deepest natural harbor in the world: 5 km long and up to 900m. wide...
. The ship was almost lost in a storm, with Cochrane and his brother Archibald going aloft in place of a crew that were mostly ill. On 28 March 1800, Cochrane, having been promoted to commander, took command of the brig sloop . Later that year, a Spanish warship disguised as a merchant ship almost captured him. He escaped by flying a Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
flag and fending off a boarding by claiming his ship was plague-ridden. Chased by an enemy frigate, and knowing it would follow him in the night by any glimmer of light from the Speedy, he placed a lantern on a barrel and let it float away. The enemy frigate followed the light and Speedy escaped.
In February 1801, at Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, he got into an argument with a French Royalist
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch...
officer at a fancy dress ball. Cochrane came dressed as a common sailor, and the Royalist mistook him for one. This argument led to Cochrane's only duel
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
. Cochrane wounded the French officer with a pistol shot but was himself unharmed.
One of his most notable exploits was the capture of the Spanish xebec
Xebec
A xebec , also spelled zebec, was a Mediterranean sailing ship that was used mostly for trading. It would have a long overhanging bowsprit and protruding mizzen mast...
frigate El Gamo, on 6 May 1801. El Gamo carried 32 guns and 319 men, compared with Speedy's 14 guns and 54 men. Cochrane flew an American flag to approach so closely to El Gamo that its guns could not depress to fire on the Speedy's hull. This left the Spanish with no option but to board. However, whenever the Spanish were about to board, Cochrane would pull away briefly, and fire on the concentrated boarding parties with his ship's guns. Eventually, Cochrane boarded the Gamo, despite still being outnumbered about five to one, and captured her.
In Speedy's 13-month cruise, Cochrane captured, burned, or drove ashore 53 ships before three French ships of the line under Admiral Charles-Alexandre Linois
Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois
Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand, Comte de Linois was a French admiral during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. He won a victory over the British at the Battle of Algeciras in 1801 and was reasonably successful in a campaign against British trade in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea in...
captured him on 3 July 1801. During his time as a prisoner Linois often asked him for advice and Cochrane later referred to how polite he was in his autobiography. A few days later he was exchanged for the second captain of another French ship. Then, on 8 August 1801, he received a promotion to the rank of post-captain
Post-Captain
Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy.The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:...
.
After the Peace of Amiens
Treaty of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens temporarily ended hostilities between the French Republic and the United Kingdom during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was signed in the city of Amiens on 25 March 1802 , by Joseph Bonaparte and the Marquess Cornwallis as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace"...
, Cochrane attended the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
. Upon the resumption of war in 1803, St Vincent assigned him in October 1803 to command of a sixth-rate ship which was the 22-gun . Cochrane alleged that the ship had poor handling, colliding with Royal Navy ships on two occasions (the Bloodhound and the Abundance), and afforded Cochrane no opportunities. In his autobiography he would compare the Arab to a collier
Collier (ship type)
Collier is a historical term used to describe a bulk cargo ship designed to carry coal, especially for naval use by coal-fired warships. In the late 18th century a number of wooden-hulled sailing colliers gained fame after being adapted for use in voyages of exploration in the South Pacific, for...
and his first thoughts on seeing Arab being repaired at Plymouth were that she would "sail like a haystack". Despite this, he still managed to intercept and board an American merchant ship, the Chatham, and create an international incident, leading to the consignment of HMS Arab and her commander to protect Britain's important whaling fleet beyond Orkney in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
.
In 1804, St Vincent stood aside for the incoming new government led by William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...
and Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville PC and Baron Dunira was a Scottish lawyer and politician. He was the first Secretary of State for War and the last person to be impeached in the United Kingdom....
took office. In December of that year Cochrane received an appointment to command of the new 32-gun frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
, in which he undertook a series of notable exploits over the following eighteen months.
In August 1806, he took command of the 38-gun frigate , formerly the Spanish frigate Medea. One of his midshipmen was Frederick Marryat
Frederick Marryat
Captain Frederick Marryat was an English Royal Navy officer, novelist, and a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story...
, who later wrote fictionalized accounts of his adventures with Cochrane.
In Imperieuse Cochrane raided the Mediterranean coast of France. In 1808, Cochrane and a Spanish guerrilla force captured the fortress of Mongat, which sat astride the road between Gerona
Girona
Girona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell, with an official population of 96,236 in January 2009. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès...
and Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. This delayed General Duhesme's French army for a month. On another raid Cochrane copied code books from a signal station, leaving behind the originals so the French would believe them uncompromised. When Imperieuse ran short of water, she sailed up the estuary of the Rhone
Rhône River
The Rhone is one of the major rivers of Europe, rising in Switzerland and running from there through southeastern France. At Arles, near its mouth on the Mediterranean Sea, the river divides into two branches, known as the Great Rhone and the Little Rhone...
to replenish. When a French army marched into Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
and besieged Rosas, Cochrane took part in the defence of the town by occupying and defending Fort Trinidad ('Castell de la Trinitat') for a number of weeks before the fall of the city forced him to leave; Cochrane was one of the last two men to quit the fort.
While captain of Speedy, Pallas, and Imperieuse, Cochrane became arguably the most effective practitioner of coastal warfare during the period. Not only did he attack shore installations such as the Martello tower
Martello tower
Martello towers are small defensive forts built in several countries of the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards....
at Son Bou
Son Bou, Minorca
Son Bou is a village in the Alaior region of Minorca, a small island in the Balearics.It is split into three districts: Son Bou , San Jaime and Torre Soli Nou .In all there are four hotels: two in Son Bou, one in San Jaime and one in Torre Soli Nou...
on Minorca
Minorca
Min Orca or Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than the nearby island of Majorca....
, but captured enemy ships in harbor by leading his men in boats in "cutting out" operations. He was a meticulous planner of every operation, which limited casualties among his men and maximized the chances of success.
In 1809, he commanded the attack by a flotilla of fire ship
Fire ship
A fire ship, used in the days of wooden rowed or sailing ships, was a ship filled with combustibles, deliberately set on fire and steered into an enemy fleet, in order to destroy ships, or to create panic and make the enemy break formation. Ships used as fire ships were usually old and worn out or...
s on Rochefort
Rochefort, Charente-Maritime
Rochefort is a commune in southwestern France, a port on the Charente estuary. It is a sub-prefecture of the Charente-Maritime department.-History:...
, as part of the Battle of the Basque Roads
Battle of the Basque Roads
The Battle of the Basque Roads, also Battle of Aix Roads was a naval battle during the Napoleonic Wars off the Island of Aix...
. The attack did considerable damage, but Cochrane blamed Admiral Gambier
James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier
Admiral of the Fleet James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier GCB was an admiral of the Royal Navy, who served as Governor of Newfoundland, and as a Lord of the Admiralty, but who gained notoriety for his actions at the Battle of the Basque Roads.-Early career:Gambier was born in New Providence, The...
, the fleet commander, for missing the opportunity to destroy the French fleet. Cochrane claimed that as a result of expressing his opinion publicly the admiralty denied him the opportunity to serve afloat. The evidence however shows that he was focussed on politics at this time and, indeed, refused a number of offers of command.
Political career
In June 1806, Cochrane stood for the House of CommonsBritish House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
on a ticket of parliamentary reform (a movement which would later bring about the Reform Acts) for the potwalloper
Potwalloper
A potwalloper is an archaic term referring to a borough constituency returning members to the House of Commons of England before 1707, the House of Commons of Great Britain and the Irish House of Commons before 1801, and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom until 1832, when the Reform Act...
borough of Honiton
Honiton (UK Parliament constituency)
Honiton was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Honiton in east Devon, formerly represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It sent members intermittently from 1300, consistently from 1640. It elected two Members of Parliament until it was...
. This was exactly the kind of borough Cochrane wished to abolish; votes were mostly sold to the highest bidder. Cochrane offered nothing and lost the election. In October 1806, he again ran for Parliament in Honiton and won. Cochrane initially denied that he paid any bribes, but he revealed in a Parliamentary debate ten years later that he had paid ten guineas
Guinea (British coin)
The guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813...
(£10 10s) per voter through Mr. Townshend, local headman and banker.
In May 1807, Cochrane was elected by Westminster
Westminster (UK Parliament constituency)
Westminster was a parliamentary constituency in the Parliament of England to 1707, the Parliament of Great Britain 1707-1800 and the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801. It returned two members to 1885 and one thereafter....
in a more democratic election. Cochrane campaigned for parliamentary reform, allied with such Radicals
Radicals (UK)
The Radicals were a parliamentary political grouping in the United Kingdom in the early to mid 19th century, who drew on earlier ideas of radicalism and helped to transform the Whigs into the Liberal Party.-Background:...
as William Cobbett
William Cobbett
William Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, who was born in Farnham, Surrey. He believed that reforming Parliament and abolishing the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm labourers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly...
, Sir Francis Burdett and Henry Hunt
Henry Hunt (politician)
Henry "Orator" Hunt was a British radical speaker and agitator remembered as a pioneer of working-class radicalism and an important influence on the later Chartist movement. He advocated parliamentary reform and the repeal of the Corn Laws.Hunt was born in Upavon, Wiltshire and became a prosperous...
. His outspoken criticism of the conduct of the war and the corruption in the navy made him powerful enemies in the government. His criticism of Admiral Gambier's conduct at the Battle of the Basque Roads
Battle of the Basque Roads
The Battle of the Basque Roads, also Battle of Aix Roads was a naval battle during the Napoleonic Wars off the Island of Aix...
was so severe that Gambier demanded a court-martial
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
to clear his name. This made Cochrane important enemies in the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
.
In 1810, Sir Francis Burdett
Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet
Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet was an English reformist politician, the son of Francis Burdett and his wife Eleanor, daughter of William Jones of Ramsbury manor, Wiltshire, and grandson of Sir Robert Burdett, Bart...
, a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
and political ally, had barricaded himself in his home at Piccadilly
Piccadilly
Piccadilly is a major street in central London, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is completely within the city of Westminster. The street is part of the A4 road, London's second most important western artery. St...
, London, resisting arrest by the House of Commons. Cochrane went to assist Burdett's defence of the house. His approach to this, however, was essentially similar to the approach he had taken in defending forts against enemy attack and would have led to numerous deaths amongst the arresting officers and at least partial destruction of Burdett's house, along with much of Piccadilly. On realising what Cochrane planned, Burdett and his allies took steps to end the siege.
Cochrane, though popular with the public, was unable to get along with his colleagues in the House of Commons, let alone the government. Usually, he had little success in promoting his causes, though there were exceptions: in 1812 he successfully confronted the Admiralty's prize court.
His conviction in the Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814
Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814
The Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814 was a hoax or fraud centered on false information about the then-ongoing Napoleonic Wars, affecting the London Stock Exchange in 1814.-The du Bourg hoax:...
(see below) resulted in Parliament expelling him on 5 July 1814. However, his constituents in the seat of Westminster re-elected him at the resulting by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
on 16 July. He held this seat until 1818. In 1818, Cochrane last speech in Parliament advocated parliamentary reform.
In 1830, Cochrane initially expressed interest but then declined. Not only had Lord Brougham's brother decided to run for the seat, but Cochrane also thought it would look bad for him to be publicly supporting a government from which he sought pardon for his fraud conviction.
In 1831, his father died and Cochrane became the 10th Earl of Dundonald
Earl of Dundonald
Earl of Dundonald is a title in the Peerage of Scotland.The Earldom was created in 1669 for the Scottish soldier and politician William Cochrane, 1st Earl of Dundonald, along with the subsidiary title of Lord Cochrane of Paisley and Ochiltree, with remainder to his heirs male, failing which to his...
. As such, he was no longer entitled to sit in the Commons; the Scottish peerage elected representative peers to sit in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. He was never one of them, though several of his successors were.
Marriage and children
In 1812, Cochrane married Katherine Frances Corbet Barnes, a beautiful orphan, who was about twenty years his junior. This was an elopement and a civil ceremony, due to the opposition of his wealthy uncle Basil Cochrane, who disinherited his nephew as a result. Katherine, whom Cochrane called 'Kate', 'Kitty' or 'Mouse' in letters to her, often accompanied her husband on his campaigns in South America and Greece.Cochrane and Katherine would remarry in the Anglican Church in 1818, and in the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
in 1825. They had six children;
- Thomas Barnes Cochrane, 11th Earl of DundonaldThomas Barnes Cochrane, 11th Earl of DundonaldThomas Barnes Cochrane, 11th Earl of Dundonald was a Scottish nobleman. He was son of the radical politician and sailor Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald. Cochrane joined the British Army and eventually gained the rank of Captain. On 31 October 1860, he succeeded his father as the 11th Earl...
, b. 18 Apr 1814, m. Louisa Harriett McKinnon. - William Horatio Bernardo Cochrane, officer, 92nd Gordon Highlanders, b. 8 Mar 1818 m. Jacobina Frances Nicholson.
- Elizabeth Katharine Cochrane, died close to her first birthday.
- Katharine Elizabeth Cochrane, d. 25 August 1869, m. John Willis Fleming.
- Admiral Sir Arthur Auckland Leopold Pedro CochraneArthur Cochrane (Royal Navy officer)Admiral Sir Arthur Auckland Leopold Pedro Cochrane KCB was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station.-Naval career:...
KCB (Commander of ), b. 24 Sep 1824, d. 20 Aug 1905. m. - Captain Ernest Gray Lambton Cochrane RN (High Sheriff, Co. DonegalCounty DonegalCounty Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...
) b. 4 Jun 1834, d. 2 Feb 1911 m. 1. Adelaide Blackall 2. Elizabeth Frances Maria Katherine Doherty.
The confusion of multiple ceremonies led to suspicions that Cochrane's first son, Thomas Barnes Cochrane, was illegitimate, which delayed Thomas's accession to the Earldom of Dundonald on his father's death.
Ancestry
Unless otherwise footnoted, this genealogy has been reproduced from The Peerage.comThe Great Stock Exchange Fraud
In February 1814, rumours of Napoleon's death began to circulate and the claims were seemingly confirmed by a man in a red staff officer's uniform posing as Colonel de Bourg, aide-du-camp to Lord CathcartCharles Cathcart, 9th Lord Cathcart
General Charles Schaw Cathcart, 9th Lord Cathcart was a British soldier and diplomat. He was also chief of the Clan Cathcart.The son of Charles Cathcart, 8th Lord Cathcart and Marion Shaw, he was born on 21 March 1721...
and British ambassador to Russia, who arrived in Dover from France on 21 February bearing news that Napoleon had been captured and killed by Cossacks. In reaction to the news and the possibility of peace, share prices rose sharply on the Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
, particularly in a volatile government stock called Omnium which increased from 26 and a half to 32. However, it soon became clear that the news of Napoleon's death was a hoax. The Stock Exchange established a sub-committee to investigate, and they duly discovered that six men had sold substantial amounts of Omnium stock during the boom in value, and it was assumed that all six were responsible for the hoax and subsequent fraud. Cochrane had disposed of his entire £139,000 holding in Omnium – which he had only acquired a month before – and was named as one of the six conspirators, as was his uncle, Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone and his stock broker
Stock broker
A stock broker or stockbroker is a regulated professional broker who buys and sells shares and other securities through market makers or Agency Only Firms on behalf of investors...
, Richard Butt. Within days, an anonymous informant told the committee that Colonel de Bourg was an imposter; he was a Prussian aristocrat named De Berenger and he had been seen entering Cochrane's house on the day of the hoax.
The accused were brought to trial in the Court of King's Bench
Court of King's Bench (England)
The Court of King's Bench , formally known as The Court of the King Before the King Himself, was an English court of common law in the English legal system...
, Guildhall
Guildhall, London
The Guildhall is a building in the City of London, off Gresham and Basinghall streets, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. It has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is still the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London and its Corporation...
on 8 June 1814. The trial was presided over by Lord Ellenborough
Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough
Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough PC KC was an English judge. After serving as a Member of Parliament and Attorney General, he became Lord Chief Justice.-Early life:...
, a High Tory and a notable enemy of the radicals who had previously sentenced radical politicians William Cobbett
William Cobbett
William Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, who was born in Farnham, Surrey. He believed that reforming Parliament and abolishing the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm labourers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly...
and Henry Hunt
Henry Hunt (politician)
Henry "Orator" Hunt was a British radical speaker and agitator remembered as a pioneer of working-class radicalism and an important influence on the later Chartist movement. He advocated parliamentary reform and the repeal of the Corn Laws.Hunt was born in Upavon, Wiltshire and became a prosperous...
to prison in politically motivated trials. The evidence against Cochrane was inevitably circumstantial (as the prosecuting counsel pointed out) and hinged on the nature of his share dealings, his contacts with those who were clearly conspirators and colour of uniform De Berenger had been wearing when they met in his house. Cochrane admitted he was acquainted with De Berenger and that he had visited his home on the day of the fraud, but insisted he had arrived wearing a green sharpshooter's uniform and had merely called to request passage to the United States aboard Cochrane's new command the . Although in a sworn affidavit created before the trial, Cochrane's servants agreed that the collar of the uniform above the greatcoat had been green, they admitted to his solicitors that they thought the rest had been red, and were not called to give evidence. The prosecution summoned a key witness, hackney carriage driver William Crane, who swore that De Berenger was wearing a scarlet uniform when he delivered him to the house. Cochrane's defence also argued that he had given standing instructions to Butt that his Omnium shares were to be sold if the price rose by 1 per cent, and he would have made double profit if he waited until it reached its peak price. Unfortunately, all the conspirators had given identical instructions to their brokers.
On the second day of the trial, Lord Ellenborough began his summary of the evidence and drew attention to the matter of De Berenger's uniform which he regarded as damning evidence. The jury retired to deliberate and returned a verdict of guilty against all the defendants two and a half hours later. Belatedly, Cochrane's defence team found several witnesses who were willing to testify that De Berenger had arrived wearing a green uniform, but Lord Ellenborough dismissed their evidence as inadmissible because two of the conspirators had fled the country upon hearing the guilty verdict. On 20 June 1814, Cochrane was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, fined £1,000 and was ordered to stand in the pillory
Pillory
The pillory was a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse, sometimes lethal...
opposite the Royal Exchange
Royal Exchange (London)
The Royal Exchange in the City of London was founded in 1565 by Sir Thomas Gresham to act as a centre of commerce for the city. The site was provided by the City of London Corporation and the Worshipful Company of Mercers, and is trapezoidal, flanked by the converging streets of Cornhill and...
for one hour. In subsequent weeks he was also dismissed from the Royal Navy by the Admiralty and expelled from Parliament following a motion
Motion (parliamentary procedure)
In parliamentary procedure, a motion is a formal proposal by a member of a deliberative assembly that the assembly take certain action. In a parliament, this is also called a parliamentary motion and includes legislative motions, budgetary motions, supplementary budgetary motions, and petitionary...
in the House of Commons which was passed by 144 votes to 44. On the orders of the Prince Regent
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
, Cochrane was further humiliated by the loss of his knighthood
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
in a degradation ceremony at Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
in which his banner
Heraldic flag
In heraldry and vexillology, an heraldic flag is any of several types of flags, containing coats of arms, heraldic badges, or other devices, used for personal identification....
was taken down and kicked out of the chapel and down the steps outside. However, within a month, Cochrane was re-elected unopposed as the Member of Parliament for Westminster and following public outcry, his sentence to the pillory was rescinded for fears it would lead to the outbreak of a riot.
The question of Cochrane's innocence or guilt created much debate at the time and has divided historians ever since. Subsequent reviews of the trial carried out by three Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
s during the course of the 19th century concluded that Cochrane should have been found not guilty on the basis of the evidence produced in court. Cochrane maintained his innocence for the rest of his life and campaigned tirelessly to restore his damaged reputation and to clear his name. He believed the trial was politically motivated and that a "higher authority than the Stock Exchange" was responsible for his prosecution. A series of petitions put forward by Cochrane protesting his innocence were ignored until 1830 when King George IV
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
(the former Prince Regent) died and was succeeeded by William IV
William IV of the United Kingdom
William IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death...
who had served in the Royal Navy and was sympathetic to Cochrane's cause. Later that year the Tory government fell and was replaced by a Whig government in which his friend, Lord Brougham
Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux
Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux was a British statesman who became Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.As a young lawyer in Scotland Brougham helped to found the Edinburgh Review in 1802 and contributed many articles to it. He went to London, and was called to the English bar in...
, was appointed Lord Chancellor. Following a meeting of the Privy Council in May 1832 Cochrane was granted a pardon and restored to the Navy List
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
with a promotion to rear-admiral. Support from friends in the government, and the writings of popular naval authors such as Frederick Marryat
Frederick Marryat
Captain Frederick Marryat was an English Royal Navy officer, novelist, and a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story...
and Maria Graham increased public sympathy for Cochrane's situation, and in May 1847, with the personal intervention of Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
, Cochrane's knighthood was restored and he was created a Knight Grand Cross
Knight Grand Cross
Knight Grand Cross is the most senior grade of seven British orders of chivalry, three of which are obsolete. The rank entails admission into knighthood, allowing the recipient to use the title 'Sir' or 'Dame' before his or her name...
of the Order of the Bath
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
. Only in 1860 did his banner return to Westminster Abbey; the day before his funeral.
In 1876, his grandson received a payment of £40,000 from the British government, based on the recommendations of a Parliamentary select committee, in compensation for his conviction which was believed to be unjust.
Chilean Navy
Valparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
on 28 November 1818.
On 11 December 1818, at the request of Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an leader Bernardo O'Higgins
Bernardo O'Higgins
Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme was a Chilean independence leader who, together with José de San Martín, freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. Although he was the second Supreme Director of Chile , he is considered one of Chile's founding fathers, as he was the first holder...
, Cochrane became a Chilean citizen, was appointed Vice Admiral, and took command of the Chilean Navy
Chilean Navy
-Independence Wars of Chile and Peru :The Chilean Navy dates back to 1817. A year before, following the Battle of Chacabuco, General Bernardo O'Higgins prophetically declared "this victory and another hundred shall be of no significance if we do not gain control of the sea".This led to the...
in Chile's war of independence against Spain. He was the first Vice Admiral of Chile
Vice Admiral of Chile
Vice Admiral of Chile is the title given to the Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Navy . One notable Vice Admiral was Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald....
. Cochrane reorganized the Chilean navy, introducing British naval customs. He took command in the frigate O'Higgins and blockaded and raided the coasts of Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
as he had those of France and Spain. On his own initiative he organized and led the capture of Valdivia
Capture of Valdivia
The Capture of Valdivia was a battle in the Chilean War of Independence between Spanish forces commanded by Colonel Manuel Montoya and the Chilean forces under the command of Lord Cochrane, held on 3 and 4 February of 1820.-Background:...
, despite only having 300 men and two ships to deploy against seven large forts. However, he failed in his attempt to capture
Battle of Agüi
The Battle of Agüi was fought at Fort Agüi, near Ancud, Chiloé on February 18, 1820 between Chilean patriots and Spanish royalists, during the Chilean War of Independence. After the successful capture of Valdivia Lord Cochrane sought to occupy the Chiloé Archipelago which was the last stronghold of...
the Chiloé Archipelago
Chiloé Archipelago
Chiloé Archipelago consists of several islands lying off the coast of Chile. It is separated from mainland Chile by Chacao Channel in the north, the Sea of Chiloé in the east and Gulf of Corcovado to the southeast. All of the archipelago except Desertores Islands, which are part of Palena...
for Chile. In 1820, O'Higgins ordered him to convoy the Liberation Army of General José de San Martín
José de San Martín
José Francisco de San Martín, known simply as Don José de San Martín , was an Argentine general and the prime leader of the southern part of South America's successful struggle for independence from Spain.Born in Yapeyú, Corrientes , he left his mother country at the...
to Peru, blockade the coast and support the campaign for independence. Later, forces under Cochrane's personal command cut out and captured the frigate Esmeralda
Esmeralda (1791)
The Spanish Esmeralda was a 44 gun frigate built in Port Mahón, Balearic Islands in 1791. The First Chilean Navy Squadron under the command of Thomas Cochrane captured her in the night from 5 to 6 November 1820. She was renamed Valdivia in Chilean service...
, the most powerful Spanish ship in South America. All this led to Peruvian independence, which O'Higgins considered indispensable to Chile's independence and security. Cochrane's victories in the Pacific were spectacular and important but the euphoria was almost immediately marred by accusations that he had been plotted against by subordinates and treated with contempt and denied adequate financial reward by his superiors. It is clear from the evidence that none of these accusations is true and that the root of the problem lay in Cochrane's own suspicious and uneasy personality.
Loose words of Katty resulted in a story that Cochrane have made plans to free Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
from his exile on Saint Helena
Saint Helena
Saint Helena , named after St Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which also includes Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha...
and make him ruler of a unified South American state, a non-sense because Charles, the envoy, was killed two months before his "departure to Europe". Cochrane left the service of the Chilean Navy on 29 November 1822.
Chilean naval vessels named after Lord Cochrane
The Chilean Navy has named five ships Cochrane or Almirante Cochrane (Admiral Cochrane) in his honour:- The first, Almirante CochraneChilean battery ship Almirante CochraneThe armored frigate Almirante Cochrane was a ship of the Chilean Navy in the late nineteenth century. She was built, like her twin, the armored frigate Blanco Encalada, in the UK in 1875. She participated in the War of the Pacific, with her most prominent action being her defeat of the Peruvian...
, was a famous battery ship that fought in the War of the PacificWar of the PacificThe War of the Pacific took place in western South America from 1879 through 1883. Chile fought against Bolivia and Peru. Despite cooperation among the three nations in the war against Spain, disputes soon arose over the mineral-rich Peruvian provinces of Tarapaca, Tacna, and Arica, and the...
(1879–1884). - The second Almirante Cochrane was a dreadnoughtDreadnoughtThe dreadnought was the predominant type of 20th-century battleship. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts...
battleship laid down in Britain in 1913. The Royal NavyRoyal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
acquired the unfinished ship in 1917, converting her into to the carrier . - The third ship, Cochrane, was a , the former , commissioned into the Chilean Navy in 1962 and scrapped in 1983.
- The fourth ship, Almirante Cochrane, was a , the former , which the Chilean Navy acquired in 1984 and decommissioned in 2006.
- The fifth and current ship to bear the name, Almirante Cochrane (FF-05), is a Type 23Type 23 frigateThe Type 23 frigate is a class of frigate built for the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. All the ships were first named after British Dukes, thus the class is also known as the Duke class. The first Type 23 was commissioned in 1989, and the sixteenth, was launched in May 2000 and commissioned in...
frigateFrigateA frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
, the former , which the Chilean Navy commissioned in 2006.
Brazilian Navy
Brazil was fighting its own war of independence against Portugal. Excepting MontevideoMontevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
(in today Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, then Cisplatina
Cisplatina
The Cisplatina Province was a Portuguese and later a Brazilian province in existence from 1815 to 1828...
), along the 1822, the southern provinces fell under the control of the patriots led by the Prince Regent, later Emperor Pedro I, but Portugal still controlled some north important capitals, with major garrisons and naval bases like Belém do Pará
Belém
Belém is a Brazilian city, the capital and largest city of state of Pará, in the country's north region. It is the entrance gate to the Amazon with a busy port, airport and bus/coach station...
, Salvador da Bahia
Salvador, Bahia
Salvador is the largest city on the northeast coast of Brazil and the capital of the Northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia. Salvador is also known as Brazil's capital of happiness due to its easygoing population and countless popular outdoor parties, including its street carnival. The first...
and São Luís do Maranhão
São Luís, Maranhão
São Luís is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Maranhão. The city is located on Ilha de São Luís in the Baía de São Marcos , an extension of the Atlantic Ocean which forms the estuary of Pindaré, Mearim, Itapecuru and other rivers. Its coordinates are 2.53° south, 44.30° west...
.
Brazilian Navy
The Brazilian Navy is a branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces responsible for conducting naval operations. It is the largest navy in Latin America...
on 21 March 1823 and its flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
, the 'Pedro I'. He blockaded the Portuguese in Bahia
Bahia
Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...
, confronted them at the Battle of May 4
Battle of May 4
The Battle of 4 May was fought in open sea near Salvador, Bahia, on May 4, 1823, between the Brazilian Navy, under the command of a former admiral of the British Royal Navy, Thomas Cochrane, and the Portuguese Navy during the Brazilian War of Independence....
, and forced them to evacuate the province in a vast convoy of ships which Cochrane's men attacked as they crossed the Atlantic. Cochrane then sailed to Maranhão
Maranhão
Maranhão is a northeastern state of Brazil. To the north lies the Atlantic Ocean. Maranhão is neighbored by the states of Piauí, Tocantins and Pará. The people of Maranhão have a distinctive accent...
(then called Maranham) on his own initiative and bluffed the garrison into surrender by claiming that a vast (and mythical) Brazilian fleet and army were over the horizon. He then sent a subordinate, Captain John Pascoe Grenfell
John Pascoe Grenfell
Admiral John Pascoe Grenfell was an officer in the Brazilian Navy who spent most of his service in South America campaigns, most notably under the leadership of Lord Cochrane and Commodore Norton. He was the nephew of British politician Pascoe Grenfell and grandfather to General Sir John Grenfell...
, to Belém do Pará
Belém
Belém is a Brazilian city, the capital and largest city of state of Pará, in the country's north region. It is the entrance gate to the Amazon with a busy port, airport and bus/coach station...
to use the same bluff and extract a Portuguese surrender. As a result of Cochrane's efforts, Brazil was now totally de facto independent and free from any Portuguese troops. On his return to Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, the Emperor Pedro I rewarded him by making him the Marquess of Maranhão (Marquês do Maranhão) in the Empire of Brazil in 1824. He was also awarded an accompanying coat of arms. Although many suggested that the Brazilian title was not hereditary, the descendants of Lord Dundonald preserved the title among themselves.
Unfortunately, as in Chile, Cochrane's joy at these successes was rapidly replaced by quarrels over pay and prize money and a totally imaginary accusation that the Brazilian authorities were plotting against him.
In mid- 1824, Cochrane sailed north with a squadron to assist the Brazilian army, under General Francisco Lima e Silva, suppress a republican rebellion in the state of Pernambuco
Pernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
which had begun to spread to Maranhão
Maranhão
Maranhão is a northeastern state of Brazil. To the north lies the Atlantic Ocean. Maranhão is neighbored by the states of Piauí, Tocantins and Pará. The people of Maranhão have a distinctive accent...
and other northern states. The rebellion was rapidly extinguished. Cochrane then proceeded to Maranhão
Maranhão
Maranhão is a northeastern state of Brazil. To the north lies the Atlantic Ocean. Maranhão is neighbored by the states of Piauí, Tocantins and Pará. The people of Maranhão have a distinctive accent...
where he took over the administration and demanded the payment of a vast sum of prize money which he claimed was owing to himself and the squadron as a result of the recapture of the province in 1823. He took all money from the public funds and sacked all merchant ships anchored in São Luís do Maranhão
São Luís, Maranhão
São Luís is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Maranhão. The city is located on Ilha de São Luís in the Baía de São Marcos , an extension of the Atlantic Ocean which forms the estuary of Pindaré, Mearim, Itapecuru and other rivers. Its coordinates are 2.53° south, 44.30° west...
. Then, defying orders to return to Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, Cochrane transferred to a captured Brazilian frigate, left Brazil on 10 November 1825 and returned to Britain.
Greek Navy
Cochrane then went to Europe, where between March 1827 and December 1828 he took an active role in the campaign to secure GreekGreece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
independence from the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, which had deployed an army raised in Egypt to suppress the Greek rebellion. Cochrane's efforts generally met with limited success due to the poor discipline of the Greek soldiers and seamen. Still, one of his subordinates, Captain Hastings, attacked Ottoman forces at the Gulf of Lepanto, which indirectly led to intervention by Great Britain, France and Russia, the destruction of the Turko
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
–Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian fleet at the Battle of Navarino
Battle of Navarino
The naval Battle of Navarino was fought on 20 October 1827, during the Greek War of Independence in Navarino Bay , on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea. A combined Ottoman and Egyptian armada was destroyed by a combined British, French and Russian naval force...
, and the end of the war under mediation of the Great Powers.
Greece was probably the only campaign in Cochrane's naval career in which the results of his efforts were disappointingly slight. At the end of the war he resigned and returned to Britain. For the first time since he was convicted for the 1814 Stock Exchange Scandal his lively nature was brought to a standstill. Despite reports to the contrary, there is little evidence to suggest that he experienced a nervous breakdown.
Return to Royal Navy
Cochrane inherited his peerage following his father's death on 1 July 1831, becoming the 10th Earl of DundonaldEarl of Dundonald
Earl of Dundonald is a title in the Peerage of Scotland.The Earldom was created in 1669 for the Scottish soldier and politician William Cochrane, 1st Earl of Dundonald, along with the subsidiary title of Lord Cochrane of Paisley and Ochiltree, with remainder to his heirs male, failing which to his...
. He was restored to the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
list on 2 May 1832 as a Rear Admiral of the Blue
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...
, but Cochrane's return to Royal Navy service was delayed by his refusal to take a command until his knighthood had been restored. Nevertheless, he was further promoted up the list of flag officers, as follows:
- Rear AdmiralRear AdmiralRear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...
of the Blue on 2 May 1832 - Rear Admiral of the White on 10 January 1837
- Rear Admiral of the Red on 28 June 1838
- Vice AdmiralVice AdmiralVice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...
of the Blue on 23 November 1841 - Vice Admiral of the White on 9 November 1846
- Vice Admiral of the Red on 3 January 1848
- AdmiralAdmiralAdmiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
of the Blue on 21 March 1851 - Admiral of the White on 2 April 1853
- Admiral of the Red on 8 December 1857
On 22 May 1847 Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
reinstated him as a knight in the Order of the Bath
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
. He then served as Commander-in-Chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
of the North America and West Indies Station from 1848 to 1851. During the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, the government considered him for a command in the Baltic, but decided that there was too high a chance that he would lose his fleet in a risky attack. On 6 November 1854, he was appointed to the honorary office of Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom
Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom
The Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom is a now honorary office generally held by a senior Royal Navy admiral. Despite the title, the Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom is usually a full admiral...
, an office that he would retain until his death.
In his final years he wrote his autobiography in collaboration with G.B. Earp. With his health deteriorating, in 1860 Cochrane twice underwent painful surgery for kidney stone
Kidney stone
A kidney stone, also known as a renal calculus is a solid concretion or crystal aggregation formed in the kidneys from dietary minerals in the urine...
s. He died during the second operation on 31 October 1860, in Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
. He was buried in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
, where his grave is in the central part of the nave. Each year in May representatives of the Chilean Navy
Chilean Navy
-Independence Wars of Chile and Peru :The Chilean Navy dates back to 1817. A year before, following the Battle of Chacabuco, General Bernardo O'Higgins prophetically declared "this victory and another hundred shall be of no significance if we do not gain control of the sea".This led to the...
hold a wreath laying ceremony at his grave.
Innovation in technology
Convoys were guided by ships following the lamps of those ahead. In 1805, Cochrane entered a Royal Navy competition for a superior convoy lamp. Believing the judges to be biased against him, he reentered the contest under another name, winning the prize.In 1806, Cochrane had a galley made to his specifications, which he carried on board Pallas and used to attack the French coast.
In 1812, Cochrane proposed attacking the French coast using a combination of bombardment ships, explosion ships and "stink vessels" (gas warfare). A bombardment ship consisted of a strengthened old hulk filled with powder and shot and made to list one side. It would then be anchored at night to face the enemy behind the harbour wall. This would allow saturation bombardment of the harbour, which would be closely followed by landings of troops. He put the plans forward again before and during the Crimean War. The authorities, however, decided not to pursue his plans.
In 1818, Cochrane patented, together with the engineer Marc Isambard Brunel
Marc Isambard Brunel
Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, FRS FRSE was a French-born engineer who settled in England. He preferred the name Isambard, but is generally known to history as Marc to avoid confusion with his more famous son Isambard Kingdom Brunel...
, the tunneling shield that Brunel and his son used in the building of the Thames Tunnel
Thames Tunnel
The Thames Tunnel is an underwater tunnel, built beneath the River Thames in London, United Kingdom, connecting Rotherhithe and Wapping. It measures 35 feet wide by 20 feet high and is 1,300 feet long, running at a depth of 75 feet below the river's surface...
in 1825–43.
Cochrane was an early supporter of steamships. He attempted to bring steamship Rising Star from Britain to Chile, but its construction took too long; it did not arrive until the war was ending. The Rising Star was a 410 ton vessel adapted to a revolutionary design at Brent's Yard at the Greenland Dock at the Thames: twin funnels, retractable paddle wheels and driven by a 60 horse-power engine. This happened again with a steamship he had hoped to bring to the Greek War of Independence
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...
. In the 1830s, he experimented with steam power, developing a rotary engine and a propeller. In 1851, Cochrane received a patent on powering steamships with bitumen.
Influence on naval fiction
His career inspired a number of writers of nautical fiction. The first was Captain MarryatFrederick Marryat
Captain Frederick Marryat was an English Royal Navy officer, novelist, and a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story...
who had served under him as a midshipman. In the 20th century, the fictional careers of Horatio Hornblower
Horatio Hornblower
Horatio Hornblower is a fictional Royal Navy officer who is the protagonist of a series of novels by C. S. Forester. He was later the subject of films and television programs.The original Hornblower tales began with the 1937 novel The Happy Return Horatio Hornblower is a fictional Royal Navy...
in the novels by C. S. Forester
C. S. Forester
Cecil Scott "C.S." Forester was the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith , an English novelist who rose to fame with tales of naval warfare. His most notable works were the 11-book Horatio Hornblower series, depicting a Royal Navy officer during the Napoleonic era, and The African Queen...
and of Jack Aubrey
Jack Aubrey
John "Jack" Aubrey, KB , is a fictional character in the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian. The series portrays his rise from Lieutenant to Rear-Admiral in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The twenty -book series encompasses Aubrey's adventures and various commands along...
in the Aubrey–Maturin series
Aubrey–Maturin series
The Aubrey–Maturin series is a sequence of nautical historical novels—20 completed and one unfinished—by Patrick O'Brian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centering on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, who is also a physician,...
of novels by Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian, CBE , born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centred on the friendship of English Naval Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen...
were in part modelled on his exploits.
Appearance in fiction
- Lord Cochrane's first appearance is in the historical fiction writer G. A. HentyG. A. HentyGeorge Alfred Henty , was a prolific English novelist and a special correspondent. He is best known for his historical adventure stories that were popular in the late 19th century. His works include Out on the Pampas , The Young Buglers , With Clive in India and Wulf the Saxon .-Biography:G.A...
's With Cochrane the Dauntless (1897). - The novel The Sea Lord (originally The Frigate Captain) by Showell StylesShowell StylesFrank Showell Styles was a Welsh writer and mountaineer.Showell Styles was born in Four Oaks, Birmingham and was educated at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School, Sutton Coldfield. Known to his friends as 'Pip', Showell Styles' childhood was spent in the hills of North Wales where he became an avid...
is explicitly about Lord Cochrane. - In the alternate history series The DominationThe DominationThe Domination of Draka is a dystopian alternate history series by S. M. Stirling. It comprises a main trilogy of novels as well as one crossover novel set after the original and a book of short stories...
by S.M. Stirling, Lord Cochrane leads the occupation of Cape Colony. - The novel Sharpe's Devil by Bernard CornwellBernard CornwellBernard Cornwell OBE is an English author of historical novels. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe which were adapted into a series of Sharpe television films.-Biography:...
features an episode from Cochrane's time in Chile. - Lord Cochrane is a minor character in Manuela (ISBN 0-9704250-0-7) by Gregory Kauffman, a novel about the South American revolution.
See also
- John Dundas CochraneJohn Dundas CochraneCapt. John Dundas Cochrane R. N. , nicknamed the voyageur pédestre in France, was a Scottish traveller and explorer. A nephew of Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, he crossed, on foot, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Russia and Asia to Kamchatka.When back in England, John Dundas...
, his cousin. - Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis CochraneAlexander CochraneAdmiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...
, his uncle. - Sir Thomas John Cochrane Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom and Governor of Newfoundland, his cousin.
- Notable Royal Navy Officers of the Napoleonic Wars
Further reading
- Cochrane, Alexander, in collaboration with the 14th Earl of Dundonald, "The Fighting Cochranes: A Scottish Clan over six hundred years of naval and military history" 1983, Quiller Press, London, ISBN 0-907621-19-8
- Dale, Richard. "Napoleon is Dead: Lord Cochrane and the Great Stock Exchange Scandal" (2006) London: Sutton Pub., 256pp, ISBN 978-0-7509-4381-9
- Davie, Donald. Poem entitled 'Lady Cochrane' in "Collected Poems 1971–1983". 1983, Manchester: Carcanet Press, ISBN 0-85635-462-7 and Mid Northumberland Arts Group ISBN 0-904790-30-4. U.S. edition 1983, Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, ISBN 0-268-00745-4
- Dundonald, Thomas. Cochrane, Earl of, 1775–1860. The Autobiography of a Seaman. Introduction by Richard Woodman.
New York: Lyons Press, 2000. ISBN 1-86176-156-2 - Earnock and its Early Proprietors, nd Hamilton Advertiser, n.d. July 1874
- Harvey, Robert. Cochrane: The Life and Exploits of a Fighting Captain. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2000. ISBN 0-7867-0923-5
- Harvey, Robert. "Liberators: Latin America`s Struggle For Independence, 1810–1830". John Murray, London (2000). ISBN 0-7195-5566-3
- Lloyd, Christopher Lord Cochrane. Seaman, Radical, Liberator. – A Life of Tomas Lord Cochrane 10th Earl of Dundonald. 1775–1860, ISBN 0-8050-5986-5
- Stephenson, Charles. "The Admiral's Secret Weapon: Lord Dundonald and the Origins of Chemical Warfare" (2006) Boydell press, ISBN 978-1-84383-280-5
- Thomas, Donald. Cochrane: Britannia's Sea Wolf. 2nd Edition 2001, Cassell Military Paperbacks, London, 383pp, ISBN 0-304-35659-X
External links
- Spartacus Educational – Thomas Cochrane
- BBC UK
- Gazeteer for Scotland – Thomas Cochrane
- Royal Navy – Admiral Lord Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald 1775–1860
- Napoleonic Guide – Thomas Cochrane
- The Trial of Charles Random de Berenger, Sir Thomas Cochrane et al. taken in shorthand by William Brodie GurneyWilliam Brodie GurneyWilliam Brodie Gurney was a famed English shorthand writer and philanthropist of the 19th century.-Biography:Gurney was the younger son of Joseph Gurney , shorthand writer, who died at Walworth, Surrey, in 1815, by a daughter of William Brodie of Mansfield.He was the grandson of Thomas Gurney ,...
, from Project Gutenberg - Project Gutenberg edition of The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, G.C.B., Admiral of the Red, Rear-Admiral of the Fleet, Etc., Etc by his son, Thomas, Eleventh Earl of Dundonald and H.R. Fox Bourne
- Henty's With Cochrane The Dauntless at Project Gutenberg
- See full details of his family at thePeerage.com
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of the Brazilian Empire
Brazilian Empire
The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom Pedro I and his son Dom Pedro II, both members of the House of Braganza—a...