Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 11.djvu/168

 He died at Glenrocky, his house in Gibraltar, on 24 June 1883, leaving one son, the Rev. Thomas Cochrane, rector of Stapleford Abbotts in Essex.

[Foster's Knightage; Times, 27 June 1883.] 

COCHRANE, JOHN (d. 1650?) soldier and diplomatist, was the eldest son of Alexander Blair, who on his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of William Cochrane of Cochrane, assumed the name of Cochrane. His younger brother William [q. v.] became first earl of Dundonald. He was in command of a regiment at Edinburgh in 1640, and in the following year was implicated in the plot for seizing the chiefs of the parliamentary party. He was arrested, but being released on bail, joined the king at York in 1642. Thence he was sent by Charles to Denmark to solicit help in men or money, and returning with the Danish ambassador, who was instructed to attempt to mediate between the king and the parliament, was arrested in London. Having regained his liberty he was placed by the king in command of Towcester in 1643. His estates were forfeited in the following year. He was subsequently employed in raising money for the royal cause in Hamburg, Danzig, and Poland. He was living in 1650, and probably died before the Restoration. His wife was a Butler of the Ormonde family.

[Sir James Turner's Memoirs, p. 17; Baillie's Letters, i. 392, ii.9 ; Spalding's Memorials of the Troubles (Spalding Club), ii. 74-7, 86, 208, 430; Spalding's Hist, of the Troubles (Bann. Club), ii. 99, 284; Whitelocke, pp. 66, 394, 451, 695; Warburton's Memoirs of Prince Rupert, ii. 335; Ancram and Lothian Corresp. (Bann. Club), ii. 312, 333; Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, i. 471; Dundonald's Autobiography of a Seaman, p. 11.] 

COCHRANE, JOHN (d. 1695?), of Ochiltree, second son of William Cochrane, the first Earl of Dundonald [q. v.], by Eupheme, daughter of Sir William Scot of Ardross, Fife, was implicated in Monmouth's conspiracy and the Rye House plot (1683), but escaped to Holland, where he remained till the death of Charles II. On the accession of James II he was attainted while still abroad. He took part in Argyll's insurrection in 1685, on the suppression of which he was harboured for a time by his kinsman, Gavin Cochrane of Renfrew. Betrayed by Gavin Cochrane's wife, whose brother had fallen in a skirmish on the royalist side, he was carried to Edinburgh, led through the streets by the hangman, and lodged in the Tolbooth. Charged with high treason he is said by Fountainhall to have turned approver and saved his head. Burnet states that the Earl of Dundonald bought his son's pardon by a payment of 5,000l. to 'the priests,' and denies that Cochrane disclosed anything of importance. On the promulgation of the declaration of indulgence he was employed (1687) to urge its acceptance upon the presbyterians. His estates were restored to him in 1689. He subsequently held the position of farmer of the poll tax, and in 1695, failing to give satisfactory account of moneys received by him in that capacity, was committed to prison. The date of his death is uncertain. By his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir William Strickland of Boynton, Yorkshire, one of Cromwell's lords of parliament, he had two sons.

[Fountainhall's Hist. Notices of Scottish Affairs (Bann. Club), pp. 600, 653, 661, 665, 666, 818; Burnet's Own Time (fol.), i. 634; Luttrell's Relation of State Affairs; Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, i. 474; Dundonald's Autobiography of a Seaman, i. 28-31.] 

COCHRANE, JOHN DUNDAS (1780–1825), traveller, was a nephew of Sir Alexander Cochrane [q. v.] and grandson of the eighth Earl of Dundonald. Having entered the royal navy when ten years old, he served, chiefly in West and East Indian waters, until the peace of 1814. He then made a tour on foot through France, Spain, and Portugal. Returning to England in 1820 he offered his services to the admiralty for the exploration of the Niger, but receiving an unfavourable answer, left England with the intention of making the tour of the world by way of Russia, Siberia, and North America. He travelled by Dieppe, Paris, and Berlin to St. Petersburg, most of the way on foot for the sake of economy. His subsequent progress was facilitated by the Russian government, who supplied him with the means to hire horses, sledges, and canoes. He reached Okhotsk in June 1821, having left England in February 1820. While in Kamschatka he married a lady of the country and abandoned the idea of prosecuting his journey any further. He returned to Europe by way of St. Petersburg, which he reached in June 1823. In June 1824 he left England for South America, with the design of engaging in the mining industry, returned to England in the ensuing year, but after a brief stay sailed again for America. He died the same year of a fever at Valencia in Colombia, now Venezuela. Cochrane published in 1824 'Narrative of a Pedestrian Journey through Russia and Siberian Tartary,' London, 8vo. The work passed through several editions. It is written in a lively style and contains much interesting incident. Of scientific value it is entirely destitute.

[Gent. Mag. (1825), pt. ii. 644; Imperial Dict. Biog.] 