his career the peculiarly romantic and adventurous turn which it afterwards assumed. But for that, his life would probably have been passed in parliamentary contests, for which, alike by temper and genius, he was unfitted. The exile which was almost forced on him removed him to a more favourable field, and the renown of such feats as the capture of Valdivia or of the Esmeralda was increased by the results to which they immediately conduced. It is possible that without him Chili might have achieved her own independence and that of Peru. The detailed history of the war shows that more probably she would have succumbed to the better organisation and discipline of Spain. A portrait by Stroehling, lent by the Earl of Dundonald, was exhibited at South Kensington in 1868.
[Autobiography of a Seaman, by Thomas, tenth earl of Dundonald; Life of Thomas, tenth earl of Dundonald, completing the Autobiography of a Seaman, by Thomas, eleventh earl of Dundonald, and H. E. Fox Bourne (2 vols. 8vo, 1869); Narrative of Services in the Liberation of Chili, Peru, and Brazil, by Thomas, tenth earl of Dundonald; Stevenson's Twenty Years' Residence in South America (3 vols. 8vo, 1829); Finlay's History of the Greek Eevolution (2 vols. 8vo, 1861).]
COCHRANE, Sir THOMAS JOHN (1789–1872), admiral of the fleet, eldest son of Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane [q. v.], was born on 6 Feb. 1789, was entered as a volunteer on board the Thetis in 1796 [cf. Cochrane, Thomas, tenth Earl of Dundonald], and continued to serve under his father's pennant, or flag, till June 1805, when he was made lieutenant into the Jason. In September 1805 he was advanced to be commander of the Nimrod, on 23 Jan. 1806 to be acting captain of the Jason, and was confirmed in the rank on 23 April 1806, being then only two months over seventeen. It is this rapid promotion that constitutes Cochrane's principal claim to distinction, but which, carried out as it was by the commander-in-chief of a foreign station, in defiance of the admiralty instructions, and for the advantage of his son, can only be called gross jobbery. There were few instances so flagrant as this of a practice then not uncommon. The same interest which had promoted Cochrane was able to keep him employed. He continued in the West Indies till 1809, and after two years on half-pay commanded the Surprise frigate on the coast of North America till the peace. From 1820 to 1824 he commanded the Forte on the same station, and on 23 Nov. 1841 attained the rank of rear-admiral. From 1842 to 1845 he was second in command in China, with his flag in the Agincourt, and was commander-in-chief from 1845 to 1847. He was afterwards (1852-5) commander-in-chief at Portsmouth, and he died in 1872.
In due course of seniority he became viceadmiral on 14 Jan. 1850, admiral on 31 Jan. 1856, and admiral of the fleet on 12 Sept. 1865. He was knighted (29 May 1812) as proxy for his father at his installation as K.B. He was himself made C.B. on 18 April 1839, K.C.B. on 2 Nov. 1847, and G.C.B. on 18 May 1860. He was twice married, and had a numerous family.
[O'Byrne's Nav. Biog. Dict.]
COCHRANE, Sir WILLIAM, of Cowdon, first Earl of Dundonald (d. 1686), was the second son of Alexander Blair, of the ancient family of Blair of Blair, who, on his marriage to Elizabeth Cochrane, of the ancient family of Cochrane of Cochrane, assumed the name of Cochrane. By prudent management he came to be one of the largest proprietors in the counties of Ayr and Renfrew, and was returned member of the Scottish parliament for Ayrshire in 1644 ('Members of Parliament for Scotland' in Foster's Collectanea Genealogica, i. 7). For his services in behalf of the king he was created a peer by the title of Lord Cochrane of Dundonald, by patent dated Scarborough, 27 Dec. 1647, with limitation to heirs male of his body. When it was resolved to raise an army in behalf of Charles I, in 1648, he was sent over to Ireland to bring home the Scotch troops (Guthry, Memoirs, 268). In 1653 he acquired the lordship of Paisley, where he fixed his residence, and lived in great splendour. The following year he was fined by Cromwell for his loyalty 5,000l., which was reduced to 2,000l. (State Papers, Dom. Ser. 1655, p. 71), and afterwards to 1,666l. 13s. 4d. (ib. 116). At the Restoration he was appointed a privy councillor and one of the commissioners of the treasury, and for these services was created a peer by the title Earl of Dundonald, Lord Cochrane of Paisley and Ochiltree, 12 May 1669. His tremulous signature appears attached to Claverhouse's marriage contract in 1684. The same year an accusation was preferred against him on the ground that his son, Lord Cochrane, when he was dying in 1679, kept a chaplain who prayed God to bless the rebels in the west with success (Fountainhall, Decisions, i. 299). He died in 1686, and was buried at Dundonald. By his marriage to Eupheme, daughter of Sir William Scot of Ardross, Fifeshire, he had two sons, William, lord Cochrane, who died in his father's lifetime, in 1679, and Sir John Cochrane of Ochiltree [q. v.], and one daughter, Grrizel, married to George, tenth lord Ross.
