capture of Washington seems to have been entirely suggested and planned by him. and though, from the preponderance of the land forces engaged, the larger share of the credit publicly awarded fell to Ross 'of Bladensburg,' Ross himself, in reporting the success, properly wrote: 'To Rear-admiral Cockburn, who suggested the attack upon Washington, and who accompanied the army, I confess the greatest obligations for his cordial cooperation and advice.' Still co-operating with General Ross, Cockburn, at his special request, accompanied him on his advance against Baltimore, and was with him in the paltry skirmish in which Ross received his death-wound, 12 Sept. During the rest of the year he continued the operations in the Chesapeake in the same desultory but dashing manner, while Sir Alexander Cochrane, with the greater part of the force at his disposal, attempted to carry New Orleans. He was just arranging an expedition against Savannah when, on 25 Feb. 1815, he received intelligence that peace had been concluded. On 2 Jan. he had been nominated a K.C.B., and, being now recalled to England, anchored at Spithead on 4 May, in time to find that war with France had again broken out. He was therefore ordered to hold himself ready for immediate service. It came, but of a nature very different from what he could have expected. He was ordered to hoist his flag on board the Northumberland and convey General Bonaparte to St. Helena. He accordingly went round to Plymouth, whence, with the general on board, he sailed on 8 Aug. On 15 Oct. he arrived at St. Helena, and having landed his prisoner, remained in the twofold character of governor of the island and commander-in-chief of the station, the duties of which posts were rendered extremely irksome by the necessity of unceasing vigilance. In the summer of 1816, however, he was relieved by Sir Hudson Lowe and Sir Pulteney Malcolm, and arrived in England on 1 Aug. He was made G.C.B. on 20 Feb. 1818, and became vice-admiral on 12 Aug. 1819, but had no employment till December 1832, when he was appointed commander-in-chief on the North American and West India station. His return from that command in February 1836 was the end of his service afloat. He became admiral on 10 Jan. 1837, and admiral of the fleet on 1 July 1851. In 1820 he was elected F.R.S. In 1818 he was returned to parliament for Portsmouth, in 1820 for Weobley, in 1826 for Plymouth, and in 1841 for Ripon. He was repeatedly a junior lord of the admiralty, and first naval lord, 1841-6. In April 1827 he was nominated a privy councillor. On 26 Feb. 1852, by the death of his brother James without a son, he succeeded to the baronetcy, a dignity which he enjoyed for only a short time. He died on 19 Aug. 1853, also without a son, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his brother William, dean of York. He married in 1809 his cousin Mary, daughter of Thomas Cockburn, and left issue one daughter, who married in 1856 Commander J. C. Hoseason.
[O'Byrne's Nav. Biog. Dict.; Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage.]
COCKBURN, HENRY THOMAS, Lord Cockburn (1779–1854), Scotch judge, was born, probably in Edinburgh, 26 Oct. 1779. His father, successively sheriff of Midlothian, judge admiral, and baron of the Scottish court of exchequer, was a rigid tory, and his mother's sister was the wife of Henry Dundas, afterwards Viscount Melville, long the tory autocrat of Scotland. At the high school and university of Edinburgh he received an education of which he said in old age, 'We were kept about nine years at two dead languages which we did not learn.' He acknowledges, however, his obligations at the university to Dugald Stewart's lectures on moral philosophy, and to the free discussion of the academic debating societies which he joined, and of one of which Brougham, Francis Horner, and Jeffrey were active members. Cockburn became a zealous whig, and formed a lifelong intimacy with Jeffrey. Admitted in December 1800 to the Faculty of Advocates, in 1806 he was appointed one of the advocates-depute by his tory relatives, the Dundases. He was assured that his acceptance of the office need not involve infidelity to whig principles, but on his exhibition of political independence he was dismissed from it in 1810. In 1811 he married and settled at Bonaly, near Edinburgh, at the northern base of the Pentlands, his new home consisting of 'a few square yards and a scarcely habitable farmhouse.' His whiggism prevented official preferment, but he soon shared with Jeffrey the leadership of the Scottish bar. Cockburn shone in criminal cases, especially as counsel for the defence. He retained his Scottish accent, and was fond of Scotch allusions. His manner was extremely homely, and he spoke with an air of sincerity which gave him a singular influence over Scottish juries. In 'Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk' Lockhart has given a graphic description of Cockburn's early forensic style and its contrast to Jeffrey's. One of the most effective of his speeches was that in which he opened the defence for Stuart of Dunearn, tried (10 June 1822) for killing Sir Alexander
