Francis Cochrane, (November 18, 1852 – September 22, 1919) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician.

Early life

Cochrane was born in 1852 in Clarenceville,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. Little is known about his early life due to a lack of personal papers. His son, Wilbur, managed to uncover some information about this period, including that he worked for

Marshall Field Marshall Field (August 18, 1834January 16, 1906) was an American entrepreneur and the founder of Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based department stores. His business was renowned for its then-exceptional level of quality and customer ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

during the 1870s before moving to Pembroke, Ontario, where he met his wife, Alice Dunlap. He and Alice lived in Mattawa during the 1880s before moving to Sudbury. While living in Mattawa, Cochrane hosted Prime Minister

John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...

at his home while he recovered from a brief illness.

Municipal career

A prosperous hardware merchant in

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, he was the first president of the town's board of trade and later served as mayor of the town in 1897, 1898 and 1902 after winning a council seat in 1896. Along with local businessman William McVittie, he subsequently invested in the Wahnapitae Power Company, which was contracted to provide the town's

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other Renewabl ...

services until it was sold to the Hydroelectric Power Commission of Ontario in 1929. Cochrane and McVittie also ventured into

prospecting Prospecting is the first stage of the geological analysis (followed by exploration) of a territory. It is the search for minerals, fossils, precious metals, or mineral specimens. It is also known as fossicking. Traditionally prospecting reli ...

, developing the Frood Extension property in 1908.

Provincial career

Cochrane first ran for provincial office in 1902 as the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

candidate in

Nipissing West Nipissing West was a provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district in the Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, active from 1902 to 1908. Due to population growth, the district of Nipissing (provincial electoral district), Nipissing ...

in the 1902 election, but was defeated by Joseph Michaud. He did not run in the 1905 election, although Premier

James P. Whitney Sir James Pliny Whitney (October 2, 1843 – September 25, 1914) was a Canadian politician and lawyer in the province of Ontario. He served as Conservative member of the legislature for Dundas from 1888 and as the sixth premier of Ontario from ...

nonetheless announced an intention to give him a cabinet portfolio. This appointment was delayed when Cochrane slipped while boarding a moving train in Sudbury and lost part of his right leg, but in May of that year, Whitney transferred the

Crown lands Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...

portfolio to a new Ministry of Lands, Forests and Mines and appointed Cochrane as the new minister. Cochrane was then acclaimed into office in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

Nipissing East Nipissing East was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of Ontario, active from 1902 to 1908. Due to population growth, the district of Nipissing was divided into Nipissing East and Nipissing West for the 1902 election. By 1 ...

, succeeding Charles Lamarche, who resigned to make the seat available to him. He was reelected in the 1908 election in the new electoral district of

Federal career

After being re-elected in 1911 George Gordon, the Conservative MP for Nipissing, stepped aside to enable Cochrane to run in a by-election and he won the seat. Gordon was subsequently appointed to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. Cochrane served in Nipissing until 1917, and was

Minister of Railways and Canals The minister of transport (french: ministre des transports) is a minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet. The minister is responsible for overseeing the federal government's transportation regulatory and development department, Transport Ca ...

in the government of Sir

Robert Borden Sir Robert Laird Borden (June 26, 1854 – June 10, 1937) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920. He is best known for his leadership of Canada during World War I. Borde ...

from October 1911 until October 1917. In 1917, he ran as the Unionist-

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

candidate in the new district of Timiskaming. He was re-elected, and served as

Minister without Portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

until his death in 1919.

Honours

The town of

Cochrane, Ontario Cochrane is a town in northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is located east of Kapuskasing, northeast of Timmins, south of Moosonee, and north of Iroquois Falls. It is about a one-hour drive from Timmins, the major city of the region. It is the seat ...

was named for him.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cochrane, Francis 1852 births 1919 deaths Businesspeople from Quebec Hardware merchants Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs Mayors of Sudbury, Ontario Canadian Ministers of Railways and Canals Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Members of the Executive Council of Ontario People from Montérégie Canadian amputees Canadian politicians with disabilities