Sir Francis Cockburn (; 10 November 1780 – 24 August 1868) served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, played an important role in the early settlement of eastern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and was a colonial administrator. Cockburn was born in England in 1780. He was the fifth and last son of Sir James Cockburn, 8th Baronet (1729–1804) and his second wife Augusta Anne Ayscough. His maternal grandfather was

Francis Ayscough Francis Ayscough (1701–1763) was a tutor to George III and Clerk of the Closet to his father Frederick, Prince of Wales

Dean of Bristol The Dean of Bristol is the head of the Chapter of the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, Bristol, England. The Dean is Mandy Ford, since her installation on 3 October 2020. List of deans Early modern *1542–1551 William Sno ...

and Royal tutor. On 19 November 1804, at Harbledown, Kent, England, he married Alicia Arabella (1782-1854), daughter of Richard Sandys, a descendant of Archbishop Sandys.

Military career

He had first joined the 7th Dragoon Guards at the age of 19 and served in South America and the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

. Following his marriage, he was sent to Canada in 1811 as a Captain in the Canadian Fencibles and fought in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

against the United States. He served with the Quartermaster-General for

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

and Kingston. In 1815, he became assistant quartermaster-general for Upper Canada and assisted in settling immigrants near

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

in the Bathurst District. In 1818, he became deputy quartermaster-general for Upper and

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

. He helped establish military settlements at Perth, Richmond,

Lanark Lanark (; gd, Lannraig ; sco, Lanrik) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a population of 9 ...

, the

Bay of Quinte The Bay of Quinte () is a long, narrow bay shaped like the letter "Z" on the northern shore of Lake Ontario in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is just west of the head of the Saint Lawrence River that drains the Great Lakes into the Gulf of ...

, Glengarry County and on the Saint-François River in Lower Canada. He also founded a village at Franktown, Ontario. In 1819, he accompanied the Duke of Richmond on the tour of Perth and Richmond which led to the Duke's death. He returned to England in 1823. During his time there, he helped establish the price of lands for properties in Upper Canada and provided advice on the best locations for settlement in the region. He served as superintendent of

British Honduras British Honduras was a British Crown colony on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony, renamed Belize in June 1973,

from 1830 to 1837 and Governor of the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

from 1837 to 1844.

Cockburn Town Cockburn Town ( ) is the capital of the Turks and Caicos Islands, spreading across most of Grand Turk Island. It was founded in 1681 by salt collectors. Geography Cockburn Town is located on the largest island in the Turks Islands archipelago, ...

, the largest settlement on

San Salvador Island San Salvador Island (known as Watling's Island from the 1680s until 1925) is an island and district of The Bahamas. It is widely believed that during Christopher Columbus's first expedition to the New World, this island was the first land h ...

in the Bahamas, was named after him, as was Cockburn Island in Ontario. Cockburn was knighted by Letters Patent on 8 Sept 1841. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General in 1860. He was buried at Harbledown, Kent, where he had married, on 29 August 1868.Burial: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JZY9-YZH

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cockburn, Francis 1780 births 1868 deaths British Army lieutenant generals Upper Canada people British people of the War of 1812 British colonial governors and administrators in the Americas 7th Dragoon Guards officers British governors of the Bahamas Francis Younger sons of baronets Lower Canada people Governors of British Honduras