Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald,

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(1 January 1748 – 1 July 1831) was a British aristocrat, military officer, and inventor. His most notable inventions were the utilization of coal byproducts.

Life

The son of

Thomas Cochrane, 8th Earl of Dundonald Major Thomas Cochrane, 8th Earl of Dundonald (1691 – 31 October 1778) was a British Army officer and politician. He was Member of Parliament for Renfrewshire, 1722–1727. He served as Commissioner of the Excise for Scotland from 1730 until ...

, he joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

as a youth and also served time in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

before returning to

Culross Culross (/ˈkurəs/) (Scottish Gaelic: ''Cuileann Ros'', 'holly point or promontory') is a village and former royal burgh, and parish, in Fife, Scotland. According to the 2006 estimate, the village has a population of 395. Originally, Culross ...

in 1778 after inheriting the Earldom of Dundonald from his father. He inherited a title and family lands but little money. Left with no other means of support, Archibald turned to invention. Cochrane's most noted invention was a method for making

coal tar Coal tar is a thick dark liquid which is a by-product of the production of coke and coal gas from coal. It is a type of creosote. It has both medical and industrial uses. Medicinally it is a topical medication applied to skin to treat psoria ...

(patented in 1781) on an industrial scale. The British Tar Company invested in a works; it was managed by

John Loudon McAdam John Loudon McAdam (23 September 1756 – 26 November 1836) was a Scottish civil engineer and road-builder. He invented a new process, "macadamisation", for building roads with a smooth hard surface, using controlled materials of mi ...

. The coke byproduct was used, in part, by an ironworks at

Muirkirk Muirkirk () is a small village in East Ayrshire, southwest Scotland. It is located on the north bank of the River Ayr, between Cumnock and Glenbuck on the A70. Conservation The Muirkirk & North Lowther Uplands Special Protection Area was s ...

, and the flammability of the

coal gas Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous ...

byproduct was recognised but not capitalized on. McAdam bought the company, but the deal was troubled. Cochrane hoped that he would be able to sell tar as a sealant for the hulls of ships to the

. After contacts with the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom that was responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Historically, its titular head was the Lord High Admiral of the ...

were made, a test was performed on a

buoy A buoy (; ) is a buoyancy, floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents. History The ultimate origin of buoys is unknown, but by 1295 a seaman's manual referred to navig ...

. The buoy was coated on one side and left uncoated on the other. After some time the uncoated half was leaking and full of worms and

barnacle Barnacles are arthropods of the subclass (taxonomy), subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacean, Crustacea. They are related to crabs and lobsters, with similar Nauplius (larva), nauplius larvae. Barnacles are exclusively marine invertebra ...

s, while the treated half was in quite good condition. A

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

for his invention was drawn up, while the family estates were used as collateral. The coal tar technique was a rival to

copper sheathing Copper sheathing is a method for protecting the hull of a wooden vessel from attack by shipworm, barnacles and other marine growth through the use of copper plates affixed to the surface of the hull, below the waterline. It was pioneered and d ...

, preferred by the Admiralty. It has been argued that there were also powerful interests at play,

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

s needing the maintenance business. The patent expired, and the Royal Navy eventually adopted the tar mixture. Other experiments with

alum An alum () is a type of chemical compound, usually a hydrated double salt, double sulfate salt (chemistry), salt of aluminium with the general chemical formula, formula , such that is a valence (chemistry), monovalent cation such as potassium ...

production, making bread from potatoes, and paint manufacturing also proved unprofitable. His experiments with producing soda from

table salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as ro ...

proved more successful but were not enough to reverse his financial misfortunes. In 1784, close to the Society's inception, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were

James Hutton James Hutton (; 3 June Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. 1726 – 26 March 1797) was a Scottish geologist, Agricultural science, agriculturalist, chemist, chemical manufacturer, Natural history, naturalist and physician. Often referred to a ...

and

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptised 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the field of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as the "father of economics"——— or ...

. In 1795, he was elected an International Member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. Cochrane died impoverished in Paris at the age of 83. The earldom of Dundonald passed to his son Thomas Cochrane.

Family

He married three times. His first wife was Anne Gilchrist, daughter of Captain James Gilchrist, whom he married in 1774. After her death, he married Isabella Mayne, a widow and daughter of Samuel Raymond, in 1788. His third wife was Anna Maria Plowden, daughter of Francis Plowden whom he married in 1819. He had four sons: Thomas Cochrane, who succeeded him in the earldom, was a highly successful officer in the Royal Navy, a less-successful politician, and key early leader of several navies of newly independent countries; Basil Cochrane who briefly served in the Royal Navy before transferring to the British Army;

William Erskine Cochrane William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is ...

who served in the British Army; and Archibald Cochrane who also served in the Royal Navy.

Potatoes

In February 1791 Dundonald published details of his experiments in making bread using potatoes in a booklet made up of three letters. By March 1791 he had also published a pamphlet on feeding the poor by adding starch and potato powder to flour. A print by

James Gillray James Gillray (13 August 1756Gillray, James and Draper Hill (1966). ''Fashionable contrasts''. Phaidon. p. 8.Baptism register for Fetter Lane (Moravian) confirms birth as 13 August 1756, baptism 17 August 1756 1June 1815) was a British list of c ...

from 1795 entitled "Substitutes for bread; or Right Honourables saving the Loaves and Dividing the Fishes" satirises the notion that potato is a delicious alternative for flour by showing a group of MPs avoiding potato bread and instead eating fish and sirloin steaks covered in coins.

The Cochrane brothers

Cochrane's younger brothers also had notable careers. Charles Cochrane (1749-1781) served as a major in the

British Legion The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British Charitable organization, charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants. ...

during the American Revolution; John Cochrane (1750-1801) and

Basil Cochrane Basil Cochrane (22 April 1753 – 12 or 14 August 1826 in Paris, France) was a Scottish civil servant, businessman, inventor, and wealthy nabob of early-19th-century England. Early life The sixth son of Scottish nobleman and politician Tho ...

(1753-1826) were supply contractors for the British Army and navy; Basil in particular made a fortune providing supplies to the navy in India.

Alexander Cochrane Admiral Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane, GCB (born Alexander Forrester Cochrane; 23 April 1758 – 26 January 1832) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and achieved the rank of admi ...

(1758-1832) became an admiral. George (b. 1762) served in the army and in Parliament.

Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

(1767-1833) was an army officer, colonial governor, member of Parliament, and fraudster. The Earl of St. Vincent,

Admiral of the Fleet An admiral of the fleet or shortened to fleet admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to field marshal and marshal of the air force. An admiral of the fleet is typically senior to an admiral. It is also a generic ter ...

, wrote of the Cochrane brothers in 1806, "The Cochranes are not to be trusted out of sight, they are all mad, romantic, money-getting and not truth-telling—and there is not a single exception in any part of the family."History of Parliament Online bio of Cochrane-Johnstone

References

External links

Significant Scots - Archibald CochraneCoal Tar before the Invention of Town Gas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dundonald, Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl 1748 births 1831 deaths Nobility from Fife 9 Scottish inventors Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery

Archibald Archibald may refer to: People and characters *Archibald (name), a masculine given name and a surname *Archibald (musician) (1916–1973), American R&B pianist * Archibald, a character from the animated TV show ''Archibald the Koala'' Other uses ...

18th-century Scottish businesspeople 19th-century Scottish businesspeople International members of the American Philosophical Society