Sir James Cockburn, 8th Baronet (1729 – 26 July 1804) was a Member of the Parliament of Great Britain for

Linlithgow Burghs Lanark Burghs (also known as Linlithgow Burghs) was a district of burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (at Westminster) from 1708 to 1832, representing a seat for one Member of Parliament (MP). Th ...

from 1772 to 1784 and a Director of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sout ...

Family

He was a son of William Cockburn of Berwickshire and his wife and cousin Frances Cockburn. His paternal grandparents were Sir Alexander Cockburn, 6th Baronet and his wife Mary Ancrum. His maternal grandfather was Dr. James Cockburn of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

. Alexander and Dr. James Cockburn were brothers. They were both sons of

Sir Archibald Cockburn, 4th Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only ...

and his wife Marion Sinclair. Marion Sinclair was a daughter of John Sinclair and Isabel Boyd. Her paternal grandfather was

Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster, 1st Baronet, (10 May 1754 – 21 December 1835), was a British politician, a writer on both finance and agriculture, and was one of the first people to use the word ''statistics'' in the English language, in ...

(d. 1649) and his wife Marion McCath.

Career

Cockburn joined the London firm of Henry Douglas, a wealthy merchant and his future father in law. He was a commissary to the Army in Germany during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754– ...

and appointed Commissary General in 1762, after which he returned to London and became involved in the purchase of West Indian plantations and in East India politics. In 1767 he was elected a Director of the

(until 1769). He was re-elected in 1770 and in the following two years. In 1772 he was also elected to Parliament to represent

Linlithgow Linlithgow (; gd, Gleann Iucha, sco, Lithgae) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt o ...

, a seat he retained until 1784. He had bought the heritable position of Principal Usher of the White Rod in Scotland in 1766.

Baronetcy

His paternal grandfather Sir Alexander Cockburn, 6th Baronet died in May, 1739. Having survived his oldest son Archibald Cockburn, Alexander was succeeded by the eldest son of Archibald as Sir Alexander Cockburn, 7th Baronet. The 7th Baronet died childless in 1745. James was his closest surviving male relative and thus succeeded his first cousin as the 8th Baronet.

Marriages and children

In 1755 James married his first wife Mary Douglas, the daughter of his business partner Henry Douglas of Friarshaw. They had three daughters: *Frances Cockburn. *Harriet Jane Cockburn, who married James Nicholas Duntze, son of

Sir John Duntze, Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only ...

*Mary Cockburn. His first wife died on 5 April 1766. He remained a widower for three years. On 10 October 1769), Cockburn married his second wife

Augusta Anne Ayscough ''Lady Cockburn and Her Three Eldest Sons'' (1775) is an oil on canvas portrait by Joshua Reynolds. Work began on the picture in 1773, and, in Grand Manner fashion, Reynolds exploited two classical paintings: the attitude of the child on the le ...

. She was a daughter of Francis Ayscough, Dean of Bristol and Royal tutor. They had six children: * Sir James Cockburn, 9th Baronet (1771–1852),

Governor of Bermuda The Governor of Bermuda (fully the ''Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Somers Isles (alias the Islands of Bermuda)'') is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Bermuda. For the purposes of this a ...

. * Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet (1772–1853), MP, Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom, Admiral of the Fleet and

First Sea Lord The First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff (1SL/CNS) is the military head of the Royal Navy and Naval Service of the United Kingdom. The First Sea Lord is usually the highest ranking and most senior admiral to serve in the British Armed F ...

. * Sir William Cockburn, 11th Baronet (1773–1858), Dean of York, who married Elizabeth (died 1828), daughter of Sir

Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Excheque ...

.''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'', 10 April 1841, p.6 col.b, reprinted from the ''Cambridge Advertiser'' *

Alexander Cockburn (1776–1852) Alexander Claud Cockburn ( ; 6 June 1941 – 21 July 2012) was a Scottish-born Irish-American political journalist and writer. Cockburn was brought up by British parents in Ireland, but lived and worked in the United States from 1972. Together ...

served as British Consul to Hamburg and the Hanse towns and later as

envoy extraordinary Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seatings ...

and minister

plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of his or her sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word ...

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Wür ...

and the Republic of Colombia. He married Yolande, daughter of the René Michel de Vignier de La Saline, vicomte de Vignier, of

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

. *Sir

Francis Cockburn Sir Francis Cockburn (; 10 November 1780 – 24 August 1868) served in the British Army, played an important role in the early settlement of eastern Canada and was a colonial administrator. Cockburn was born in England in 1780. He was the fif ...

(1780–1868), a Lieutenant-General in the Army. *Anna Augusta Cockburn. Married Charles Hawkins, Rector of Kelston and Prebendary of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

References

Bibliography

*
A listing of the Cockburn family

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cockburn, James 1729 births 1804 deaths People from Berwickshire Directors of the British East India Company Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies James 8 Baronets in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784