Family and Education

bap. 23 July 1691, 7th s. of William Cochrane of Ochiltree, Ayr by Lady Mary Bruce, da. of Alexander, 2nd Earl of Kincardine [S]; gt.-gd.-s. of William, 1st Earl of Dundonald [S]. m. (1) c.1721, his 1st cos. Elizabeth (d.1743), da. of James Ker of Morriestoun, Berwick, 1s. 1da.; (2) 6 Sept. 1744, Jean, da. of Archibald Stuart of Torrence, Lanark, 11s. (incl. Sir Alexander Cochrane, M.P., and Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone, M.P.) 1da. suc. bro. James in the estates of Culross, Perth, and Ochiltree, Ayr, 1758, and his 2nd cos. once removed William Cochrane, as 8th Earl of Dundonald [S] 9 July 1758.

Offices Held

Cornet 2 Drags. 1713, capt. 27 Ft. 1716, maj. by 1718; fort maj. of Fort St. Philip, Minorca; commr. of excise [S] 1730-64.

Biography

Returned for Renfrewshire in 1722 on the Dundonald interest, Cochrane seems to have been a follower of the Duke of Argyll, to whom, as governor of Minorca 1712-16, he probably owed his Minorca appointment. This appointment gave rise to a lawsuit with his predecessor in 1726, when Cochrane’s counsel was Duncan Forbes, Argyll’s henchman, Robert Dundas, a member of the anti-Argyll faction, the Squadrone, appearing for his opponent.1 He did not stand again. He was in Edinburgh during the Forty-five, afterwards giving evidence against the Provost, Archibald Stewart, at his trial for surrendering to the rebels.2 Succeeding to the Dundonald earldom in 1758, he died 27 June 1778, leaving his son ‘a mass of debts and pressing creditors’.3

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: J. M. Simpson

Notes

• 1. D. Robertson, Appeal Cases 1707-27, pp. 558-61.
• 2. W. Cobbett, State Trials, xviii. 1056-7.
• 3. A. & N. L. Clow, 'Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald', Chemistry and Industry, xxiv. 217-20.