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DUNDONALD, THOMAS COCHRANE, 10TH EARL...

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 677 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DUNDONALD, See also:THOMAS COCHRANE, 10TH See also:EARL OF (1775-186o) , See also:British See also:admiral, was See also:born at Annsfield in See also:Lanarkshire on the 14th of See also:December 1775. He came of an old Scottish See also:family, the first earl having been See also:Sir See also:William Cochrane (d. 1686), a soldier who was created See also:Baron Cochrane in 1647 and earl of Dundonald in 1669. He was the son of See also:Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl (1749-1831), who is remembered as a most ingenious, but also most unfortunate, scientific speculator and inventor, who was before his See also:time in suggesting and attempting new processes of See also:alkali manufacture, and various other uses of applied See also:science. The family was greatly impoverished owing to his losses over these schemes, but still possessed a See also:good See also:deal of See also:interest. By the help of See also:friends Thomas was provided with a See also:commission in an See also:infantry See also:regiment, and at the same time put on the books of a See also:man-of-See also:war by his See also:uncle, See also:Captain A. F. I. Cochrane (1758-1832), while still a boy. He finally See also:chose the See also:navy, and went to See also:sea in his uncle's See also:ship, the " See also:Hind," in 1793. He could already See also:count nearly five years' nominal service, an example of those See also:naval abuses which he was to denounce (and to profit by) during a large See also:part of his career. His promotion was rapid.

He became a See also:

lieutenant in 1796. While in that See also:rank he was led by his self-assertive See also:temper into a See also:quarrel with his See also:superior, Lieutenant See also:Philip See also:Beaver (1766-1813), for which he was sent before a See also:court-See also:martial. A warning to avoid flippancy in future was, however, the worst that happened to him. In 'Soo he was appointed to the command of the " Speedy " brig, a small See also:vessel in which he gained a See also:great and deserved reputation as a daring and skilful officer. His See also:capture of the See also:Spanish See also:frigate " El Gamo " (32) on the 6th of May 18or was indeed a feat of unparalleled audacity. His promotion to See also:post rank followed on the 8th of See also:August. Though he was See also:apt to represent himself as disliked and neglected by the See also:admiralty, and was frequently insolent towards his superiors, he was, as a See also:matter of fact, See also:pretty constantly employed, and he more than justified his appointments by his activity and success as captain of the " See also:Pallas " (32) and " Imperieuse " (38) on the ocean and in the Mediterranean. Unfortunately for himself he secured his return to See also:parliament as member for See also:Honiton in 1806 and for See also:Westminster in 1807. In the See also:House of See also:Commons he soon made his See also:mark as a See also:radical, and as a denouncer of naval abuses. But his views did not prevent him from profiting to the utmost by one very See also:bad abuse, for he did his utmost to secure the retention of his frigate in See also:port, in See also:order that he might be able to attend parliament. In spite of his radical opinions he made a furious attack on the admiralty for the new See also:prize See also:money regulations which diminished the shares of the captains to the See also:advantage of the men. In See also:April 1809 he was engaged in the attack on the See also:French See also:squadron in the Basque Roads, which was very See also:ill See also:con-ducted by See also:Lord See also:Gambier.

The conduct of Lord Cochrane, as he was called till the See also:

death of his See also:father, was brilliant and was rewarded by the order of the See also:Bath, but his aggressive temper led him into making attacks on the admiral which necessitated a court-martial on Gambier. The admiral was acquitted, and Cochrane naturally See also:fell into disfavour with the admiralty. He was not employed again till 1813, when he was named to the command of the " Tonnant, " which was ordered for service as See also:flagship on the See also:coast of See also:America. In the See also:interval he was restlessly active in parliament in denouncing naval abuses, and was also, most disastrously for himself, led into speculations on the Stock See also:Exchange, by which he was brought at the beginning of 1814 into pressing danger of See also:total ruin. At this moment a notorious See also:fraud was perpetrated on the Stock Exchange by an uncle of his and by other persons with whom he habitually acted in his speculations. Lord Cochrane was brought to trial with the others before Lord See also:Ellenborough on the 8th of See also:June 1814 and all were condemned. He was sentenced to an See also:hour in the See also:pillory, which was remitted, and to See also:fine and imprisonment, which were enforced. He continued to assert his innocence, and to protest that he had been unjustly condemned, but he was expelled from parliament and the order of the Bath. He was, however, almost immediately re-elected member for Westminster, but he had to serve his See also:term (one See also:year) of imprisonment, and, after escaping and being recaptured, he regained his See also:liberty in 1815 on See also:payment of the fine of f See also:i000 to which he had been sentenced. In 1817 he accepted the invitation of the Chileans, who werethen in revolt against See also:Spain, to take command of their naval forces, and remaining in their service until 1822 contributed largely to their success. His capture of the Spanish frigate " Esmeralda " (40) in the See also:harbour of See also:Callao, on the 5th of See also:November 1820, was an achievement of See also:signal daring. In 1823 he transferred his services to See also:Brazil, where he helped the See also:emperor Dom Pedro I. to shake off the yoke of See also:Portugal; but by the end of 1825 he had fallen out with the Brazilians, and he returned to See also:Europe.

His activity was next devoted to the aid of the Greeks, then at the end of their struggle with the See also:

Turks, but he found no opportunity for distinguishing himself, and in 1828 he returned See also:home. His efforts were now steadily directed to securing his restoration to the navy, and in this he succeeded in 1832; but though he was granted a " See also:free See also:pardon " he failed to obtain the new trial for which he was anxious, or to secure the arrears of pay he claimed.' He was restored to his See also:place in the order of the Bath in 1847. In 1848 he was appointed to the command of the See also:North See also:American and See also:West See also:India station, which he retained till 1851. At various periods of his See also:life he occupied himself with scientific invention. He took out See also:patents for lamps to See also:burn oil of See also:tar, for the propulsion of See also:ships at sea, for facilitating excavation, See also:mining and sinking, for rotary See also:steam-engines and for other purposes; and so See also:early as 1843 he was an See also:advocate of the employment of steam and the See also:screw propeller in warships. During the See also:Crimean War he revived his " See also:secret war See also:plan " for the total destruction of an enemy's See also:fleet, and offered to conduct in See also:person an attack on See also:Sevastopol and destroy it in a few See also:hours without loss to the attacking force. This plan, the details of which have never been divulged, he had proposed so far back as 1811, and the See also:committee which was then appointed to consider it reported on it as effective but inhuman. Lord Dundonald died in See also:London on the 3oth of See also:October 1860, and was buried in Westminster See also:Abbey. No one ever excelled him in daring and resource as a naval officer, but he suffered from serious defects of See also:character, and even those who think him guiltless of the See also:charge on which he was convicted in 1814 must feel that he had his own imprudence and want of self-command to thank for many of his misfortunes. He was succeeded in the See also:title by his son Thomas as 11th earl (d. 1885), and the latter by his son See also:Douglas (b. 1852) as 12th earl, a distinguished See also:cavalry officer who became a lieutenant-See also:general in 1907.

The loth earl's Autobiography of a See also:

Seaman (2 vols., 186o-1861), the See also:main source for his Life (1869, by his son and See also:heir), is written with spirit, but it was composed at the end of his career when his memory was failing, and was chiefly executed by others. He also wrote Notes on the See also:Mineralogy, See also:Government and See also:Condition of the British West India Islands (1851), and a Narrative of Services in the Liberation of Chili, See also:Peru and Brazil (1858). The whole See also:story of his trial and of the Stock Exchange fraud for which he was condemned has been examined by Mr J. B. Atlay in The Trial of Lord Cochrane before Lord Ellenborough (1897).

End of Article: DUNDONALD, THOMAS COCHRANE, 10TH EARL OF (1775-186o)

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