Constituency Dates
Renfrewshire 1722 – 1727
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.

Address
Main residence: Wester Stanley, Renfrew.
biography text

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.1D. Robertson, Appeal Cases 1707-27, pp. 558-61. 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.2W. Cobbett, State Trials, xviii. 1056-7. Succeeding to the Dundonald earldom in 1758, he died 27 June 1778, leaving his son ‘a mass of debts and pressing creditors’.3A. & N. L. Clow, ’Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald’, Chemistry and Industry, xxiv. 217-20.

Author
J.M.S.
Volume
Commons 1715-1754
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.