- George Cockburn
Infobox Military Person
name =Sir George Cockburn
lived=22 April 1772 –19 August 1853
caption =Sir George Cockburn
placeofbirth =London
placeofdeath =Leamington Spa ,Warwickshire
allegiance=flagicon|United KingdomUnited Kingdom
branch=
serviceyears=
battles=Napoleonic Wars
rank=Admiral of the Fleet
commands=
awards=
relations=|Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet (22 April 1772 –19 August 1853 ) (Surname pronuncuation RP: IPA|/ˈkəʊbɜːn/, ScE: IPA|/ˈkobʌɾn/) was a British naval commander of the late 18th through the mid-19th centuries. He held important commands during theNapoleonic Wars and theWar of 1812 and eventually rose to become Admiral of the Fleet andFirst Sea Lord .Naval career
Born in 1772 in
London , George was the second son ofSir James Cockburn, 8th Baronet (1729-1804) and his second wife Augusta Anne Ayscough. His maternal grandfather was Francis Ayscough, Dean of Bristol.Cockburn went to sea at the age of 14 . He rose rapidly in the
Royal Navy , perhaps because his father was abaronet , but most certainly because he was a brave and resourceful officer. He saw much action during theNapoleonic Wars and successfully commanded a succession of sloops,frigate s and ships of the line.After serving on the home station, and in the
East Indies and theMediterranean , he assisted, as captain of the "Minerve" (38) at the blockade ofLeghorn in 1796, and fought a gallant action with the Spanishfrigate "Sabina" (40) which he took. He was present at thebattle of Cape St Vincent .In 1809, in command of the naval force on shore, he contributed greatly to the reduction of
Martinique , and signed the capitulation by which that island was handed over to the British; for his services on this occasion he received the thanks of the House of Commons. After service in theScheldt and at the defence ofCadiz he was sent in 1811 on an unsuccessful mission for the reconciliation of Spain and her American colonies.By 1812, he was a rear admiral in charge of the
squadron of the Royal Navy in Spanish waters, but in that year he was ordered to America.Cockburn played a major role in the
War of 1812 as second in command to Admiral SirJohn Borlase Warren to the end of March 1814 and then to Warren's successor, Admiral SirAlexander Cochrane for the rest of the war. He cruised relentlessly up and down theChesapeake Bay and other parts of the Atlantic coast in 1813 and 1814, seizing American shipping, disrupting commerce, and raiding the ports. In the Chesapeake, Cockburn was responsible for carrying out government instructions to encourage the emigration of the enslaved Black population. In addition he implemented Cochrane's own plan of recruiting aCorps of Colonial Marines from among the Black refugees. The most important of Cockburn's actions was the capture andburning of Washington on24 August 1814 as an advisor to Major GeneralRobert Ross .Cockburn received the
order of the Bath at the beginning of 1815, and after the war, on his return toEurope , he was immediately given the job of conveyingNapoleon in the "Northumberland" toSaint Helena , where he remained for some months asgovernor of the island and the Emperor's jailor.In later life, Cockburn was
Commander-in-Chief on the North American station, and eventually Admiral of the Fleet. From 1827 he was a Privy Counsellor. He was also elected several times to Parliament as aTory (for Portsmouth 1818-1820, Weobly 1820-1828, Plymouth 1828-1832 and Ripon 1841-1847) [ [http://www.angeltowns.com/town/peerage/baronetsc3.htm Baronetage] ] and served several times asFirst Sea Lord (1828–1830; 1834–1835; 1841–1846).Later career
In 1839 he became the first President of
the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society . In 1852, he inherited the family baronetcy from his elder brother, being himself succeeded by his brother William, dean ofYork , who died in 1858. Admiral Cockburn died in 1853 atLeamington Spa , leaving a daughter.Notes
References
*1911
*Rayment
*Military Heritage confirms that it was George Cockburn who burned the White House and raided Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812 and included his retirement ranks (John D. Gresham, Military Heritage, February 2002, Volume 3, No. 4, p. 17).
*cite book | first=J. K. | last=Laughton | chapter=Cockburn, Sir George, eighth baronet (1772–1853) | editor=rev. Roger Morriss | title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2004 | url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5770 | accessdate=2007-09-21External links
* [http://www.whitehousehistory.org/ The White House Historical Association] (discusses the burning of the White House during the War of 1812)
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