Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet
Encyclopedia
Sir Alexander James Edmund Cockburn, 12th Baronet Q.C.
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

 (24 September 1802 – 20 November 1880) was a Scottish lawyer, politician and judge. A notorious womaniser
Womaniser
Womaniser or womanizer may refer to:*Womaniser, a promiscuous heterosexual man*"Womanizer" , a 2008 song by Britney Spears...

 and socialite, as Lord Chief Justice
Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary and President of the Courts of England and Wales. Historically, he was the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, but that changed as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005,...

 he heard some of the leading causes célèbres of the 19th century.

Life

Cockburn was born in Alţâna
Altana
The Altana AG is a German chemical company based in Wesel. Altana develops and produces products in the specialty chemicals business. The ALTANA Group, with headquarters in Wesel/Germany, sells 85% of its products overseas...

, in what is now Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 and was then part of Habsburg Monarchy
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...

, to Alexander Cockburn and his wife Yolande, daughter of the Vicomte de Vignier. His father served as British envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary
Plenipotentiary
The word plenipotentiary has two meanings. As a noun, it refers to a person who has "full powers." In particular, the term commonly refers to a diplomat fully authorized to represent his government as a prerogative...

 to Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....

 and the Columbia District (now Colombia) and was the fourth son of Sir James Cockburn, 8th Baronet
Sir James Cockburn, 8th Baronet
Sir James Cockburn, 8th Baronet was Member of Parliament for Linlithgow Burghs from 1772 to 1784.-Family:He was a son of William Cockburn and his wife and cousin Frances Cockburn. His paternal grandparents were Sir Alexander Cockburn, 6th Baronet and his wife Mary Ancrum. His maternal grandfather...

 (born c.1729, died July 1804), his three older uncles having died without heirs.

He was initially educated largely abroad and acquired fluency in French and familiarity with German, Italian and Spanish. He was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the fifth-oldest college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich.- Foundation :...

, gaining a first in Civil law
Civil law (common law)
Civil law, as opposed to criminal law, is the branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals or organizations, in which compensation may be awarded to the victim...

 in 1824–5 and graduating in 1829 with an LL.B.
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...

 degree, and also being elected a fellow, and afterwards an honorary fellow. He entered the Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...

 in 1825, and was called to the bar in 1829. He joined the western circuit and built up a substantial practice though he was sufficiently diffident about his success in London to devote little of his energies there, not even keeping his Chambers
Chambers (law)
A judge's chambers, often just called his or her chambers, is the office of a judge.Chambers may also refer to the type of courtroom where motions related to matter of procedure are heard.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :...

 open.

Three years after his call, the Reform Bill was passed, Cockburn started to practise in election law
Election law
Election law is a discipline falling at the juncture of constitutional law and political science. It researches "the politics of law and the law of politics"...

, including acting for Henry Lytton Bulwer and Edward Ellice. In 1833, with William Rowe, he published a parliamentary brief on the decisions of election committees. In 1834, Ellice recommended Cockburn as member of the commission to enquire into the state of the corporations of England and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. Through his parliamentary work Cockburn met Joseph Parkes
Joseph Parkes
Joseph Parkes was an English political reformer.Born in Warwick, in Unitarian Whig circles, Parkes was educated at Warwick grammar school, Dr Charles Burney's college in Greenwich and Glasgow university. Moving to London in 1817, Parkes developed an association with the Philosophical Radicals...

 and himself became interested in politics as a profession in itself, not simply as a pretext for legal argument. Cockburn had become ambitious and in 1838 he turned down the offer of a judicial appointment in India with the sentiment "I am going in for something better than that". He became Recorder
Recorder (judge)
A Recorder is a judicial officer in England and Wales. It now refers to two quite different appointments. The ancient Recorderships of England and Wales now form part of a system of Honorary Recorderships which are filled by the most senior full-time circuit judges...

 of Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

 and from that point started to reduce his election and parliamentary work in favour of more publicly notorious cases. In 1841 he was made a Q.C.
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

.

In 1847 he decided to stand for parliament, and was elected unopposed as Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 Member of Parliament for Southampton
Southampton (UK Parliament constituency)
Southampton was a parliamentary constituency which was represented in the British House of Commons. Centred on the town of Southampton, it returned two Members of Parliament from 1295 until it was abolished for the 1950 general election....

. His speech in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 on behalf of the government in the Don Pacifico
Don Pacifico
David Pacifico was of Portuguese Jewish descent and born in Gibraltar. He is best known to history as "Don Pacifico".In 1850, Don Pacifico was a key figure in the international crisis known as the Don Pacifico Affair...

 dispute with Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 commended him to Lord John Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC , known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was an English Whig and Liberal politician who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century....

, who appointed him Solicitor-General
Solicitor General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...

 in 1850 and Attorney General
Attorney General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales, usually known simply as the Attorney General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown. Along with the subordinate Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Attorney General serves as the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government in...

 in 1851, a post which he held till the resignation of the ministry in February 1852.

In December 1852, under Lord Aberdeen's
George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen
George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen KG, KT, FRS, PC , styled Lord Haddo from 1791 to 1801, was a Scottish politician, successively a Tory, Conservative and Peelite, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1852 until 1855.-Early life:Born in Edinburgh on 28 January 1784, he...

 ministry
Aberdeen Ministry
-The Cabinet:† After June 1854 office became Secretary of State for War.Notes*Lord John Russell served as Leader of the House of Commons from December 1852 to February 1855.Changes...

, Cockburn again became Attorney General, and remained so until 1856, taking part in many celebrated trials.

In 1854 Cockburn was made Recorder
Recorder (judge)
A Recorder is a judicial officer in England and Wales. It now refers to two quite different appointments. The ancient Recorderships of England and Wales now form part of a system of Honorary Recorderships which are filled by the most senior full-time circuit judges...

 of Bristol. In 1856, he became Chief Justice of the Common Pleas
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas
The Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench or Common Place, was the second highest common law court in the English legal system until 1880, when it was dissolved. As such, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas was one of the highest judicial officials in England, behind only the Lord...

. He inherited the baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...

cy in 1858. In 1859, Lord Campbell became Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...

, and Cockburn became Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench.

Several Prime Ministers offered to nominate Cockburn for a peerage, and he finally accepted the offer in 1864. However, Queen Victoria refused, noting that "this peerage has been more than once previously refused upon the ground of the notoriously bad moral character of the Chief Justice".

In 1875, the post of Chief Justice was replaced by Lord Chief Justice
Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary and President of the Courts of England and Wales. Historically, he was the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, but that changed as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005,...

, a position he held until his death on 20 November 1880. He died of angina pectoris at his house in Hertford Street, London; he had continued working up until his death despite three heart attacks and warnings from his doctor. As he never married, he produced no legitimate heirs despite having a surviving child. As a result, the baronetcy became dormant upon his death. His remains were deposited in Catacomb A of Kensal Green Cemetery.

As advocate

  • Trial of Dr Cockburn: In 1841 a charge of simony
    Simony
    Simony is the act of paying for sacraments and consequently for holy offices or for positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus , who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:9-24...

    , brought against his uncle, William
    Sir William Cockburn, 11th Baronet
    Sir William Cockburn, 11th Baronet was a Church of England clergyman. He was Dean of York and was famously defended on a charge of simony by his nephew Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet in 1841....

    , Dean of York
    Dean of York
    The Dean of York is the member of the clergy who is responsible for the running of the York Minster cathedral.-11th–12th centuries:* 1093–c.1135: Hugh* c.1138–1143: William of Sainte-Barbe...

    , enabled Cockburn to appear conspicuously in a case which attracted considerable public attention, the proceedings taking the form of a motion for prohibition
    Prohibition (writ)
    A writ of prohibition is a writ directing a subordinate to stop doing something the law prohibits. In practice, the Court directs the Clerk to issue the Writ, and directs the Sheriff to serve it on the subordinate, and the Clerk prepares the Writ and gives it to the Sheriff, who serves it.This...

     duly obtained against the ecclesiastical court
    Ecclesiastical court
    An ecclesiastical court is any of certain courts having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. In the Middle Ages in many areas of Europe these courts had much wider powers than before the development of nation states...

    , which had deprived Dr Cockburn of his office.

  • Daniel McNaghten: Sir Robert Peel
    Robert Peel
    Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 December 1834 to 8 April 1835, and again from 30 August 1841 to 29 June 1846...

    's secretary, Edward Drummond
    Edward Drummond
    Edward Drummond was a British civil servant, and was Personal Secretary to several British Prime Ministers. He was murdered by Daniel M'Naghten, whose subsequent trial gave rise to the M'Naghten Rules, the legal test of insanity used in many common law jurisdictions.Drummond was a scion of the...

    , was shot by Daniel McNaghten
    M'Naghten Rules
    The M'Naghten rules were a reaction to the acquittal of Daniel McNaughton. They arise from the attempted assassination of the British Prime Minister, Robert Peel, in 1843 by Daniel M'Naghten. In fact, M'Naghten fired a pistol at the back of Peel's secretary, Edward Drummond, who died five days later...

     in 1843. Cockburn, briefed on behalf of the assassin
    Assassination
    To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

    , made a speech which helped to establish the insanity defence
    Insanity defence
    In criminal trials, the insanity defense is where the defendant claims that he or she was not responsible for his or her actions due to mental health problems . The exemption of the insane from full criminal punishment dates back to at least the Code of Hammurabi. There are different views of the...

     in Britain for the next century. At the trial, Cockburn had made extensive and effective use of Isaac Ray
    Isaac Ray
    Isaac Ray was an American psychiatrist, one of the founders of the discipline of forensic psychiatry. In 1838, he published A Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity , which served as an authoritative text for many years....

    's Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity. Cockburn quoted extensively from the book which rejected traditional views of the insanity defence
    Insanity defence
    In criminal trials, the insanity defense is where the defendant claims that he or she was not responsible for his or her actions due to mental health problems . The exemption of the insane from full criminal punishment dates back to at least the Code of Hammurabi. There are different views of the...

     based on the defendant's ability to distinguish "right from wrong" in favour of a broader approach based on causation
    Causation
    Causation may refer to:* Causation , a key component to establish liability in both criminal and civil law* Causation in English law defines the requirement for liability in negligence...

    . Cockburn displayed a mastery of the scientific evidence and was an innovator in exploiting forensic science in court.

  • The winner of the 1844 Derby: In 1844, he appeared in Wood v. Peel to determine the winner of a bet (the Gaming Act 1845
    Gaming Act 1845
    The Gaming Act 1845 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act's principal provision was to deem a wager unenforceable as a legal contract. The Act received Royal Assent on August 8, 1845...

     deemed bets unenforceable in law) as to whether the Derby
    Epsom Derby
    The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...

     winner Running Rein was a four-year-old or a three-year-old. Running Rein could not be produced when the judge, Baron Alderson, demanded, and as a result Cockburn lost the case, while his strenuous advocacy of his client's cause had led him into making, in his opening speech, strictures on Lord George Bentinck
    Lord George Bentinck
    Lord George Frederick Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck , better known as simply Lord George Bentinck, was an English Conservative politician and racehorse owner, best known for his role in unseating Sir Robert Peel over the Corn Laws.Bentinck was a younger son of the 4th Duke of Portland, and elected a...

    's conduct in the case which should have been held back.

  • The Achilli trial: During the short administration of Lord Derby
    Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
    Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, KG, PC was an English statesman, three times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and to date the longest serving leader of the Conservative Party. He was known before 1834 as Edward Stanley, and from 1834 to 1851 as Lord Stanley...

    , Cockburn was engaged against Sir Frederic Thesiger
    Frederic Thesiger, 1st Baron Chelmsford
    Frederic Thesiger, 1st Baron Chelmsford PC KC FRS was a British jurist and Conservative politician. He was twice Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.-Early life:...

     Attorney General at the time, and for John Henry Newman, in the case of a friar named Giacinto Achilli
    Giacinto Achilli
    Giovanni Giacinto Achilli was an Italian Roman Catholic who was discharged from the priesthood for sexual misconduct and subsequently became a fervent advocate of the Protestant evangelical cause...

     who had accused Newman of libel. The jury who heard the case under Lord Campbell found that Newman's plea of justification was not proved except in one particular, a verdict which, together with the methods of the judge and the conduct of the audience, attracted considerable comment.

  • William Palmer: In his tenure as Attorney General from 1852 to 1856, he led for the crown in the trial of William Palmer
    William Palmer (murderer)
    William Palmer was an English doctor who was convicted of murder in one of the most notorious cases of the 19th century.-Early life:...

     of Rugeley
    Rugeley
    Rugeley is a historic market town in the county of Staffordshire, England. It lies on the northern edge of Cannock Chase, and is situated roughly midway between the towns of Stafford, Cannock, Lichfield and Uttoxeter...

     in Staffordshire, an ex-medical man who poisoned a friend named Cook with strychnine
    Strychnine
    Strychnine is a highly toxic , colorless crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine causes muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia or sheer exhaustion...

     in order to steal from his estate. Cockburn made an exhaustive study of the medical aspects of the case and won a conviction after a twelve-day trial, again demonstrating his skill with forensic science.

  • The Hopwood will case (1855).

  • The Swynfen will case
    Swynfen will case
    The Swynfen will case was a series of English trials over the will of Samuel Swynfen that ran from 1856 to 1864 and raised important questions of ethics in the legal profession.-The case:...

    (1856)

As judge

Cockburn always sought out the most sensational cases and was astute in rearranging his diary so that he could sit in any trial likely to attract the attention of the press.
  • Martin v. Mackonachie: Cockburn sitting in the Queen's Bench division granted a writ to quash Lord Penzance
    James Wilde, 1st Baron Penzance
    James Plaisted Wilde, 1st Baron Penzance was a noted British judge and rose breeder who was also a proponent of the Baconian theory that the works usually attributed to William Shakespeare were in fact authored by Francis Bacon....

    's suspension of Alexander Heriot Mackonochie
    Alexander Heriot Mackonochie
    Alexander Heriot Mackonochie SSC was a Church of England clergyman and mission priest known as "the martyr of St Alban's" on account of his prosecution and forced resignation for ritualist practices.-Early life:...

     from his clerical office for breach of the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874
    Public Worship Regulation Act 1874
    The Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced as a Private Member's Bill by Archbishop of Canterbury Archibald Campbell Tait, to limit what he perceived as the growing ritualism of Anglo-Catholicism and the Oxford Movement within the Church...

    . Cockburn's decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal
    Court of Appeal of England and Wales
    The Court of Appeal of England and Wales is the second most senior court in the English legal system, with only the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom above it...

    .

  • The Tichborne Case
    Tichborne Case
    The affair of the Tichborne claimant was the celebrated 19th-century legal case in the United Kingdom of Arthur Orton , an imposter who claimed to be Sir Roger Tichborne , the missing heir to the Tichborne Baronetcy....

    : Cockburn presided over the civil case in which Arthur Orton
    Arthur Orton
    Arthur Orton , was the celebrated Tichborne claimant of the Victorian era.-Biography:Orton was born at Wapping, London, the son of George Orton, a butcher and purveyor of ships' stores....

     attempted to establish his identity as the missing baronet Sir Roger Tichborne. This trial collapsed after 103 days, the longest civil trial on record. Cockburn then presided over the subsequent trial of Orton for perjury
    Perjury
    Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...

    , a famous trial that lasted 188 days, setting a record for criminal trials, of which Cockburn CJ's summing-up occupied eighteen.

  • R v. Hicklin: He developed the Hicklin test
    Hicklin test
    The Hicklin test is a legal test for obscenity established by the English case Regina v. Hicklin. At issue was the statutory interpretation of the word "obscene" in the Obscene Publications Act 1857, which authorized the destruction of obscene books...

     for obscenity.

  • The Alabama claims
    Alabama Claims
    The Alabama Claims were a series of claims for damages by the United States government against the government of Great Britain for the assistance given to the Confederate cause during the American Civil War. After international arbitration endorsed the American position in 1872, Britain settled...

    : He also played a role in the arbitration of the Alabama claims at Geneva
    Geneva
    Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

     in 1872, in which he represented the British government. He dissented from the majority view as to British liability for the actions of British-built privateer ships. He prepared the English translation of the arbitrators' award and published a controversial dissenting opinion in which he admitted British liability for the actions of the CSS Alabama
    CSS Alabama
    CSS Alabama was a screw sloop-of-war built for the Confederate States Navy at Birkenhead, United Kingdom, in 1862 by John Laird Sons and Company. Alabama served as a commerce raider, attacking Union merchant and naval ships over the course of her two-year career, during which she never anchored in...

    , though not on the grounds given in the award, and discounted liability for the CSS Florida
    CSS Florida
    At least three ships of the Confederate States Navy were named CSS Florida in honor of the third Confederate state:* The blockade runner was commissioned in January 1862, captured by the U.S. Navy in April 1862, and became...

     and CSS Shenandoah
    CSS Shenandoah
    CSS Shenandoah, formerly Sea King, was an iron-framed, teak-planked, full rigged ship, with auxiliary steam power, captained by Commander James Waddell, Confederate States Navy, a North Carolinian with twenty years' service in the United States Navy.During 12½ months of 1864–1865 the ship...

    .

  • The Overend-Gurney
    Overend, Gurney and Company
    Overend, Gurney & Company was a London wholesale discount bank, known as "the bankers' bank", which collapsed in 1866 owing about 11 million pounds, equivalent to £981 million at 2008 prices.-Early years:...

     fraud trial
    : In the trial of the partners of Overend & Gurney, a bank that had collapsed in spectacular circumstances following precarious risks taken by the managers, in his summing up, Cockburn expressed the view that the defendant
    Defendant
    A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute...

    s had been guilty of nothing more than "grave error".

  • Woodley v. Metropolitan District Railway Co.:Woodley was set to repair a wall in a darkened railway tunnel in which trains continued to run, without warning or dedicated lookout, and with barely sufficient clearance between train and wall for the workman to make himself safe when a train passed. Woodley was seriously injured when he reached across the rail for a tool and was struck by a passing train. Cockburn CJ held that the employer was not liable, invoking the principle of volenti non fit injuria
    Volenti non fit injuria
    Volenti non fit injuria is a common law doctrine which means that if someone willingly places themselves in a position where harm might result, knowing that some degree of harm might result, they will not be able to bring a claim against the other party in tort or delict...

    .

  • Lavinia Ryves
    Lavinia Ryves
    Lavinia Jannetta Horton Ryves, née Lavinia Serres , was a British woman claiming to be a member of the British royal family, calling herself "Princess Lavinia of Cumberland"....

    's claim
    to the be daughter of Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, a claim that ultimately failed after Cockburn CJ told the jury in summing up that Ryves's evidence comprised "outrages on all probability".

  • The trial of Michael Barrett
    Michael Barrett (Fenian)
    Michael Barrett was born in Drumnagreshial in the Ederney area of County Fermanagh. In his adult years he became a member of the Fenians....

    for the Clerkenwell explosion.

  • The trial of Boulton and Park
    Boulton and Park
    Ernest Boulton and Frederick William Park were two Victorian transvestites and suspected homosexuals who appeared as defendants in a celebrated trial in London in 1871, charged "with conspiring and inciting persons to commit an unnatural offence"...

    for tranvestism and "conspiring and inciting persons to commit an unnatural offence".

  • The trial of Henry Wainwright
    Henry Wainwright
    Henry Wainwright was an English murderer.Wainwright was a brushmaker who murdered his mistress Harriet Lane in September 1874 and buried her body in a warehouse he owned. When he was declared bankrupt the next year, he disinterred the body in September 1875 and attempted to rebury it with his...

    for murder. The crime, in which Wainwright was arrested in possession of the dismembered body of his victim, was given more publicity at the time than those of Jack the Ripper
    Jack the Ripper
    "Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...

    .

Personality

In personal appearance Cockburn was of small stature with a large head, but possessed a very dignified manner. He enjoyed yachting
Yachting
Yachting refers to recreational sailing or boating, the specific act of sailing or using other water vessels for sporting purposes.-Competitive sailing:...

 and other sport, and writing. Something of an adventurer in his youth, he was fond of socialising and womanising, fathering two illegitimate children. He "was also throughout his life addicted to frivolities not altogether consistent with advancement in a learned profession, or with the positions of dignity which he successively occupied." In his later years, he reminisced "Whatever happens, I have had my whack". He once had to escape through the window of the robing room at Rougemont Castle, Exeter, Devon
Rougemont Castle
Rougemont Castle is the historic castle of Exeter.The castle was first built in 1068 to help William the Conqueror maintain control over the city. It is perched on an ancient volcanic plug, overlaying remains of the Roman city of Isca Dumnoniorum...

 to evade bailiff
Bailiff
A bailiff is a governor or custodian ; a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed...

s. Shortly before he became Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Cockburn was walking in London's Haymarket with fellow barrister William Ballantine
William Ballantine
Serjeant William Ballantine SL was an English Serjeant-at-law, a legal position defunct since the legal reforms of the 1870s.-Early career:...

 when he saw a police constable roughly handling a woman. The pair stopped to protest but found themselves accused of obstructing a constable in the execution of his duty, arrested by the constable and conveyed to Vine Street Police Station
Vine Street, Westminster
Vine Street is a thoroughfare in Westminster, London, England. Its main claim to notability is as one of the streets on the standard London Monopoly board....

. At the station they met an acquaintance who explained to the inspector who they were and they were released.

However, he was a passionate champion of the proper role of the advocate and on the occasion of a reception for Antoine Pierre Berryer
Antoine Pierre Berryer
Antoine Pierre Berryer was a French advocate and parliamentary orator. He was the twelfth member elected to occupy seat 4 of the Académie française in 1852.-Early years:...

 in Middle Temple Hall, said:
As a judge he did not have the highest reputation, with a joke within the legal profession being that he became a first rate judge only because he sat with Lord Blackburn. Charles Francis Adams, Sr.
Charles Francis Adams, Sr.
Charles Francis Adams, Sr. was an American lawyer, politician, diplomat and writer. He was the grandson of President John Adams and Abigail Adams and the son of President John Quincy Adams and Louisa Adams....

, a fellow judge on the Geneva tribunal to resolve the Alabama claims
Alabama Claims
The Alabama Claims were a series of claims for damages by the United States government against the government of Great Britain for the assistance given to the Confederate cause during the American Civil War. After international arbitration endorsed the American position in 1872, Britain settled...

 issue, felt that Sir Alexander's temper was so short that he seemed mentally unbalanced.

Family

Although Cockburn never married, he had at least one daughter and probably a son, by the unmarried Louisa Ann Elizabeth Dalley Godfrey (born 15 February 1814), the daughter of William Daniel Leake Godfrey (1788–1868) and his wife Louisa Hannah (née Dalley, 1791–1852):
  1. Louisa C. Cockburn (Stratford, Essex
    Stratford, London
    Stratford is a place in the London Borough of Newham, England. It is located east northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an agrarian settlement in the ancient parish of West Ham, which transformed into an industrial suburb...

     1839 – Isle of Wight
    Isle of Wight
    The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

     25 April 1869), who married at Chelsea, London
    Chelsea, London
    Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...

     on 25 June 1863 to Charles William Cavendish (Chiswick
    Chiswick
    Chiswick is a large suburb of west London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located on a meander of the River Thames, west of Charing Cross and is one of 35 major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, with...

     24 September 1822 – Isle of Wight 21 December 1890), a grandson of George Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington
    George Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington
    George Augustus Henry Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington , styled Lord George Cavendish before 1831, was a British politician.-Background:...

    , with issue
    Louis Francis John Charles Raphael Cavendish (24 October 1864 – 31 December 1890), who never married
  2. Alexander E. (Alex) Cockburn (Sydenham
    Sydenham
    Sydenham is an area and electoral ward in the London Borough of Lewisham; although some streets towards Crystal Palace Park, Forest Hill and Penge are outside the ward and in the London Borough of Bromley, and some streets off Sydenham Hill are in the London Borough of Southwark. Sydenham was in...

     1846 – Westminster
    Westminster
    Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...

     1887 ) who never married and to whom Cockburn left the majority of his fortune. His son did not succeed him as Baronet of Langton

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