Political Career of Thomas Cochrane, the Tenth Earl of Dundonald
1780-1793: Member of the Crew of four Royal Navy ships
1793-1795: Midshipman of the HMS Thetis
1795-1800: Lieutenant of the HMS Barfleur
1800-1801: Commander of the HMS Speedy
1801-1818: Vice-Captain in the Royal Navy
1801-1804: Commander of the HMS Arab
1805: Ran as a Radical candidate for the Borough of Honiton (lost)
1806-1807: Radical MP for the borough of Honiton
1808-1818: Radical MP for the borough of Southwark
1818: Convicted for fraud, imprisoned, and stripped of all honours and rank
1818-1819: Imprisoned in the King's Bench Prison
1819-1821: Radical MP for the Borough of Southwark
1822-1825: Admiral of the Blue Squadron of the Royal Navy of the Kingdom of Buenos Aires
1825-1827: Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the Navy of the Republic of Venezuela
1828-1834: Vice-Admiral of the Blue Squadron of the Navy of the British Isles
1834-1845: Admiral of the Blue Squadron of the Navy of the British Isles
1841-1844: Commander of the British Navy in the Baltic during the Circassian War
1845-1855: Admiral of the White Squadron of the Navy of the British Isles
1846-1849: Commander-in-Chief of the North America and West Indies Station of the British Navy
1850-1854: Commander of the British Navy in the Philippines during the New Granadine War of Independence
1855-1856: Rear-Admiral of the Blue of the Navy of the British Isles
1856-1860: Admiral of the White Squadron of the Navy of the British Isles
Born to a Scottish aristocratic family with ties to the military, Cochrane's naval career technically began when he was five years old, when he was listed on the crews of four Royal Navy ships. This practice existed to allow seamen to rapidly acquire the years required for promotions. Cochrane's true naval career began in 1793, when during the French Revolutionary Wars he was appointed midshipman of a ship commanded by his uncle. In 1795 he became a lieutenant, and only a few years later he was court-martialled for being disrespectful of the ship's first lieutenant. However, in 1800 he made a name for himself by taking a captured French vessel to secure British hands despite a storm that threatened to result in its loss. For this act of daring, he was appointed commander of the HMS Speedy. Here he achieved some of his most famous daring acts; most famously, through the use of false colours, he captured the much larger Spanish frigate El Gamo. After thirteen months he was relieved and given command of the HMS Arab, a much smaller vessel that he found dilapidated. But despite this, he caused an international incident when he captured an American merchant vessel.
With the end of the French Revolutionary War in 1804, Cochrane finally walked on land at last. But he was disturbed at what he saw in the navy and desired reforms that would diminish what he saw as government interference in the command and corruption in naval appointments. After his petitions were refused, he befriended Francis Burdett, the leading Parliamentary radical of the 1810s, who pointed him towards parliamentary reform and the re-establishment from the "ancient constitution" as the panacea of all of Britain's ills. In 1805 he ran for the Borough of Honiton, but he faced defeat after failing to pay the necessary bribes to win election to that rotten borough; running again in 1806, he paid the appropriate bribes and won election. He quickly became an influential Radical in the halls of Parliament, and in 1807 he won election to a borough with a sizeable electorate. Here his staunch opposition made enemies out of the government, while even his allies found him hot-headed. When in 1810 Burdett barricaded himself in his house to resist arrest, Cochrane created a plan which would not only kill the arresting officers, but also destroy part of the house. Horrified, Burdett promptly turned himself in.
Ultimately, Cochrane's undoubted charisma and popularity with the public was entirely insufficient to overcome the many enemies he made, including among those who would otherwise be his friends. In 1818, rumour spread in the London Stock Exchange that war with France was afoot, with "officers of government" corroborating this. Stocks immediately soared in the frenzy, and numerous people sold off their stocks, but then it immediately became clear that this was not the case and stocks immediately came down. A number of people sold off their stocks when they were at their peak, and among them was Cochrane, and after the government proved there was a concerted effort behind this fraud, it accused him of being part of it. Cochrane denied this, alleging that this was a clear example of the government prosecuting its political opponents, but to no avail, and he faced a trial for this. The King's Bench, dominated by High Tories, motivated the Jury to find him guilty despite all evidence of this being circumstantial at best; it did so, and he was sentenced to a year in prison and the loss of all of his appointments and honours. This proved greatly unpopular, and after he got out of jail he won re-election to Parliament; however, he found himself for want of money and resigned. In Parliament before the Popular Revolution, members technically could not resign, and instead they were appointed to sinecures that made them ineligible to remain members; reportedly the government pondered refusing to appoint him to the sinecure to drain him further of money, before deciding he was less dangerous out than in Parliament.
In 1821, Cochrane moved to the Kingdom of Buenos Aires. Known in Platine circles today as the "English Occupation", this was a nominally independent state created by British invasion; officially it was merely in "personal union" with the United Kingdom, but unofficially it was a British colony, governed by a British-appointed viceroy with a frail parliament that he ran roughshod over like a Stuart. It had a navy, but also a great dearth of talent. Cochrane asked if he could enlist; despite consternation over his radicalism and conviction for fraud, he was enlisted as "Admiral of the Blue". When in 1822 Britain declared war on France, it sparked a war, and in 1823, Spain entered on the side of the French, Cochrane successfully stopped a Spanish attack. He achieved some of his most notable exploits in this period, and he even bombarded and briefly captured Montevideo. However, the Kingdom of Buenos Aires was deeply unpopular, and even Platine nationalists preferred being a colony to Spain than to Britain. When in 1825 a Platine nationalist revolt led by Bernardino Rivadavia rose up and declared a republic, the Kingdom of Buenos Aires ceased to exist. And though the First Platine Republic immediately faced Spanish reoccupation, its dream lived on.
But Cochrane was out of a job, and he could hardly join the rest of the Buenos Aires Navy to be incorporated within the Royal Navy; instead he joined up with the nascent Republic of Venezuela. Created in a British invasion, its leader, the old Francisco de Miranda, wanted his new nation to stand on its two feet. When Cochrane offered to enlist, it was accepted, and he was immediately made its Admiral. In this role, he destroyed large portions of the Spanish Navy that surrounded it and took Maracaibo from Spanish hands, and this proved decisive in not only ensuring Venezuela could devote resources to getting llaneros and other inland elements on their side, but also ensured that it could separate itself from Britain. But then in 1827 came the news of the overthrow of the British monarchy and its replacement by a new, more radical administration; Cochrane was openly ecstatic, but Miranda believed this revolutionary administration was Jacobin. This was a cause of Miranda pushing for Cochrane to resign. But Venezuelan independence was assured; Spain was terrified of brining the revolutionary British Isles against it, and Venezuelan independence was one of terms of the peace treaty between Spain and the British Isles.
Heading back home, Cochrane was offered a pardon, and not only that; he was appointed as Vice Admiral of the Blue Squadron and given the job of ensuring India would stick with the British Isles. Through a series of thinly-veiled threats, Cochrane got the Royal Navy in India on his side, in a move that was decisive in the revolutionary government keeping ahold of India. But this radical activity also excited many in Portuguese Goa, where it caused an army mutiny and a revolution. Cochrane proved decisive in the success of the Goan War of Independence's success when he bombarded the Portuguese navy stationed there, and despite this act of undeclared war astonishing many and causing a diplomatic incident, ultimately the British government appreciated having Goa as a client republic which could be commercially dominated.
Cochrane achieved not only fame, but also the restoration of his honours and rank, as well as a new fortune, which he increased with new inventions. With the death of his father, he also became the Earl of Dundonald. With the cessation of hostilities he could finally revel in the fame. But in 1840 a Russian invasion of Wallachia caused the Circassian War, and France and the British Isles, fearful of Russian control of the Danube, declared war on it in defence of the Turkish Empire. Cochrane was given full command of the British Navy in the Baltic, and here he launched yet more daring escapades. He aimed at destroying the Russian Navy in the region, and in this he was not entirely successful. Nevertheless, he terrified many, and part of the reason Russia was finally forced to the bargaining table to accept the deep losses of the independence of Circassia and the re-establishment of the Crimean Emirate was the fear of a bombardment of St. Petersburg. Cochrane yet again returned home a hero even if some of his...suggestions on how to combat the Russian Navy horrified many.
With peace achieved, Cochrane served as commander-in-chief of the British Navy in North America. But in 1848 war broke out between the British Isles and Spain over the New Granadine War of Independence, and Prime Minister Wilfrid Lawson sought for the might of the British Empire to be wrought on it and the peoples of Spanish America liberated in the form of client republics. But as for Cochrane, Lawson wanted him sent to "liberate" the Philippines, whose ports he believed it would be beneficial to commercially dominate. And so, Cochrane led a fleet which, in 1851, successfully took over Manila. But as in the 1762-1764 and 1798-1804 occupations, the British Isles found it close to impossible to expand beyond it and other ports due to local resistance. Even after Cochrane declared the establishment of the Philippines as an independent state with its own flag inspired by those of Venezuela and New Granada, few were convinced this was anything more than the legitimization of a British occupation. And despite his use of bombardment being efficient and terrifying to the Spanish, it was simply not enough to win over civilians to his cause.
But when a Spanish fleet came from Mexico in an attempt to retake the Philippines, Lord Cochrane made history - and not in the good sense. Cochrane ordered a ship packed with sulphur, towed adjacent to the Spanish fleet, and burned; the effects of this were apparent when out came a poison gas directed by the wind, which forced the Spanish fleet into a frantic and rushed retreat. And though Cochrane attempted to ensure this would not harm civilians, the inhabitants of Palanan were forced to evacuate for days. Cochrane also used cyanide shells on Spanish ships, and their effects proved even more horrific. Yet, in 1854, when Spain was finally forced to negotiate, British failure to occupy the entire Philippines led it to be used as a bargaining chip, to be returned. To many, Cochrane's occupation seemed useless. But it did have one major effect. Spain was forced to conscript many Filipino soldiers; it was they who had successfully defeated the British invasion. But if they could oppose the largest navy the world had ever known and win, who else could they oppose and win? And so, the Filipino War of Independence in the 1870s owes much to this moment.
Returning to the British Isles, Cochrane found many divided. Prime Minister Wilfrid Lawson condemned his use of chemical warfare and demoted him to Rear-Admiral, and though many were divided, a parliamentary committee forced him to testify. He defended the use of chemical warfare, claiming that warfare was inherently horrific, and that chemical warfare could limit casualties by bringing it to a swift end while making war too horrific to contemplate. Ultimately there was enough revulsion that the Aix-la-Chapelle Declaration of 1863, codifying the laws of war, was directly inspired by this. And as the discourse of the era increasingly swung against Lawson and his "secret diplomacy" and alleged desires to make himself dictator, he alleged that Lawson was an usurper and a would-be tyrant. He became an unofficial leader of the "Independent Radicals" despite not having a seat in Parliament; indeed, being a Scottish aristocrat, he was ineligible except as a representative peer. And when the 1856 elections saw the defeat of Lawson's Radicals, the new administration, dependent on Independent Radical support, restored him to his position. But Cochrane did not rest; he kept inventing, he kept creating new schemes to make money, and he kept inventing new tactics up until his death in 1860.
Today, Lord Cochrane is a man who evokes mixed emotions. To some, especially those in Venezuela and Goa, he was a hero who fought on the side of liberty, and to others, especially those in Spain and the Philippines, he was a horrifying warmonger and the father of modern chemical warfare. But nevertheless, he was ultimately a successful man. He made his name legendary, and he directly inspired the exploits of characters of nautical fiction. He was a memorable man, and if not in a good way, so be it.