William Cochrane - Judge Advocate of Scotland
Biography
Birth: about 1733
Death: Jan 20, 1766 in Marseille, France
Son of James Cochrane (d. 1762)1 and Cecilia Oliphant. A second cousin of JB's mother, Euphemia, both being grandchildren of William Cochrane of Ochiltree (d. 1716). Judge Advocate for Scotland (1757-after 1762).2 William Cochrane was possibly born in 1733,3 and died at Marseille in 1766.
Life with James Boswell
On February 21, 1763 Boswell received an anonymous and rather humorous letter, which turned out to be from Cochrane who visited him on the next day. When they met on February 27, however, Boswell quickly tired of him, and described him as "affected, vulgar, and snappish". They dined together again on April 21, 1763.
Notes
Note 1: James Cochrane was Judge-Advocate for Scotland (1748-1757) and was succeeded by his son (i.e. William).
Note 2: Notice of his appointment in Gentleman's Magazine, February, 1757.
Note 3: According to Familysearch, two William Cochranes were born to James Cochrane and Cecilia Oliphant in the 1730s, one in 1733 (Link) and one in 1737 (Link). As we're certain that the William Cochrane in question succeeded his father as Judge Advocate as early as 1757, the earlier date is most probably correct.
Recommended literature
Mentioned in
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