Author: Cochrane, John
Biography:
COCHRANE, John (fl 1821)
There are two mysteries about this author. One is the bibliographical puzzle of why there are two separate 1821 imprints of his book, by different London publishers; the clue here may be that one (published by Warren) was registered at Stationers’ Hall. Advertisements have been found only for the Stoddart publication; these date from Apr. 1821. The second mystery is his identity which has not been conclusively established. He published as “John Cochrane Esq.” and the book shows that he was educated although his name does not appear in the registers for either Oxford or Cambridge university. The introduction states that he had intended a different arrangement for the poem but had “no longer spirits or health sufficient to dwell on its revision.” It is just possible that he was the John Cochrane who was born to the Hon. John Cochrane and his wife in Edinburgh on 4 Feb. 1798, admitted to the Inner Temple in London in 1819, and called to the bar on 29 June 1824. If so, he was a skilled chess player whose A Treatise on the Game of Chess was published in 1824. He went to Calcutta in 1843 where he practiced law and served as president of the Calcutta chess club. He returned to England in 1868. He was living at 12 Bryanston Square, London, when he died on 2 Mar. 1878. Cochrane was buried in the West Brompton cemetery on 8 Mar. (ancestry.co.uk 18 Jan. 2024; innertemple.org.uk 18 Jan. 2024; Star 23 Apr. 1821)