John Cockburn

John Cockburn may refer to:

See also

John Cockburn (Australian politician)

Sir John Alexander Cockburn, KCMG (23 August 1850 – 26 November 1929) was Premier of South Australia from 27 June 1889 until 18 August 1890.

Early life

Cockburn was born in Corsbie, Berwickshire, Scotland in 1850 to Thomas Cockburn, farmer, and his wife Isabella, née Wright. His father died in France in 1855, and his mother migrated to South Australia in 1867 with three of the four children. Cockburn remained in the UK and was educated at Highgate School, and King's College London, he obtained the degree of M.D. London, with first class honours and gold medal. In 1875 he married Sarah Holdway (the daughter of Forbes Scott Brown) and they had one son and one daughter.

In 1879 he emigrated to South Australia and set up practice at Jamestown in the mid North.

Political career

In 1878 Cockburn was elected as the first mayor of Jamestown. In that role he lobbied the Government of South Australia to construct a railway line to the New South Wales border to tap the newly developed silver mining fields of the Barrier Ranges. Between 1884 and 1888, during Cockburn's parliamentary career, the South Australian Railways line through Jamestown to Petersburg was extended to the border to meet the tramway built by the Silverton Tramway Company. This linked the growing mines of Broken Hill to the South Australian coast at Port Pirie, where a smelter was built in 1889, effectively capturing the economic benefits of the Broken Hill mining field for South Australia. The town surveyed at the colonial border in 1886 was named Cockburn in his honour.

John Cockburn (Scottish politician)

John Cockburn (/ˈkoʊbərn/ KOH-bərn) of Ormiston, East Lothian, (died 12 November 1758) was a Scottish politician, the son of Adam Cockburn of Ormiston, Lord Justice Clerk. He is also known as the father of Scottish husbandry.

Cockburn became a member of the Scottish parliament and took an active interest in accomplishing the union. He was the first representative of East Lothian in the parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, and continued to hold that seat in all successive parliaments, till 1741 and was one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.

This last Cockburn of Ormiston was an enthusiastic entrepreneur and eventually ruined himself. His estates were sold to the Earl of Hopetoun.

John Cockburn of Ormiston died in his son's house in the Navy Office, London, England. He had married Beatrix, daughter of John Carmichael, 1st Earl of Hyndford, by whom he had no issue. His natural son, George Cockburne (d.1770), was a captain in the Royal Navy, and married Caroline, daughter of George Forrester, 5th Lord Forrester, with female issue.