Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone
| Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Andrew Cochrane |
| Born | 24 May 1767 |
| Died | August 1833 |
| Allegiance |
Great Britain United Kingdom |
| Service/branch | British Army |
| Years of service | 1783–1805 |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Unit | |
| Commands held | 8th West India Regiment |
| Relations |
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| Other work |
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Andrew James Cochrane-Johnstone (24 May 1767 – August 1833) was a Scottish soldier, politician and adventurer who was found guilty of participation in the . He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Born Andrew Cochrane, he was the youngest son of Thomas Cochrane, 8th Earl of Dundonald (1691–1778) and his second wife Jane Stuart (1722–1808). He became a cornet in the British Army in 1783. After returning from India to recover his health, he was elected to Parliament from Stirling Boroughs in 1791. In 1793 he married Georgiana Hope-Johnstone, a daughter of James Hope-Johnstone, 3rd Earl of Hopetoun; she died in 1797, after they had had one daughter. Cochrane added "Johnstone" to his name at the time of their marriage. Despite the opposition of Henry Dundas to his election in 1791, Cochrane-Johnstone supported the government of William Pitt the Younger, and was re-elected in 1796 in a race against his cousin Sir John Henderson, who was in opposition. In 1794 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and in 1797 was promoted to Colonel and then made Governor of Dominica (which terminated his position as M.P.)
Cochrane-Johnstone served as governor on Dominica until 1803; an 1802 mutiny by the 8th West India Regiment was quelled with severity, but led to a court-martial of the governor on charges of embezzlement, arbitrary rule, using soldiers for private servants, and other charges. The trial in 1805 cleared Cochrane-Johnstone, but his military career was over.
He had married Amelia Constance Gertrude Etienette, a widow and the only child of a French governor of Guadeloupe, in March 1803; they were forced to divorce soon afterwards.
In 1807 Cochrane-Johnstone was elected MP for Grampound in Cornwall, a notoriously rotten borough, along with his brother George, reputedly financed by their wealthy brother Basil. He was disqualified in March 1808 for lack of property. By then he had gone to the West Indies where he lived in the customs house in Tortola, which was under the command of another brother, Admiral Alexander Cochrane. Made an agent and auctioneer for the navy in the conquest of some of the other Danish islands, Cochrane through bribery and fraud illegally obtained captured goods; arrested, he escaped to England with his profits.
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