Sir William Cockburn, 11th Baronet

Sir William Cockburn, 11th Baronet (2 June 1773 – 30 April 1858, Kelston) was a Church of England clergyman. He was Dean of York (1823–1858) and was famously defended on a charge of simony by his nephew Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet in 1841.

Cockburn was the third son of Sir James Cockburn, 8th Baronet and his second wife Augusta Anne Ayscough. His maternal grandfather was Francis Ayscough, Dean of Bristol. In 1853 Cockburn was made a baronet after the death of his brother, George.

In 1805, he married Elizabeth Peel (died 16.06.1828), sister of Sir Robert Peel. She gave birth to three sons. James, the eldest, died in 1845 at the age of 38, Robert, the second son, died in 1850, aged 42, and George, the third son, died in 1850, aged 37. In 1830 Cockburn married Margaret Pearce, the daughter of a Colonel Pearce, but they had no children.

Cockburn was educated at Charterhouse School and St John's College, Cambridge, graduating as twelfth wrangler in 1795 and receiving his MA in 1798 and DD in 1823. A fellow of St John's from 1796 to 1806, he was the first Christian Advocate of Cambridge University from 1803 to 1810. He was also a vocal scriptural geologist.

William Cockburn was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1800 and as priest the following year. In 1822 he became the Dean of York, the chief place of authority and dignity in the Cathedral and a position he held until his death in 1858. From 1832 onwards he was also rector of Kelston, Somerset, near Bristol, where he generally spent half the year.

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