Cockburn, Sir Alexander James Edmund
b. 1802-12-24
d. 1880-11-20
Alexander James Edmund Cockburn was born 24 December 1802 in England.1 In 1822, he entered Trinity Hall at Cambridge University to study law.2 He was admitted to Middle Temple in 1825, and was called to the bar in 1829.3 In 1847, Cockburn was elected to the British Parliament as the liberal representative from Southampton.4 In 1850, he was named Solicitor General, and also received his knighthood.5 Cockburn and Bethell were consulted on the issue of revenues after the purchase of Hudson’s Bay land on Vancouver Island by the British Government.6 They were also consulted about the Hudson’s Bay assertion of land rights in British Columbia.7 They argued against the HBC’s claim stating, there are not any grounds on which the Company is entitled to claim against the Crown the absolute ownership of any of the Lands, occupied or used in British Columbia before the Treaty of Oregon.8 In 1856, he was made Attorney General; a post he kept until he was appointed the Chief Justice on the Queen’s Bench in 1859.9 He died 20 November 1880 at his home at the age of 78.10
  • 1. Michael Lobban. Cockburn, Sir Alexander James Edmund, Oxford Dictionary Of National Biography.
  • 2. Ibid.
  • 3. Ibid.
  • 4. Ibid.
  • 5. Ibid.
  • 6. Bethell and Atherton to Newcastle, 24 January 1860, 824, CO 305/15, p. 338.
  • 7. Bethell and Atherton to Newcastle, 19 March 1860, 309l, CO 60/9, p. 108.
  • 8. Ibid.
  • 9. Lobban, Cockburn.
  • 10. Ibid.
Mentions of this person in the documents
People in this document

Bethell, Sir Richard

Places in this document

British Columbia

Vancouver Island

The Colonial Despatches Team. Cockburn, Sir Alexander James Edmund. The Colonial Despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871, Edition 2.0, ed. The Colonial Despatches Team. Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria. https://bcgenesis.uvic.ca/cockburn.html.

Last modified: 2020-03-30 13:22:16 -0700 (Mon, 30 Mar 2020) (SVN revision: 4193)