Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cochrane, John (d.1650?)
COCHRANE, Sir JOHN (d. 1650?) soldier and diplomatist, was the eldest son of Alexander Blair, who on his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of William Cochrane of Cochrane, assumed the name of Cochrane. His younger brother William [q. v.] became first earl of Dundonald. He was in command of a regiment at Edinburgh in 1640, and in the following year was implicated in the plot for seizing the chiefs of the parliamentary party. He was arrested, but being released on bail, joined the king at York in 1642. Thence he was sent by Charles to Denmark to solicit help in men or money, and returning with the Danish ambassador, who was instructed to attempt to mediate between the king and the parliament, was arrested in London. Having regained his liberty he was placed by the king in command of Towcester in 1643. His estates were forfeited in the following year. He was subsequently employed in raising money for the royal cause in Hamburg, Danzig, and Poland. He was living in 1650, and probably died before the Restoration. His wife was a Butler of the Ormonde family.
[Sir James Turner's Memoirs, p. 17; Baillie's Letters, i. 392, ii.9 ; Spalding's Memorials of the Troubles (Spalding Club), ii. 74-7, 86, 208, 430; Spalding's Hist, of the Troubles (Bann. Club), ii. 99, 284; Whitelocke, pp. 66, 394, 451, 695; Warburton's Memoirs of Prince Rupert, ii. 335; Ancram and Lothian Corresp. (Bann. Club), ii. 312, 333; Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, i. 471; Dundonald's Autobiography of a Seaman, p. 11.]