Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cockin, William
COCKIN, WILLIAM (1736–1801), author, son of Marmaduke Cockin, was born at Burton in Kendal, Westmoreland, in September 1736. After a short time spent as a teacher in schools in London, he was in 1764 appointed writing-master and accountant to the grammar school at Lancaster, a situation he held for twenty years. He was afterwards for eight years at Mr. Blanchard's academy at Nottingham, and then retired to his native town. He was a friend of Romney the painter, and of the Rev. Thomas Wilson of Clitheroe, and he died at the house of the former, at Kendal, on 30 May 1801, aged 65. He was buried at Burton. He was the author of the following works : 1. 'Rational and Practical Arithmetic,' 1766, 8vo. 2. 'The Art of Delivering Written Language,' 1775. 3. 'Occasional Attempts in Verse,' privately printed at Kendal, 1776, 8vo. 4. 'Ode to the Genius of the Lakes,' 1780, 4to. 5. 'The Theory of the Syphon,' 1781. 6. ' The Fall of Scepticism and Infidelity predicted,' 1788, 8vo. 7. 'The Freedom of Human Action explained,' 1791, 8vo. 8. 'The Rural Sabbath,' a poem, 1805, 12mo. This posthumous volume includes a reprint of the 'Ode to the Lakes,' with, biographical notes. He also assisted in the compilation of West's 'Guide to the Lakes,' and contributed to the 'Philosophical Transactions' 'An Account of an Extraordinary Appearance in a Mist near Lancaster' (Phil. Trans. (1780), lxx. 157).
[Account of the Author in Cockin's Rural Sabbath; Rev. T. Wilson's Miscellanies, ed. Raines (Chatham Society), p. lviii; Hayley's Life of G. Romney, 1809, pp. 278-9, 295-6; Gent. Mag. 1801, pt. i. p. 575.]