Miniature portrait, of Sir Thomas Cochrane

This miniature portrait of Sir Thomas Cochrane, son of Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane dates from around 1810.

As a seven-year-old boy in 1795, Thomas Cochrane was serving aboard his father's ship HMS Thetis. There was strong competition for appointments as naval cadets, midshipmen and officers. Family and political connections were an important advantage.

Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane (1758-1832) spent much of his career in the West Indies and off North America, where British and French ships attacked each others' vital Atlantic trade. During the War of 1812, the American capital Washington was attacked and burnt under his authority. Cochrane was a son of the 8th Earl of Dundonald and uncle of the famous Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, hero of wars of national liberation in Chile, Peru, Brazil and Greece.

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