Cockburn, James Pattison, 1779-1847 : Born on March 18, 1779, in New York, James Pattison Cockburn was the son of John Cockburn (act. 1763-1809), Royal Artillery, and his wife Mary. He was named after his godfather, General James Pattison (1723-1805), under whom his father was serving. Cockburn entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, England, as a gentleman cadet on March 19, 1793, at which time Paul Sandby (1725-1809) was Drawing Master. Cockburn obtained a commission in the Royal Artillery as a 2nd lieutenant on January 27, 1796, and rose through the ranks, obtaining his final rank as major-general in November 1846. During most of his stay in Canada, he was a major, and then a lieutenant-colonel. He served as the director of the Royal Laboratory at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, from October 1838 until his retirement in November, 1846. He died at his residence in Woolwich, March 18, 1847.
Cockburn was posted abroad to the Cape of Good Hope and East Indies 1795-1803, Denmark (siege of Copenhagen) 1807, and in Canada from November 1822 to June 1823, and from August 1826 to August 1832. From 1806 to 1817 he was stationed at Norwich and Colchester, and at Woolwich 1817-1822, and 1823-5. He travelled extensively on the Continent on leaves of absences.
Cockburn was a prolific amateur artist and water-colourist, frequently with the intent to publish. Four sets of views were published after his work: the Siege of Copenhagen (Boydell & Co., 1807), Woolwich (Havell & Co., 1816), Quebec (a set of six prints, including Montmorency falls, published by Ackermann & Co., 1833) and Niagara Falls (a set of six prints, published by Ackermann & Co., 1833, and reprinted, with a new dedication, in 1857). Additionally an aerial map of the Scheldt expedition in August 1809 was published after his work. In 1918 the Fine Arts Co. of London, England, published a set of 18 photogravures after original watercolours by Cockburn then in private hands.
Cockburn is also listed as the author of six European travel guides, and the authorship of "Quebec and Its Environs: Being a Picturesque Guide to the Stranger", published in Quebec in 1831, has been attributed to him. Cockburn's European and Canadian views frequently reappeared in subsequent publications.
Cockburn's Canadian water-colours and drawings date mostly to his second posting. The annual inspection tours of Upper and Lower Canada as Commander of the Royal Artillery in Canada gave him ample opportunity to sketch. His artistic endeavours brought him to the attention of a larger social circle; Lord and Lady Dalhousie, as respected patrons of the arts during their stay in the colony from 1819-1828, acquired at least two of his albums of views, while Lady Aylmer, wife of Lord Dalhousie's successor in office (1828-1835), described Colonel Cockburn as "one of the most accurate and Elegant artists I have ever met". Her journal, Recollections of Canada, 1831, is embellished with numerous Cockburn watercolours and drawings.
Cockburn married Elizabeth Vansittart at the Cape of Good Hope in 1800; they had five sone and two daughters. Three of the sons followed military careers: John Henry Cockburn (1801-1837), James Cockburn (1810-1888), and Charles Vansittart Cockburn (1812-1896).
