Cochranes in context: A case study of Scotland and the British Empire

This paper will demonstrate that the multi-generational viewpoint of an elite Scottish family is a heuristic tool with which to examine the British Empire. While the notion of the reciprocal influences between Scotland and the Empire may be nearing consensus in British historiography, the pre-1707 foundations for that relationship are less understood. The family under analysis in this paper, the Cochranes of the Earldom of Dundonald, presents a number of case studies which allow for a greater historic and historiographic appreciation not only of the pre-Union groundwork for the Scottish paradigm in British imperialism, but also of Scotland's post-Union ubiquity in the Empire, exemplified by the Cochranes' penetration of several significant themes (informal empire and popular imperialism, for example) and institutions (such as the East India Company and the Royal Navy) that are affording imperial, British, and Scottish history their current energy and fusion. With a healthy dose of detachment and historical context, this paper seeks to help reaffirm the relevance of the individual to the centuries-long historical process of shaping the British Empire a process that should be given additional coherence in the paper by the simple fact of the familial connection shared by the Cochranes.