Basil Cochrane

Basil Cochrane (22 April 1753 – 12 or 14 August 1826 in Paris, France[1][2]) was a Scottish civil servant, businessman, inventor, and wealthy nabob of early-19th-century England.

[4] The demand for provisions was so great that Basil had flour mills and bakeries built at Calcutta and Madras to fulfill his contracts.

He built a large house at 12 Portman Square, where he was able to socialise with his brother Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone, his nephew Lord Cochrane, and others.

In 1807 he financed the campaigns of his brothers Andrew and George in the notorious rotten borough of Grampound to place them in Parliament, perhaps to increase pressure on the government to settle his accounts.

After Cochrane's accounts were settled in 1819, he published several works criticising the Victualing Board's conduct towards him and calling for reforms in the process.

While in India, Cochrane had six children with a woman named Lucy Sutton: Jane (1799-1875), George (1800-1875), Maria (1801-1830), Alexander (1803-1884), Thomas (1805-1873), and Charles (1807-1855).

Andrew (1767–1833) was a soldier, businessman, and adventurer who fled the country after being convicted in the Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814.