Sir Charles Cockerell, 1st Baronet

Sir Charles Cockerell, 1st Baronet (18 February 1755 – 6 January 1837)[1] was a Somerset-born Englishman who prospered as an official of the East India Company (EIC) and became a politician.

[3] After education at Sharpe's school in Bromley-by-Bow and later Winchester College between 1767 and 1769, Cockerell arrived in Bengal, India in 1776 as a writer (clerk) for the EIC's surveyor-general's office.

[4] Whilst remaining as an agent for the EIC, Cockerell was introduced as a Member of Parliament for Tregony by Richard Barwell, whom he had known in India.

He was a silent supporter of Henry Addington's ministry and considered doubtful by William Pitt the Younger on the latter's reelection in 1804.

The couple had a son, Charles Rushout Cockerell (b.1809), who succeeded to the baronetcy and two daughters, Harriet-Anne and Elizabeth Maria (d.1832).

Sezincote House , where Cockerel lived on his return from India.
Harriet Rushout, portrait miniature by Andrew Plimer