Revd Dr Thomas Cockman, Doctor of Divinity (1675–1745) was an Oxford academic and administrator.
The success of Thomas Cockman's appeal involved accepting that King Alfred had founded the college.
[5] Cockman received this book coldly, dismissing it as "the private opinion of a partial disgusted old man, who was always famous for opposition and confounding thing".
The picture is presumed to be a celebration of the success of Cockman's appeal to the Crown to be declared Master of University College in 1729.
The painting was probably commissioned by his brother, John Cockman, who is also in the picture along with a number of Fellows of University College.