Sir William Robert Marshall Cockburn (26 April 1891 – 1 September 1957) was a Scottish banker who spent most of his career with the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China.

[3] He returned to the United Kingdom in 1936[4] or 1937,[3] when he became assistant general manager of the Chartered Bank.

[4] He was promoted in 1940 to become chief general manager, and held that post for until 1955, when he retired to become a director of the bank.

[3][4] The 15 years of Cockburn's tenure as general manager included both World War II and the subsequent reconstruction of the Far East.

[6] In a few months at the end of 1941 and early 1942, two thirds of bank's eastern branches fell to the Japanese conquest of Asia, and were sequestrated.