13 Facts About Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone

Andrew James Cochrane-Johnstone was a Scottish soldier, politician, swindler and adventurer who was found guilty of participation in the Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814.

Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone became a cornet in the British Army in 1783.

Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone served as governor on Dominica until 1803; an 1802 mutiny by the 8th West India Regiment was quelled with severity, but led to a court-martial of the governor on charges of embezzlement, arbitrary rule, using soldiers for private servants, and other charges.

Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone had married Amelia Constance Gertrude Etienette de Clugny, a widow of Godet des Marais and the only child of a French governor of Guadeloupe, in February 1803; they were forced by Napoleon to divorce in May 1805.

In 1807 Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone was elected MP for Grampound in Cornwall, a notorious rotten borough, along with his brother George, reputedly financed by their wealthy brother Basil.

Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone was disqualified in March 1808 for lack of property.

Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone returned to Parliament in July 1812 after his brother George resigned in his favour; this was perhaps an expedient to avoid debtors.

Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone was elected on his own account from Grampound in the same year, after a deal with fellow MP John Teed.

In February 1814 Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone was one of the chief organisers of the Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814; Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone and other associates purchased government securities just before spreading a false rumour of the death of Napoleon.

Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone was convicted of fraud and fled to France; he was expelled from Parliament on 5 July 1814.

Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone fled to the West Indies, where he discovered that his property in Dominica had been seized, although he was able to take slaves from his plantation to a new establishment, a coffee plantation in Dutch Demerara.

Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone had an illegitimate son, Captain John Dundas Cochrane, an explorer who published a Pedestrian Journey through Russian and Siberian Tartary in 1824.

Andrew and Georgiana had one daughter, Elizabeth Cochrane-Johnstone ; she married William Napier, 9th Lord Napier in 1816.