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Lieut.-Gen. The Earl of Dundonald
Lieutenant General Douglas Mackinnon Baillie Hamilton Cochrane, 12th Earl of Dundonald, KCB, KCVO (29 October 1852 - 12 April 1935), styled Lord Cochrane between 1860 and 1885, was a Scottish repre...view moreLieutenant General Douglas Mackinnon Baillie Hamilton Cochrane, 12th Earl of Dundonald, KCB, KCVO (29 October 1852 - 12 April 1935), styled Lord Cochrane between 1860 and 1885, was a Scottish representative peer and a British Army general.
Cochrane was the second but eldest surviving son of Thomas Cochrane, 11th Earl of Dundonald, by Louisa Harriet Mackinnon, daughter of William Alexander Mackinnon. Thomas Cochrane, 1st Baron Cochrane of Cults, was his younger brother.
He was educated at Eton College and commissioned into the Life Guards in July 1870. He was promoted to lieutenant the following year and captain in 1878. He served in the Nile Expedition, the Desert March and the Relief of Khartoum in 1885.He was appointed Commanding Officer of 2nd Life Guards in 1895.
He served in the Second Boer War and in November 1899 he was appointed Commander of the Mounted Brigade, part of the South Natal Field Force. He took part in the Relief of Ladysmith in February 1900, although his South African troops, unimpressed by his leadership, referred to him as “Dundoodle”.
In April 1902, it was announced that Lord Dundonald would be appointed General Officer Commanding the Militia of Canada, the senior military officer in Canada. He left Liverpool on 15 July, and arrived in Quebec the following month to take up his position. He served in Canada for two years.
He was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in December 1901, and in June 1907 knighted as a Knight Commander (KCVO) of the order.
He later served in the First World War as Chairman of the Admiralty Committee on Smoke Screens in 1915.
Lord Dundonald died at his home in Wimbledon in April 1935, aged 82, and was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son, Thomas. He is buried in Achnaba Churchyard, Ardchattan near Benderloch, Lorne, Argyll & Bute. Dundonald Park, in Centretown, Ottawa, is named after him.view less