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For such an interesting story there is so little. There is nothing in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (accessed 2007-08-20) save to say that his nephew Sir Alexander Cockburn defended him, a claim substantiated nowhere else. There are fragments in The Times but it is slightly incoherent. It appears that mad John Martin burned down York Minster in 1829 then it burned down accidently on 20 May1840. The deanery was bankrupt and there was a public appeal. There was a subsequent investigation into the conduct and management of the proceeds and a Rev Dixon accused Cockburn of simony. Cockurn was accused of selling benefices which he freely admitted (The Times, 25 Jan 1841, p.6 cols.e-f). Cockburn was deposed as Dean sine die (The Times, 5 April 1841, p.5 col.e). A barrister, not Cockburn's nephew, tried to get a writ to prohibit the order but failed. I can find no more until notice of his death (Times 3 May 1858) when he is described as "Dean of York". Also, Institute of Historical ResearchDates says he was Dean until 1858. Don't want to go into original research but I suspect York newspapers are needed. Or perhaps we have to wait until Who was Who is available on the web. It also appears from the web that he was born in 1773 but nothing that I would call a citation. Over to someone else.Cutler21:55, 20 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
