| Administrative History | The Aberdeen firm of advocates, Cochran and Macpherson, owed its origins to Alexander Smith in the early nineteenth century. Smith was born around 1783 and joined the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen in 1804. His son Robert, born in Aberdeen in 1819, graduated MA from Marischal College in 1835. He was apprenticed to his father, and when he joined the Society in 1839 he became his father’s partner. He was also a notary public.
Francis James Cochran, elder, was born in Aberdeen in 1809 and attended Marischal College from 1823 to 1827. He was also apprenticed to Alexander Smith, marrying his eldest daughter, and in 1844 became a third partner in the firm, which was then known as Smith and Cochran. Alexander Smith died in 1847. F. J. Cochran’s eldest son, Alexander, was born in Aberdeen in 1840, and graduated MA from Marischal College in 1858. He was apprenticed to Robert Smith, his uncle, joined the Society of Advocates in 1862, and became a partner in the firm in 1864. He served as Colonel commanding the 5th. (Deeside) Volunteer Battalion, The Gordon Highlanders.
A further partner was taken on when George Anderson passed his apprenticeship with the firm in 1870: he was born in Aboyne in 1846 and graduated MA from Aberdeen University in 1865. F.J. Cochran, elder, also died in 1870. The firm became Cochran and Anderson in 1874: Robert Smith retired in 1876 and died in 1892. Unfortunately George Anderson died in Aberdeen, unmarried, in 1884, and the firm took on a new partner.
Andrew Macpherson was born in Huntly in 1846 and graduated MA from Aberdeen University in 1866. He had been apprenticed to the firm of Duguid and Walker in Aberdeen before working in Edinburgh, then became a partner in Murdoch and Macpherson in Huntly in 1871, the year he joined the Society of Advocates. He was also a notary public. In 1885 he joined Alexander Cochran to form Cochran and Macpherson. Alexander Cochran’s son, Francis James Cochran, younger, was born in Aberdeen in 1868 and graduated MA from the University in 1889. He was apprenticed to his father and to Andrew Macpherson, joined the Society of Advocates in 1893, the year of his father’s death, and became a partner in the firm in 1894. He became a notary public in 1905. Andrew Macpherson died unmarried the same year, and F. J. Cochran, younger, continued the firm as sole partner. His first son was killed at Ypres in the First World War. His second son, David Gordon Cochran, was born in Pitfodels in 1900, and graduated MA from Oxford in 1927 and LLB from Aberdeen in 1925. He was apprenticed to his father and became a partner in the firm in 1926. By 1980 the firm’s partners were Francis Gordon Cochran, BA (Oxon), LLB, and Hugh D. Cochran, BA (Oxon), LLB. In 1981 the firm moved from the premises on the corner of Union Street and Diamond Square, which they had used since at least the 1930s. In their new premises in Bon Accord Square they merged with another firm, becoming Adam, Cochran and Co. They remain at the same premises under the same name today (2002). |
| Description | Papers of James Strachan, bookseller, Aberdeen, 1736 - 1861; Papers of Robert Simmie, reedmaker, Aberdeen, 1772 - 1858; Papers of Robert C. Grant, advocate, Aberdeen, 1771 - 1829; Papers of Captain J. Innes and Captain J. Mitchell, Aberdeen, 1810 - 1861; Papers of Misses Johnstone of Calseyseat, Aberdeen, 1765 - 1830; Papers of Cochran family, 1763 - 1880; Style book of William Lindesay of Culsh, c. 1685; Title deeds to Pitmurchie, in parish of Lumphanan, 1693 - 1873; Style book of William Dingwall, c. 1750; Copy answers to petition and appeal of parochial schoolmaster at Rathen, Buchan, 1829; Minute book of transactions between James Lumsden, Esq., and John F. Lumsden of Auchry and their tenants, 1831 - 1882; Register of dissenting ministers with composite photograph, c. 1850; Bills of sale for ships registered at Aberdeen, 1858, 1876 - 1881; Memoranda, plans and elevations to Castle Street, Aberdeen, for new county and municipal buildings, 1863; Papers of Carrick and Lee, solicitors of Brampton, near Carlisle, 1640 - 1919; Papers relating to Duns and Coldingham, Berwickshire, 1630 - 1908; Papers relating to Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire, 1830 - 1883; Papers of William McDonald Robertson, Esq., in India, 1808 - 1824; Miscellaneous papers, undated. |