P000092 revised AU-VU:EOAS Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation

All key entry types: Awards; Concepts; Corporate Bodies (Organisations); Cultural Artefacts; People; etc

These key entries are listed separately below with other indexes and lists.

 English AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Person created 1993-10-20 human Annette Alafaci updated 2025-10-14 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P000092b.htm person Cockle James FRS FRAS AACR2 14 January 1819 27 January 1895 Place of Birth Essex, England Place of Death Bayswater, England Barrister Chief Justice Mathematician Sir James Cockle worked as a Barrister in England from 1846 to 1862, then as Queensland's Chief Justice from 1863 to 1879. His particular interests lay in calculus, algebra, metaphysics and astronomy, publishing around eighty scientific papers.

After completing school, James Cockle spent a year in the United States of America and in the West Indies. Upon his return to England in 1837, Cockle enrolled in law at Trinity College, Cambridge. He completed both a Bachelor and Master of Arts there and was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1846. Cockle remained a part of the England legal circuit until 1863. During this time he maintained his interest in mathematics and astronomy and was elected fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1854.

In 1863 James Cockle was appointed Chief Justice of Queensland and during his fifteen years in that position consolidated many colonial statutes. Again this new position did not interfere with his study of mathematics and other related fields and Cockle published widely while in Australia. With fourteen years of service in Queensland's justice system, Cockle took one years leave (with full pay) in 1878 and returned to England with his family. Once the leave period was over he handed in his resignation and successfully fought for a retirement pension. Now fully retired from the bar, James Cockle put all his efforts into his mathematical research. His achievements in both law and mathematics were widely applauded and Cockle received many honours including election as a fellow of the Royal Society (1865), President of the London Mathematical Society (1884-1889) and was knighted in 1869.

1842 1842 Education - Bachelor of Arts (BA), Trinity College, Cambridge, UK 1845 1845 Education - Master of Arts (MA), Trinity College, Cambridge, UK 1845 1849 Career position - Special Pleader in England 1846 Career position - Barrister at the Middle Temple in England 1848 1862 Career position - Barrister of the Midland circuit in England 1854 1854 Career position - Fellow, Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS), UK 1856 Career position - Member of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 1862 1862 Career position - Drafted the work Jurisdiction in Homicides Act in England 1863 1878 Career position - President, Queensland Philosophical Society 1863 1879 Career position - Chief Justice for Queensland 1865 1865 Career position - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS) 1866 1867 Career position - Senior Commissioner in Queensland 1869 1869 Award - Knighted c. 1870 Career position - Corresponding member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society 1870 1885 Career position - Member of the London Mathematical Society 1874 1877 Career position - Chairman of Trustees of the Brisbane Grammar School 1876 Career position - Honorary member, Royal Society of New South Wales 1878 Life event - Returned to England 1879 1879 Career position - Resigned from the Queensland Bar 1886 1888 Career position - President, London Mathematical Society 1888 1892 Career position - Councillor of the Royal Astronomical Society, England

Wikidata

VIAF - Virtual International Authority File

 Cockle, James (1819-1895)

Trove

 'Cockle, James', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Cockle, James Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Book Section: Sir James Cockle, 1819-1895 Corley, T. A. B.; and Crilly, A. J. Sir James Cockle, 1819-1895 Oxford Oxford University Press 2004 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Resource Section: Cockle, James Cockle, James Australian Science Archives Project 1995 Physics in Australia to 1945 R.W. Home, with the assistance of Paula J. Needham Book Section: Cockle, Sir James (1819-1895), mathematician and chief justice Marks, E. N. Cockle, Sir James (1819-1895), mathematician and chief justice Melbourne Melbourne University Press 1969 Australian dictionary of biography, volume 3: 1851 - 1890 A-C Douglas Pike 435-436 Journal Article: Sir James Cockle, FRS Deakin, M. A. B. Sir James Cockle, FRS 2002 Gazette (Australian Mathematical Society) 29 7-12