XXXVI 



The leading events in his life are soon told. He was born oa 

 January 14, 1819, being the second son of the late Mr. James 

 Cockle, of Great Oakley, Essex. From 1825 to 1829 he was educated 

 at Stormond House, Kensington ; thence he was sent to Charter- 

 house, where he showed considerable power in making Latin verses. 

 At the end of his second year he was removed and placed under the 

 tuition of the Rev. Christian Lenny, D.D., of St. John's College, 

 Cambridge, who was the first to discover his mathematical talent. 

 In November, 1835, when he had nearly completed his seventeenth 

 year, he went abroad, and was absent from England about twelve 

 months, visiting the West Indies and the United States of America ; 

 at Cuba he acquired some knowledge of the Spanish language. 

 Returning home he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, October, 

 1837, and graduated as thirty-third Wrangler in 1841. His position 

 in the Tripos gave no indication of his future eminence as a mathe- 

 matician, nor is the circumstance to be wondered at when we 

 consider the character of his preparatory training, and the long 

 break in his studies before he went up to the University. He pro- 

 ceeded to the degree of B.A. in 1842, and of M.A. in 1845. 



Mr. Cockle was entered as a student at the Middle Temple in 1838. 

 He practised as a special pleader from 1845 to 1849, was called to 

 the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1846, and joined the Midland 

 Circuit at the Nottingham Spring Assizes in 1848. On August 22, 

 1855, he married Adelaide Catherine, eldest surviving daughter of 

 the late Mr. Henry Wilkin, formerly of Walton, Suffolk. In 1862 

 he drafted the "Jurisdiction in Homicides Act" (Imperial); and 

 in the following year (1863) he was appointed by the English 

 Government first Chief Justice of Queensland. Allusions have 

 already been made to the fact that the position at the outset was 

 very trying, but the circumstances deserve more particular notice, as 

 throwing light on the character of the man. Mr. Justice Lutwyche, 

 who during the previous year or two had come into collision on 

 several occasions with the Governor, and also with the Government 

 of the Colony, and whose claims to the supreme place on the bench 

 were in consequence passed over by the home authorities in favour 

 of the English barrister, naturally felt himself aggrieved at the 

 appointment of a younger man who had had no judicial experience. 

 The story, as told in the Brisbane papers on the death of the old 

 Judge in 1880, reflects equal credit on both men : " The late Judge 

 made no secret of his mortification at the appointment of Mr. Cockle. 

 A few years of association, however, entirely obliterated any feelings 

 of hostility to the Chief Justice that this event may have originally 

 engendered, and the two Judges became sincere and attached friends. 

 Sir James always paid a very marked deference to the opinion of his 

 learned brother, and the amiable disposition of the Chief Justice so 



