Francis Cochrane

Francis Cochrane, (November 18, 1852 – September 22, 1919), was a Canadian politician.

Early life Cochrane was born in 1852 in Clarenceville, Quebec. He worked for Marshall Field in Chicago during the 1870s before moving to Pembroke, Ontario, where he met his wife, Alice Dunlap. He and Alice lived in Mattawa, Ontario, during the 1880s before they moved to Sudbury. While living in Mattawa, Cochrane hosted Prime Minister John A. Macdonald at his home while he recovered from a brief illness.

Municipal career A prosperous hardware merchant in Sudbury, Ontario, he was the first president of the town's board of trade and later served as mayor of the town in 1897, 1898, and 1902 after winning a council seat in 1896.

Along with the local businessman William McVittie, he subsequently invested in the Wahnapitae Power Company, which was contracted to provide the town's hydroelectricity services until it was sold to the Hydroelectric Power Commission of Ontario in 1929. Cochrane and McVittie also ventured into prospecting, developing the Frood Extension property in 1908.

Provincial career Cochrane first ran for provincial office in 1902 as the Conservative Party candidate in Nipissing West in the 1902 election, but was defeated by Joseph Michaud. He did not run in the 1905 election though Premier James P. Whitney announced an intention to give him a cabinet portfolio. The appointment was delayed when Cochrane slipped while boarding a moving train in Sudbury and lost part of his right leg,