An exploration of women's involvement in the Latin American Wars of Independence

Katherine Cochrane

Gender:Female

Ethnic origen: White

Events:

Connections:

Texts:
1819 - Letter

Biography:
Katherine Frances Corbett Barnes (later Katherine Cochrane) was an Englishwoman who married Thomas Cochrane in 1812. Her father was Thomas Barnes from Romford, Essex and her mother was believed to be a Spanish dancer. Katherine sometimes signed her name as Catherine Corbet Barnes. She was also often known as ‘Kate’. When she met Cochrane she was a 16 or 17-year-old orphan living with her widowed aunt, Mrs Jackson, near Portman Square in London. Mrs Jackson was responsible for raising Katherine and had sent her for two or three years to school at Great Marlow in Buckinghamshire. (David Cordingly, Cochrane the Dauntless: The Life and Adventures of Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 1775-1860 (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2008), pp.230-2, 394))

Katherine accompanied Cochrane during his campaigns in South America. In 1819 she was living in Valparaiso. In March 1819 she moved to Quillota while their house was being repaired. She wrote to Bernardo O'Higgins explaining why she felt it necessary to move. (Vergara Quiroz, 94-96)

References:

Vergara Quiroz, Sergio (1987) Cartas de mujeres en Chile, 1630-1885