John Cockburn (died 1623)
John Cockburn of Ormiston (died 1623) was a Scottish landowner. He was the son of John Cockburn of Ormiston and Alison Sandilands (died 1584), a daughter of Sir John Sandilands of Calder. His older brother Alexander Cockburn died in 1563, his epitaph by George Buchanan recording his travels and achievements engraved on a brass plate is at the National Museum of Scotland. John Cockburn succeeded his father as laird of Ormiston in East Lothian in 1583. Cockburn was a member of the Privy Council and the council ruling Scotland when James VI was in Norway and  Denmark. He was knighted at the coronation of Anne of Denmark on 17 May 1590 and at Parliament in 1592. Cockburn was Lord Justice Clerk after Lewis Bellenden. On 26 October 1591, during the North Berwick witch trials James VI gave him a commission to torture and punish those accused of witchcraft who refused to confess. An English diplomat Robert Bowes noted that Cockburn had hosted the Earls of Angus, Huntly, Errol, and Sir James Chisholme at Ormiston on 11 October 1593. The Earls met the King on the road at Fala the next day. In old age Cockburn lost  his eyesight and mobility, and in December 1622 there were discussions about a replacement in the role of Lord Justice Clerk. He died in June 1623 according to Balfour, but his will gives his date of death as October 1626. Marriage and family. He married Janet Home, a daughter of Alexander Home of Manderston, and sister of the royal favourite Sir George Home. Their children included: He married, secondly, Elizabeth Bellenden, a daughter of John Bellenden of Auchnoule and Janet Seton, and widow of James Lawson of Humbie.