Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Builder, of Dublin. Gilbert Cockburn served his apprenticeship under JAMES HEITON JAMES HEITON , carpenter and undertaker, of 6 Beresford Street, and, having completed his service, was admitted a freeman of the city of Dublin at Midsummer 1813.(1)   He appears under his own name in Wilson's Dublin Directory for 1811 as a carpenter working from 9 Dorset Street Upper; from 1817 until 1824 he is designated 'carpenter and timber merchant'.   At some point he entered into partnership with ARTHUR WILLIAMS ARTHUR WILLIAMS , apparently by or during 1817, when, according to Casey, Mssr. Cockburn & Williams were awarded the contract for building the Wellington Testimonial.(2)  With Williams he undertook many other important contracts, including the lunatic asylums of Ballinasloe, Carlow, Derry and Limerick, the gaols of Cavan and Carlow and the court house of Carlow. From 1836 or earlier until 1842 he also collaborated with his brother-in-law THOMAS BAKER [2]  THOMAS BAKER [2] on various works at Trinity College, Dublin; payments to 'Mssrs. Baker & Cockburn' or 'Mssrs. Cockburn & Baker' appear in the tradesmen's bills on a regular basis.(3) After 1842 Baker disappears from the tradesmen's bills, while Cockburn continues as 'Gilbert Cockburn & Son', having taken his son GILBERT COCKBURN [2]  GILBERT COCKBURN [2] into partnership circa 1835. The last payments to him were made in 1860. His work for Trinity, extending over twenty-five years or more, included the erection of the museum.

Cockburn died of bronchitis at the age of seventy-three on 7 February 1862.(4) His funeral was attended by all the leading architects, engineers and builders of Dublin. The funeral procession to Mount Jerome cemetery 'extended fully half a mile in length, and comprised from forty to fifty private and other carriages', while John Martin & Sons ordered that the flags of their ships in the port of Dublin should be flown at half mast. He had married Thomas Baker's daughter Mary at St Thomas's church, Dublin, on 11 July 1810.(5) THOMAS BAKER COCKBURN  THOMAS BAKER COCKBURN was one of their sons.(6)

Cockburn was a subscriber to Humphrey's Irish Builder's Guide (1813) and to William Stitt's The Practical Architect's Ready Assistant; or Builder's Complete Companion (Dublin, 1819).

Aged and Infirm Carpenters Association:  patron, 1835.(7)

Addresses: Work: 9 Dorset Street Upper, 1811-1824; Talbot Street, 1831; 2 Amiens Street, 1832-3 (also as Williams & Cockburn of Talbot Street, 1832); 28 Great Brunswick Street, 1833-5; 165 Great Brunswick Street, 1836-44; 179 Great Brunswick Street, 1845-1847;(8) 179 Great Brunswick Street, 18-31 Erne Street Lower and Shaw Street, 1863.
Home: Rathmines, 1836-44; Salem House, Rathmines 1845; 6 De Vesci Terrace, Monkstown, 1847; 6 Vesey Place, Monkstown, 1853-1862.(9)

See WORKS.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from the obituary of Cockburn in DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43, and from Wilson's, Post Office , Pettigrew & Oulton's and Thom's directories.


(1) 'An alphabetical list of the Freemen of the City of Dublin, 1774-1824', The Irish Ancestor XV (1983), Nos. 1 & 2, 35.
(2) Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 308. 
(3) Trinity College muniments, MUN P/2/262, 263, 265, 272, 278, 280, 285, 291-3, 311, 313, 316, 318, 330-2, 336, 339, 342-6, 348-51, 353, 356, 360, 366, 376.
(4) Information in Mount Jerome cemetery records.
(5) www.familysearch.org.
(6) Another son, John, was admitted to Trinity College, Dublin, at the age of 17 on 18 October 1830 (Alumni Dublinenses I, 160).
(7) Freeman's Journal, 23 Nov 1835.
(8) The directories for 1845-1847 list, in addition to 'Gilbert Cockburn, builder', 'Cockburn and Baker, engineers, and proprietors of steam saw mills, Store street'; the premises in Store Street appear to have been shared with, or were adjacent to, the premises of Baker and Goodwillie, stone and marble merchants.
(9) According to the Mount Jerome cemetery records, Cockburn was living at 6 Vesey Place at the time of his death.


37 work entries listed in chronological order for COCKBURN, GILBERT [1] *


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Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, PHOENIX PARK, WELLINGTON TESTIMONIAL
Date: 1817
Nature: Cockburn & Williams declared contractors, 1817. Estimated cost for cut stone and masonry, £15,838.
Refs: Freeman's Jourmal, 8 Feb 1817;  Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 308.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, PHOENIX PARK, WELLINGTON TESTIMONIAL
Date: 1817
Nature: Cockburn & Williams declared contractors, 1817. Estimated cost for cut stone and masonry, £15,838.
Refs: Freeman's Jourmal, 8 Feb 1817;  Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 308.

Building: CO. LIMERICK, LIMERICK, MULGRAVE STREET, DISTRICT LUNATIC ASYLUM
Date: 1824-1827
Nature: A. Williams and GC contractors for same. Contract 'for a sum, not much exceeding £20,000' signed , 1816. FS of central building laid May 1824..
Refs: Patrick Fitzgerald & John James McGregor, The history, topography, and antiquities, of the county and city of Limerick (Dublin, 1826-7), II, 603-4; M. Lenihan, Limerick; its history and antiquities (1866),

Building: CO. CAVAN, CAVAN, COUNTY GAOL
Date: 1824a
Nature: Arthur Williams and George Cockburn contractors for same. (In Pigot's |Directory| (1824) 'new jail' is described as 'a neat, commodious and secure building'.)
Refs: Obituary of Cockburn in DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. DERRY, DERRY, STRAND ROAD, DISTRICT LUNATIC ASYLUM (OLD)
Date: 1825-29
Nature: Gilbert Cockburn and Arthur Williams contractors.
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. CARLOW, CARLOW, COUNTY COURT HOUSE
Date: 1828
Nature: Gilbert Cockburn and Arthur Williams contractors.
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. CARLOW, CARLOW, COUNTY GAOL
Date: 1828
Nature: Gilbert Cockburn and Arthur Williams contractors.
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. GALWAY, PORTUMNA, BRIDGE
Date: 1830-33a?
Nature: GC contractor
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. GALWAY, BALLINASLOE, DISTRICT LUNATIC ASYLUM
Date: 1831ca
Nature: Gilbert Cockburn and Arthur Williams contractors.
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, CASTLE AVENUE (CLONTARF), CLONTARF CASTLE
Date: 1836-7
Nature: GC contractor. William Morrison, architect. For John Edward Venables Vernon.
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, BROADSTONE, RAILWAY STATION (MIDLAND GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY TERMINUS)
Date: 1841-1851
Nature: GC contractor
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. TIPPERARY, ROSCREA, UNION WORKHOUSE
Date: 1842a
Nature: GC contractor
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. OFFALY, BIRR, UNION WORKHOUSE
Date: 1842a
Nature: GC contractor
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. GALWAY, LOUGHREA, UNION WORKHOUSE
Date: 1842a
Nature: GC contractor
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, KINGSBRIDGE, RAILWAY STATION (GREAT SOUTHERN & WESTERN RAILWAY TERMINUS)
Date: 1845-47
Nature: Gilbert Cockburn and Arthur Williams contractors for stonework
Refs:

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, ORMOND QUAY UPPER, PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Date: 1846-47
Nature: GC contractor
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. WICKLOW, KILCRONEY (BRAY)
Date: 1858
Nature: New Tudor Gothic house for Dr. Humphrey Lloyd (provost of Trinity College, Dublin, from 1867). GC contractor for same.
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43;  Irish Times, 17 Nov 1869.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, SHANKILL, QUINN'S ROAD, CLONTRA
Date: 1858
Nature: GC contractor for house designed by T.N. Deane, for Rt. Hon.James A. Lawson.
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, JONES'S ROAD, FLOUR MILLS (TODD)
Date: 1858?
Nature: GC contractor
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUN LAOGHAIRE, NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
Date: 1859
Nature: GC, contractor. Raffles Brown, architect.
Refs: DB 1, 1 Aug 1859, 103; 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUN LAOGHAIRE, MOUNT TOWN LOWER, CHURCH OF ST JOHN (CI)
Date: 1859-1864
Nature: GC contractor
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, MERRION SQUARE, NATIONAL GALLERY OF IRELAND
Date: 1859-1864
Nature: GC contractor
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, KILDARE STREET, NO. 001 (KILDARE STREET CLUB)
Date: 1859-61
Nature: GC contractor
Refs: IAA, PKS A03 (Sep, Oct 1861, p.41v); DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. KILDARE, KILLASHEE (NAAS)
Date: 1859-62
Nature: GC contractor. Lanyon & Lynn, architects. For Richard Moore
Refs: DB 1, 1 Aug 1859, 103; 2 , 1 Aug 1860, 308; 3, 1 Aug 1861, 591; 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. DUBLIN, OLD CONNAUGHT (BRAY), FERNDALE ROAD, OLD CONNA HOUSE
Date: 1860
Nature: GC contractor. Lanyon & Lynn, architects. For Phineas Ryall.
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. KILKENNY, KILKENNY, PARADE, KILKENNY CASTLE
Date: 1860
Nature: Estimated cost of GC's tender for grand stair, £760.
Refs: IAA, A03 (Oct 1860)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, KNOCKMAROON LODGE
Date: 1861
Nature: GC, contractor. D.C. Ferguson, architect
Refs: IAA, PKS A03 (Mar 1861, p.40v)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, MILITARY ROAD, PORTOBELLO BARRACKS
Date: ?
Nature: GC contractor for part of
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, KILDARE STREET, LEINSTER HOUSE (ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY, AGRICULTURAL HALL)
Date: ?
Nature: GC contractor
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, RUSSELL STREET, BREWERY (FINDLATER & CO.)
Date: ?
Nature: GC contractor
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. DUBLIN, SHANKILL, SHANGANAGH, AUBREY HOUSE
Date: ?
Nature: GC contractor. For John Quin.
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, GRAND CANAL DOCK, BROWN'S FLOUR MILL
Date: ?
Nature: GC contractor.
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, COLLEGE GREEN, TRINITY COLLEGE
Date: ?
Nature: GC contractor for New Square and museums
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, COLLEGE GREEN, BANK OF IRELAND
Date: ?
Nature: GC contractor for new library
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. LOUTH, DRUMCAR HOUSE
Date: ?
Nature: GC contractor for works at. For John McClintock.
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43

Building: CO. MEATH, RAHINSTOWN HOUSE
Date: ?
Nature: GC contractor. For Robert Fowler.
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43; Mary Cecilia Lyons, Illustrated Incumbered Estates Ireland, 1850-1905 (1993), 29(illus.)

Building: CO. WESTMEATH, MIDDLETON PARK
Date: ?
Nature: ?GC contractor
Refs: DB 4, 15 Feb 1862, 43