Edward Charles Cocks
British politician (1786–1812)
Edward Charles Cocks (27 July 1786 – 8 October 1812) was a British Army officer. He served with Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular War and was killed at the Siege of Burgos.
Life
Cocks was the eldest son of John Cocks, 1st Earl Somers, and served as the Member of Parliament for Reigate from 1806 to 1812.
From December 1808 until 1812, he fought in the Peninsular War where, alongside his regular duties, he worked as an "observing officer". These were officers tasked with probing deep behind enemy lines to collect military intelligence. He died, with the rank of major, leading his men in an attempt to storm a breach at the Siege of Burgos.
Cocks was a great favourite of his commander Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, who admired him for his bravery and intelligence and was greatly affected by his death. Colonel Frederick Ponsonby recalled his encounter with Wellesley shortly after the event; Wellesley entered Ponsonby's room and paced up and down in total silence, much to his junior officer's consternation, before stating quietly: "Cocks is dead". Wellesley subsequently wrote to Cocks' father; "Your son fell, as he had lived, in the zealous and gallant discharge of his duty... if Providence had spared him to you, [he had] acquirements and qualities to become one of the greatest ornaments of his profession, and to continue an honour to his family, and an advantage to his country".
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Edward Charles Cocks” as british politician (1786–1812). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as british politician (1786–1812). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5342265. VIAF identifies the subject as 246456572. The Library of Congress control number is n86012720. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1786, 1812, 1806 and 1808.
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This entry incorporates text from “Edward Charles Cocks” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.