Family and Education

b. c.1648, 1st s. of Edward Cooke of Field Place, Goring by 1st w. Katherine, da. of Thomas Fry of Battlehurst, Kirdford. educ. M. Temple 1667. m. lic. 17 Oct. 1671, Susan (d. 19 Apr. 1707), da. of John Whitehead of Clandon, Surr., wid. of her cos. George Stringer of the Middle Temple and coh. to her uncle Richard Stringer of Petworth, 2s. 1da. d.v.p. suc. fa. 1662.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Suss. 1673-80, 1689, j.p. 1674-c.81, May 1688-d., dep. lt. 1692-?d.

Biography

Cooke came from a minor gentry family of 16th century date that had apparently avoided involvement in the Civil War. He alienated his inheritance to the Shelleys in 1669, but his marriage two years later brought him property in Petworth, eight miles from Midhurst. He was returned for the borough, presumably as a supporter of exclusion, in 1681, but left no trace on the records of the Oxford Parliament. In the following September he was reported to be the choice of ‘the dissenting party’ for Arundel at the next election, and he was removed from the commission of the peace. There is no evidence that he stood in 1685. He was looked upon as a Whig collaborator, and in May 1688 James II’s agents recommended him to be restored as j.p. He sat for Arundel as a Whig under William III and was buried at Goring on 1 Oct. 1726, the only member of his family to sit in Parliament.2

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: B. M. Crook / Basil Duke Henning

Notes

• 1. Suss. Arch. Colls. lxxviii. 66-67; Add. 5699, pp. 128, 131; PCC 16 Laud.
• 2. Suss. Arch. Colls. lxii. 202; PCC 225 Plymouth; CSP Dom. 1680-1, p. 473.