Sir Anthony Cope, 1st Baronet


Sir Anthony Cope, 1st Baronet of Hanwell in Oxfordshire, was an English Puritan Member of Parliament.

Origins

Anthony Cope was the second son of Edward Cope by his wife Elizabeth Mohun, daughter and heiress of Walter Mohun of Wollaston, Northamptonshire. After his father's death, the wardship of Anthony then aged about 9, his three brothers and three sisters was acquired by his mother and her father, Walter Mohun. His younger brother was Sir Walter Cope. In 1561 his mother remarried George Carleton of Walton-on-Thames, second son of John Carleton of Brightwell Baldwin, Oxfordshire, by his wife Joyce Welbeck, a daughter of John Welbeck of Oxon Hoath, Kent, by whom she had a son, Castle Carleton, and a daughter, Elizabeth Carleton. After the death of Elizabeth Mohun, George Carleton married, in 1589, Elizabeth Hussey, a daughter of Sir Robert Hussey of Linwood, Lincolnshire and widow of Anthony Crane. The first of the Marprelate tracts, Martin's Epistle, was printed in October 1588 at the house of Elizabeth Hussey at East Molesey, Surrey.

Career

He was a Member of Parliament for Banbury in seven parliaments, and then represented Oxfordshire from 1604 until 1614. He served as Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1581, 1590 and 1603. Cope was imprisoned in the Tower of London from 27 February to 23 March 1587 for presenting to the Speaker of the House of Commons a Puritan revision of the Book of Common Prayer and a bill abrogating existing canon law. Queen Elizabeth I knighted Cope in 1592–93 and King James I made him a baronet on 29 June 1611. Cope entertained James I at Hanwell, Oxfordshire in 1606 and 1612.

Marriages and issue

He married twice:
Cope died on 6 July 1614 and was buried at Hanwell.