William Cooke (of Highnam)


Sir William Cooke of Highnam Court in Gloucestershire, was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1597 and 1614.

Origins

He was the son of William Cooke of Westminster, Member of Parliament, a younger son of Sir Anthony Cooke of Gidea Hall in Essex. His mother was Frances Grey, a first-cousin to Lady Jane Grey and a granddaughter of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset and of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu. His father held the office of Clerk of Liveries in the Court of Wards and arranged for the office to be passed on to his son.

Career

Cooke was educated at Shrewsbury School in 1583. He became Clerk of Liveries on the death of his father in 1589, though he was only 17. He was admitted for the study of law at Gray's Inn in 1592. In 1593 he went abroad, with a two-years’ licence to travel after his mother's unsuccessful attempt to arrange a marriage for him while he was a minor. By 1596 he was a Justice of the Peace for Hertfordshire.
Cooke's father's eldest sister, Mildred Cooke, had married Lord Burghley, and Cooke received patronage from both Burghley and Sir Robert Cecil, his own first cousin. Cecil's influence may have secured him his seats in Parliament. In 1597 he was elected a Member of Parliament for Helston. By January 1599 he was Purveyor to the Stable and had sufficient property to offer himself, with six men and horses, for service to Queen Elizabeth I. In 1601 he was elected an MP for Westminster. He was knighted at Theobalds House on 7 May 1603. In 1604 he was elected an MP for Wigan. He enhanced his estates by purchasing further land in and around Gloucester, and also owned Ribbesford Manor and other property in Worcestershire. In the reign of King James I he was keeper of the lodge and herbage of Hartwell Park, Northamptonshire. By 1605 he was a JP for Gloucestershire. He was steward of the manor of Bury St. Edmunds by 1614. In 1614 he was elected as an MP for Gloucestershire.

Marriages and children

Cooke married twice:
Cooke died at the age 45 and the clerkship of the liveries, which had become ‘quasi-hereditary’, stayed in his family.