Thomas William COKE, Earl of Leicester of Holkham [pronounced Lester of Hokum] (1752 - 1842).
A descendant of the famous jurist Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634) [see below].
Member of Parliament for north-west Norfolk 1776-1833; but best known (as Coke of Norfolk) for his agricultural developments, converting north-west Norfolk into a major wheat-growing district, and improved breeds of farm animals.
Famous English jurist, born at Mileham, Norfolk.
Main proponent of the Petition of Right 1628); author of Coke's Institutes (1628-24) dealing with the statutes, criminal law and jurisdictions of the various law courts; founder of the Law Reports.
Undountedly, the most famous of Norwich School's 'old boys' in this period [late 16th century] was Edward Coke, recorder of Norwich from 1572 to 1592, MP for the county of Norfolk in 1592 and 1625, and chief justice of the common pleas and King's Bench in the seventeenth century. [John Pound in Norwich since 1550 (ed. Carole Rawcliff and Richard Wilson, London: Hambledon aand London) p.60 (referenced to S.D. White, Sir Edward Coke and the Grievances of the Commonwealth (Manchester, 1979), pp.1-13.)]
COKE, EDWARD
College: TRINITY
Entered: Michs. 1567
Born:
Died:
Matric. pens. from TRINITY, Michs. 1567. Said to have resided till 1571. M.A. 1597. S. of -, of Mileham, Norfolk. B. there, Feb. 1, 1551-2. School, Norwich. Adm. at Clifford's Inn, 1571; and at the Inner Temple, Apr. 24, 1571. Barrister, 1578. Bencher, 1590. Recorder of Coventry, 1585; of Norwich, 1586; of London, 1592. Counsel for the University, 1586. Solicitor-general, 1592. Attorney-general, 1593. M.P. for Aldborough, Suffolk, 1588; for Norfolk, 1592. Speaker, 1593. Knighted, 1603. Chief Justice C.P. 1606; of the King's Bench, 1613-6. High Steward of the University, 1615. Removed from the chief justiceship, Nov. 10, 1616. M.P. for Liskeard, 1620; for Coventry, 1624; for Norfolk, 1625; and for Bucks., 1628. Retired to Stoke Poges, Bucks., where he died Sept. 3, 1634. The well-known author of the Reports and Institutes. Buried at Tittleshall, Norfolk. Will, P.C.C. (D.N.B.)
