Charles Cocks, 1st Baron Somers (29 June 1725 – 30 January 1806), known as Sir Charles Cocks, 1st Baronet, from 1772 to 1784, was a British politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1747 to 1784.

Life

Cocks was the son of John Cocks and his wife Mary Cocks who was his cousin and daughter of Thomas Cocks of Castleditch and was born on 29 June 1725. His paternal grandfather Charles Cocks was the husband of Mary Somers, sister of

John Somers, 1st Baron Somers John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, (4 March 1651 – 26 April 1716) was an English Whig jurist and statesman. Somers first came to national attention in the trial of the Seven Bishops where he was on their defence counsel. He published tracts on ...

Lord Chancellor of England The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

. He matriculated at

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

in 1742 and entered

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 1745, where he was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1750. Cocks was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earlie ...

in the 1747 general election and held the seat until 1784. He was appointed

Clerk of Deliveries of the Ordnance {{Infobox official post , post = Office of the Clerk of the Deliveries of the Ordnance , body = , nativename = , insignia = File:Badge of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps on a RML 10 inch 18 ton gun in Gibraltar. ...

from 1758 to 1772 and

Clerk of the Ordnance {{Infobox official post , post = Office of the Clerk of the Ordnance , body = , nativename = , insignia = File:Badge of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps on a RML 10 inch 18 ton gun in Gibraltar.jpg , insigniasize ...

from 1772 to 1782. He succeeded his father in 1771 and the following year was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

of Dumbleton in the County of Gloucester, and on 17 May 1784 the barony inherited from his great-uncle was revived when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Somers, of Evesham in the County of Worcester. He is buried in

Eastnor, Herefordshire Eastnor is a village in Herefordshire, England, east of Ledbury and the same distance from the tripoint of the county with Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. Eastnor Castle built by Earl Somers (d.1841) is within its medieval-founded parish ...

with a monument sculpted by William Humphries Stephens.Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis p.373

Family

Lord Somers married, firstly, Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Eliot and Harriot, natural daughter of

James Craggs the Younger James Craggs the Younger (9 April 168616 February 1721), was an English politician. Life Craggs was born at Westminster, the son of James Craggs the Elder. Part of his early life was spent abroad, where he made the acquaintance of George Lo ...

, in 1759. After her death in 1771 he married, secondly, Anne, daughter of Reginald Pole, in 1772. There were children from both marriages. Cocks was succeeded in his titles by his son from his first marriage,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

, who was created

Earl Somers Baron Somers, of Evesham in the County of Worcester, is a title that has been created twice. The title was first created in the Peerage of England in 1697 for Sir John Somers, so that he could sit in the House of Lords and serve as Lord Chancel ...

in 1821. Anne, Lady Somers, died in 1833.

References

* * * 1725 births 1806 deaths Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford Members of Lincoln's Inn 1 Peers of Great Britain created by George III Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 {{GB-baron-stub