Henry Charles Coote (1815–1885) was an English lawyer and antiquarian.

Life

He was son of the civil lawyer Charles Coote. Admitted a proctor in

Doctors' Commons Doctors' Commons, also called the College of Civilians, was a society of lawyers practising civil (as opposed to common) law in London, namely ecclesiastical and admiralty law. Like the Inns of Court of the common lawyers, the society had buildi ...

in 1840, he practised in the probate court for 17 years; and when the court was thrown open to the whole legal profession in 1857, became a solicitor. Coote travelled in Italy, he was a fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...

, a founder of the

Folklore Society The Folklore Society (FLS) is a national association in the United Kingdom for the study of folklore. It was founded in London in 1878 to study traditional vernacular culture, including traditional music, song, dance and drama, narrative, arts an ...

, and a contributor to learned periodicals. Attacked by paralysis in 1882, he died 4 January 1885, and was buried at

Kensal Green Kensal Green is an area in north-west London. It lies mainly in the London Borough of Brent, with a small part to the south within Kensington and Chelsea. Kensal Green is located on the Harrow Road, about miles from Charing Cross. To the w ...

Works

Coote is now remembered for his ''Romans of Britain'' (1878). He developed an argument that the Roman settlers in Britain survived the Teutonic conquests of the fifth century, and that the laws and customs observed under Anglo-Saxon rule were in large part of Roman origin. This theory was first advanced by Coote in the ''

Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''magazine'' ...

'', and then ''A Neglected Fact in English History'' (1864).

Edward Augustus Freeman Edward Augustus Freeman (2 August 182316 March 1892) was an English historian, architectural artist, and Liberal politician during the late-19th-century heyday of Prime Minister William Gladstone, as well as a one-time candidate for Parliament. ...

subjected his views to attack in ''

Macmillan's Magazine ''Macmillan's Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine from 1859 to 1907 published by Alexander Macmillan (publisher), Alexander Macmillan. The magazine was a literary magazine, literary periodical that published fiction and non-fiction works fr ...

'' in 1870. In 1878 Coote published ''The Romans of Britain'', expanding his position, and he had some support from Frederic Seebohm in his ''English Village Community'' (1883). The underlying issue of institutional continuity was taken up again in the middle of the 20th century. Coote's other writings were: * ''Practices of the Ecclesiastical Courts, with Forms and Tables of Costs'', 1846. * ''The Common Form Practice of the Court of Probate in granting probates … with the New Act (20 & 21 Vict. c. 77)'', 1858; 2nd edition (with Thomas Hutchinson Tristram's ''Practice of the Court in Contentious Business'') 1859; 9th edition 1883. * ''Practice of the High Court of Admiralty'', 1860; and 2nd edition 1869. He was a frequent contributor to the ''Folklore Quarterly Journal''.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Coote, Henry Charles 1815 births 1885 deaths English solicitors English antiquarians Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London 19th-century English lawyers