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John Hooke (1655–1712) was a lawyer and judge in England and Wales.


Life

He was born in Ireland. His grandfather, Thomas Hooke (died 1672), was a merchant who supported Parliament during the Civil Wars of the 1640s, and who became mayor of
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
in 1654. His father, also called John Hooke, was a nonconformist Protestant minister. Hooke's education included grammar school in
Kilkenny College Kilkenny College is an independent Church of Ireland co-educational day and boarding secondary school located in Kilkenny, in the South-East of Ireland. It is the largest co-educational boarding school in Ireland. The school's students are mainly ...
and university in
Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...
. In 1675 he moved to England to undertake legal studies at
Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...
in London, and qualified as a
barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
in 1681. He married Elizabeth Lambert, daughter of imprisoned Parliamentary general
John Lambert John Lambert may refer to: *John Lambert (martyr) (died 1538), English Protestant martyred during the reign of Henry VIII *John Lambert (general) (1619–1684), Parliamentary general in the English Civil War *John Lambert of Creg Clare (''fl.'' c. ...
. The marriage brought useful connections within commercial circles and Hooke's legal career flourished. Having bought land in West New Jersey and considered emigrating to America during the reign of King James II, Hooke decided to remain in England after the Revolution of 1688 brought William of Orange to power. Gaining favour with the new regime, he was promoted to serve as a judge in North Wales in 1689. He became the senior judge in the area in 1695, and added a position Chester to his other duties. Hooke's religion had changed from the nonconformist beliefs of his father and grandfather to mainstream Anglicanism. He became one of the founders of the
Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a UK-based Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christian faith in the UK and across the world. The SPCK is th ...
(SPCK) in 1699 and remained involved with the operation of the SPCK for many years. Again he made influential friends and contacts in political, business and legal circles in London. In a 1710 letter to Robert Harley, senior minister in the administration of Queen Anne, Hooke refused to declare himself either a Whig or a Tory in politics. This refusal to clearly identify with one or the other of the major parties may have complicated the later years of Hooke's life. He was dogged by controversy and involved in complicated legal actions from 1707 until the end of his life. Accused of accepting gifts contrary to the rules governing his position as a judge, he was investigated by a committee of the House of Commons. Although exonerated in a vote of the House, his position was further undermined by a bitter dispute with Daniel Coxe, his former partner in land investment in New Jersey, which ended up in the Chancery Court in London. Hooke died in 1712 with neither controversy satisfactorily settled. He wrote a book on religion, ''Catholicism Without Popery: An Essay to Render the Church of England a Means and a Pattern of Union to the Christian World'' (London, 1699).


Family

Hooke was survived by his wife Elizabeth, his son
Nathaniel Hooke Nathaniel Hooke (c. 1687 – 19 July 1763) was an English historian. Life He was the eldest son of John Hooke, serjeant-at-law, and nephew of Nathaniel Hooke the Jacobite soldier. He is thought by John Kirk to have studied with Alexander Pope ...
the historian, and his brother, also
Nathaniel Hooke Nathaniel Hooke (c. 1687 – 19 July 1763) was an English historian. Life He was the eldest son of John Hooke, serjeant-at-law, and nephew of Nathaniel Hooke the Jacobite soldier. He is thought by John Kirk to have studied with Alexander Pope ...
, a soldier, intelligence agent and ambassador in French service.


References

*http://goodspeedhistories.com/west-new-jersey/west-new-jersey-1690-part-one/ *William Nelson, ''Patents and Deeds and Other Early Records of New Jersey, 1664-1703'' (Trenton, NJ, 1899), pp 386, 506-507. *Craig Rose, 'The origins and ideals of the SPCK, 1699-1716', in John Walsh, Colin Hayden & Stephen Taylor (eds), ''The Church of England c.1698-c.1833: From Toleration to Tractarianism'' (Cambridge,1993), p. 173. *David Farr, ''John Blackwell and Daniel Cox: Further Notes on Their Activities in Restoration England and British North America''. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 123, no. 3 (Jul., 1999), pp. 227–233. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hooke, John 1655 births 1712 deaths 18th-century Welsh judges People educated at Kilkenny College Alumni of Trinity College Dublin 17th-century Welsh judges