Sir Oliver Luke (1574–c.1651) of Woodend, Cople and Hawnes, Bedfordshire was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons of England The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England (which incorporated Wales) from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of ...

from 1614 to 1648. Luke was born at

Cople Cople is a village and civil parish in the English county of Bedfordshire. The name Cople is derived from the phrase ''Cock Pool'', a place where chickens were kept, that was mentioned in the Domesday Book. History Cople is part of the ancie ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

, the son of Sir Nicholas Luke and his wife Margaret St John. He was educated at

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

and entered the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1592 to study law. He was knighted in 1603 and succeeded his father in 1613. In 1614, Luke 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

in the

Addled Parliament The Parliament of 1614 was the second Parliament of England of the reign of James VI and I, which sat between 5 April and 7 June 1614. Lasting only two months and two days, it saw no bills pass and was not even regarded as a Parliament by its c ...

. He was

High Sheriff of Bedfordshire This is a list of High Sheriffs of Bedfordshire. Pre-Conquest pre-1042: Aelfstan 1042-1066; Godric, Ralph Talgebose Bondi the staller 1066–1125 *1066-c.1084: Ansculf de Picquigny * Ralph Taillebois *c. 1080 Hugh de Beauchamp *1124 Rich ...

in 1617. He was elected for succeeding parliaments until King Charles dispensed with parliament in 1629. He was subsequently elected for the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Aft ...

in April 1640 and for the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

in November 1640. He remained a supporter of the parliamentary forces but was excluded under

Pride's Purge Pride's Purge is the name commonly given to an event that took place on 6 December 1648, when soldiers prevented members of Parliament considered hostile to the New Model Army from entering the House of Commons of England. Despite defeat in the ...

in 1648. Luke probably died around the age of 76 after he was excluded from the Long Parliament. 'Parishes: Cople', A History of the County of Bedford: Volume 3 (1912), pp. 238-242 Date accessed: 27 September 2010
/ref> He had married Elizabeth Knightley, daughter of Sir Valentine Knightley and Anne Unton on 17 August 1599. He remarried by 1616, Maud, the daughter of William Trenchard of ‘Cutheridge’, Wiltshire. He had at least 3 sons and a daughter. His son

Samuel Luke Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bi ...

was also an MP.

References

External links

findagrave.com burial record
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luke, Oliver 1574 births 1670 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Members of the Middle Temple Roundheads Knights Bachelor High Sheriffs of Bedfordshire English MPs 1614 English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 People from Cople