Sir William Cook, 2nd Baronet (c. 1630 – January 1708), of

Broome Hall Broome Hall is a Grade II-listed country house with grounds including cottages and outhouses on the wooded, upper southern slopes of the Greensand Ridge near Coldharbour in Surrey, England. It was built around 1830 for the politician and pri ...

in Norfolk, was a member of the

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

gentry Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies ''Gentry'', in its widest c ...

and a

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

Member of Parliament.

Origins

He was only son and heir of Sir William Cook, 1st Baronet (died 1681), of Broome Hall, by his first wife Mary Astley, a daughter of Thomas Astley of

Melton Constable Melton Constable is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 518 in 225 households at the 2001 census. The population had increased to 618 at the 2011 Census. For the purposes of ...

in Norfolk. His grandfather had acquired

by marriage in 1603. The Cooke family had been seated at Linstead in Suffolk since the 15th century. The 1st Baronet remained neutral in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

, though he did sign the Norfolk address to General

George Monck George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle JP KG PC (6 December 1608 – 3 January 1670) was an English soldier, who fought on both sides during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A prominent military figure under the Commonwealth, his support was cruc ...

for a free parliament in 1660 and was made a baronet three years later.

Career

He attended

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

from 1647 and received legal training 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 ...

from 1648 and was noted as "very well versed in every kind of learning, but especially distinguished by the suavity of his manners". He was a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for Norfolk from 1660 to 1668 and a captain in the militia from around October 1660 to 1679 or possibly later. He became a commissioner for assessment Norfolk in 1661 and for Suffolk in 1679, holding both posts until 1680. In 1675 he was made commissioner for

recusant Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...

s in Norfolk. He had become deputy lieutenant of Norfolk by 1676 and in 1681 he succeeded to his father's baronetcy. The 1677 session of parliament began to show fracture lines between Charles II's court and Parliament. Cook supported Robert Paston in backing the former, making him a potential pro-Crown candidate in the 1679 and 1681 elections. Cook did finally stand in 1685 for

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

pocket borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorat ...

controlled by the Pastons) and won one of its two seats - in the same year he was made a freeman of

. However, soon afterwards he wrote to

William Sancroft William Sancroft (30 January 161724 November 1693) was the 79th Archbishop of Canterbury, and was one of the Seven Bishops imprisoned in 1688 for seditious libel against King James II, over his opposition to the king's Declaration of Indulge ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury: He was appointed to nine minor committees during James II's single Parliament - he was the first man appointed to the committee for the bill for the renewal of the Yarmouth Harbour Act, meaning it was probably he who had introduced it. In 1688 he agreed that some of the laws penalising Roman Catholics and non-conformists might "require a review and amendment" but refused to agree to the abolition of the

Test Acts The Test Acts were a series of English penal laws that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Roman Catholics and nonconformists. The underlying principle was that only people taking communion in ...

. He was thus removed from his deputy lieutenancy and all other local office in February 1688 and in October that year refused to sit on the bench alongside Roman Catholics. In the post-

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...

elections of 1689 he was returned for

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

and also sat for the county in 1690 and 1698. When the House of Commons had to vote on the House of Lords' motion that the throne was not vacant (due to its being occupied by

William III William III or William the Third may refer to: Kings * William III of Sicily (c. 1186–c. 1198) * William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702) * William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg ...

and

Mary II Mary II (30 April 166228 December 1694) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, co-reigning with her husband, William III & II, from 1689 until her death in 1694. Mary was the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York, and his first wife ...

), Cook voted in agreement. After brief sick leave early in 1690, he returned to Westminster and sat on twenty committees in the Convention Parliament, including ones to repeal the

Corporation Act 1661 The Corporation Act of 1661 was an Act of the Parliament of England (13 Cha. II. St. 2 c. 1). It belonged to the general category of test acts, designed for the express purpose of restricting public offices in England to members of the Church of ...

, to inquire into the fall in rents, to adopt new oaths of supremacy and allegiance and to consider abolishing the

hearth tax A hearth tax was a property tax in certain countries during the medieval and early modern period, levied on each hearth, thus by proxy on wealth. It was calculated based on the number of hearths, or fireplaces, within a municipal area and is cons ...

. He also helped consider a bill for bringing in

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more r ...

s more efficiently and later committees to inquire into disasters during the war and to limit spending in elections. He had to sell Broome Hall and is buried in St Mary's Church,

Cranworth Cranworth is a village and civil parish in the Breckland district of the English county of Norfolk. History Cranworth's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for an enclosed part of land with cranes and herons. In the ...

, in Norfolk, where survives his mural monument displaying eight heraldic shields and an epitaph which describes him as a defender of monarchy "equally unaffected by the wicked artifices of rabid Papists and schismatics". In the absence of any sons or brothers, the baronetcy became extinct on his death.

Marriage

In 1664 (date of

marriage settlement A marriage settlement in England was a historic arrangement whereby, most commonly and in its simplest form, a trust of land or other assets was established jointly by the parents of a bride and bridegroom. The trustees were established as legal ow ...

) he married his step-sister Jane Stewart (died 1698), a daughter of William Stewart of

Wisbech Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland Port of Wisbech, port and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bord ...

in Cambridgeshire and of

Barton Mills Barton Mills is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. The village is on the south bank of the River Lark. According to Eilert Ekwall the meaning of the village name is 'corn farm by the mill'. The village ...

, by his wife Mary Greenwood (d.1686) (a daughter of William Greenwood of Burgh Castle in Suffolk) (whose inscribed ledger stone survives in Broome Church), the second wife of the 1st Baronet.Per ledger stone of Mary Greenwood in Broome Church, see image :File:St Michael's church - C17 ledger slab - geograph.org.uk - 1406578.jpg By his wife he had seven daughters but no son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, William 1630 births 1708 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of England Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Members of Gray's Inn English MPs 1685–1687 English MPs 1689–1690 English MPs 1690–1695 English MPs 1698–1700 English justices of the peace Deputy Lieutenants of Norfolk Members of the Parliament of England for Norfolk