Edward Cooke (27 June 1755 – 19 March 1820) was a British politician and pamphleteer.

Family and early life

He was born at

Denham, Buckinghamshire Denham is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, approximately 17 mi from central London, 2 mi northwest of Uxbridge and just north of junction 1 of the M40 motorway. The name is derived from the Old En ...

, the third but only surviving son of William Cooke (1711–1797),

provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

and his wife, Catherine, the daughter of Richard Sleech, a canon of

St George's Chapel, Windsor St George's Chapel, formally titled The King's Free Chapel of the College of St George, Windsor Castle, at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is a Royal Peculiar (a church und ...

. He was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, graduating with a BA in 1777 and MA in 1785, being a fellow of the college from 1776 to 1786.

Ireland

Cooke entered government service in 1778, as private secretary to Sir Richard Heron, the

Chief Secretary for Ireland The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British Dublin Castle administration, administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretar ...

while

John Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire John Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire (17 August 17233 August 1793) was a British politician, courtier and diplomat. Biography The son of John Hobart, 1st Earl of Buckinghamshire by his first wife Judith Britiffe, he was educated at Westmin ...

was

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the K ...

. He served in a series of posts in the Irish administration and

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, becoming under-secretary for the military department in 1789–1796 and for the civil department from 1796–1801. In this period, he was also Member of Parliament (MP) for the boroughs of

Lifford Lifford (, historically anglicised as ''Liffer'') is the county town of County Donegal, Ireland, the administrative centre of the county and the seat of Donegal County Council, although the town of Letterkenny is often mistaken as holding this ...

(1789–90) and

Old Leighlin Old Leighlin (), also Oldleighlin, is a village, civil parish and townland in County Carlow, Ireland. The village is west of Leighlinbridge. The site was at one time one of the foremost monastic houses in Leinster, with 1,500 monks in residen ...

(1789–1801). He prospered because he was clever and ready to support British policy. He had an extremely poor opinion of the Irish judiciary, and sent jaundiced letters to London describing nearly all of them as insolent, ignorant or biased. He published several political pamphlets during the 1790s. However, his position became difficult during the passage of the Irish Act of Union, because he favoured relief to Catholics. This determined him to return to England. While in London in 1801, negotiating the augmentation of the Irish Secret Service Fund, he was in negotiation with Lord Pelham over his future employment and Pelham's under-secretary, but a row broke out over the respective role of the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...

and the Lord Lieutenant. The Lord Lieutenant consented to his retirement, and he received

sinecure A sinecure ( or ; from the Latin , 'without', and , 'care') is a position with a salary or otherwise generating income that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. The term originated in the medieval church, ...

posts worth £2000 per year, including Keeper of the records of the Irish parliament.

Politics in Britain

Following his return to England, Cooke remained unemployed until 1804, when he was appointed

Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies The Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies was a junior Ministerial post in the United Kingdom government, subordinate to the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies The Secretary of State for War and the Colonies was a British ...

under Lord Camden and then

Viscount Castlereagh A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is s ...

. His career then followed Castlereagh's to the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...

. He went with him to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in the winter of 1814–15 to support Castlereagh in peace negotiations and partly to negotiate with the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...

over the Catholic Question. In 1817, he retired, much to his chief's regret.

Private life

Cooke married, on 10 August 1791, Isabella, the daughter of Hamilton Gorges of Kilbrew, Co. Meath, an Irish MP. There were no children. He died in 1820.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Edward 1755 births 1820 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Irish MPs 1783–1790 Irish MPs 1790–1797 Irish MPs 1798–1800 People educated at Eton College People from Denham, Buckinghamshire Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Donegal constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Carlow constituencies Under-Secretaries for Ireland