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Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (seventh creation)
Thomas William Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (6 May 1754 – 30 June 1842), known as Coke of Norfolk or Coke of Holkham,〔(BBC – History – British History in depth: Agricultural Revolution in England 1500 – 1850 ) Accessed 17 July 2013.〕 was a British politician and agricultural reformer. Born to Wenman Coke, Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby, and his wife Elizabeth, Coke was educated at several schools, including Eton College, before undertaking a Grand Tour of Europe. After returning to Britain and being married, Coke's father died, leaving him the owner of a 30,000 acre Norfolk estate. Returned to Parliament in 1776 for Norfolk, Coke became a close friend of Charles James Fox, and joined his Eton schoolmate William Windham in his support of the American colonists during the American Revolutionary War. As a supporter of Fox, Coke was one of the MPs who lost their seats in the 1784 general election, and he returned to Norfolk to work on farming, hunting, and the maintenance and expansion of Holkham Hall, his ancestral home.
Coke was again returned to Parliament in 1790, sitting continuously until 1832, and he primarily spoke on matters of local interest, such as the Corn Laws. His second focus was on civil liberties, and he spoke out against the government's response to the Peterloo Massacre and similar events. Described as the "greatest commoner in England",〔 he chose the passage of the Great Reform Act 1832 as the moment to retire, later being made the Earl of Leicester in July 1837. After a short illness, Coke died on 30 June 1842, and was succeeded as Earl by his son Thomas. Coke's main legacy is as an agricultural reformer, not as a politician; he has historically been credited with sparking the British Agricultural Revolution through the reforms he made to farming on his estates. Later historians have questioned this, however, noting that the developments credited to him are most likely the work of other individuals; nevertheless, he has still been described as "the real hero of Norfolk agriculture".〔
==Early life and education==
Coke was born on 6 May 1754 in London, to Wenman and Elizabeth Coke. The Cokes were a landowning family from Derbyshire, Wenman representing Derby as a Member of Parliament (MP), and as such Coke was born into a wealthy, estate-owning family; one of his first memories was "being held up to a window to watch a fox being cornered and killed by hounds". Little is known of Coke's father; Wenman is described as a shy person who "saw little company and lived much out of the world; his habits were those of a country gentleman, bending his mind to agriculture, moderately addicted to field sports and more than either, to reading in which he passed many hours; firm in his principles which were those of the old Whig; amiable in his disposition mild in his manners, he was beloved of his friends".〔Martins (2009) p. 10.〕 The family's prospects improved significantly when Coke was five, when his uncle, Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester, died. The cause of Thomas's death is not certain, although there are chances it was a duel, but the result was that upon the death of Thomas's wife Margaret, Wenman would inherit the estate, including Holkham Hall, a "Palladian masterpiece". Margaret studiously avoided the rest of the family, vowing to outlive Wenman simply to ensure that he did not inherit the estate.〔Martins (2009) p. 11.〕
Few records exist of Thomas Coke's early years, although it is known that he was educated in Longford, Derbyshire, before going to a school in Wandsworth run by French refugees. In 1765 he was sent to Eton College, where he was joined by William Windham, a close friend in his later life. Coke was apparently happy at Eton, and was excellent at field sports; on one occasion 70 snipes he had killed were found in his room, and on another he narrowly avoiding being punished for shooting a pheasant in Windsor Park. He was not particularly interested in his academic studies, but by the time he left Eton in 1771 Coke had developed a close circle of friends and connections from the landowning class, and practical skills to deal with his future estates.〔Martins (2009) p. 13.〕 After leaving he undertook a Grand Tour of Europe, financed by his great-aunt (who offered him £500 to not go to university, which she regarded as a den of vice) and his father.〔Martins (2009) p. 14.〕 Coke visited France and Italy, where he witnessed the marriage of Bonnie Prince Charlie to Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern; Louise apparently fell in love with Coke, preferring the similarly aged Englishman to her 52-year-old alcoholic husband.〔Martins (2009) p. 22.〕
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