John Cooke of Rustington

Sheriff of Hampshire in 1479 and 1486

High Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex in 1494 and 1499

Events

Date of Birth: unknown.

Place of Birth: unknown.

Date of Death: unknown.

Place of Death: unknown.

Relationships

Father: Richard Cooke.

See the Commentary section.

Mother: unknown.

Spouse: Mary.

This relationship is recorded in the will of John’s daughter in law Joan.

Spouse: Isabel.

This relationship is recorded in the will of John’s daughter in law Joan.

Spouse: Isabel.

This relationship is recorded in the will of John’s daughter in law Joan.

Children:

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)

Thomas Cooke (died 13 April 1519) married Joan Howles.

Evidence

from the National Archives catalogue:

JER/SEL/1A/4

Bond in 100 marks

John Coke of Caresbroke, I.W., esq., locum tenens for Earl Ryvers, bound to Thomas Bowerman of Broke, I.W., for merchandise taken from him at Southampton Staple.

Small seal of a fabulous beast in red wax and impressed on reverse of Staple seal

1474/5 February 19

Add Mss 5690

Quitclaim

Francis Lewkenore, brother and heir of John Lewkenore and son of Thomas Lewkenore of Goring to John Cooke esq. and John Seygrave

All lands, rents and reversions in Billingshurst formerly of William Ryhyll and wife Joan

Dated at Goring. Notarial attestation

11 June 1495

from the Calendar of the Patent Rolls:

John received a number of commissions in Sussex and in Southampton in the 1480s and 1490s.

from the Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem:

Joan Boureman, widow, inquisition post mortem [26 April 1504]

…She was seised of the undermentioned land, &c. in Brardyng and Caresbroke in fee, and, being so seised, by charter, 16 October, 4 Henry VII [1489], thereof enfeoffed William Coke of Elyngham and William Okeden, of the same, whereby they were seised thereof in fee to her use for life, with remainder to the use of Thomas Bowreman and Eleanor, his wife, for their lives in survivorship, with remainder to the use of Thomas’ heirs, as by an indenture between her and Thomas Bowreman, her son and heir, of the one part, and the said William Coke, of the other, dated Monday before the Nativity of St. John the baptist, 3 Richard III, more fully appears. Afterwards the said Thomas Bowreman died and the said Eleanor survived him and took to husband one William Tychebourne of Tychebourne, esquire. And the said William Coke died…

…She was seised of the under-mentioned land, &c. in Bordwode, Ageston, Adderton, Newport, Fayrle, Kete, Panne, Diersdoun and Lymyngton, in fee, and, being so seisec, by charter 22 May, 11 Henry VII, [1496] thereof enfeoffed John Lighe (Lize), John Gilberd, John Coke, esquires, Thomas Coke, Robert Gylberd, gentlemen, and Edmund Crome, rector of the church of Bryxston, together with the said land, &c. in Brerdyng and Caresbroke, …

Alice Mewis 19 July, 23 Henry VII [1508]

William Mewis 14 heir

Immediately after her death (8 November 12 Edward IV) [1472], John Cooke entered the manor (Kingston, Isle of Wight) without suing them out of the king’s hands and held them until 6 December, 21 Edward IV [1481]; on which day the said William Mewis, now knight, intruded into them without suing them out of the king’s hands, and has taken the issues and profits thereof ever since….

A fine:

13 Henry VII [1497]

John Cook v. Edmund Dudley; 14 messuages, 200 acres of land, 200 acres of pasture, 10 acres of meadow in Goryng; to John.

Commentary

John’s father

A number of visitation pedigrees give John’s father as Richard:

The 1530 visitation of Sussex gives the relationship in three different pedigrees.

In Bramshott the father of “John Cooke of Ruskington” is given as “Richard Cooke”.

In Cooke the father of “John Cooke of Rustington” is given as “Ric. Cooke of Rustington.”

In Cooke-Covert the father of “John Cooke of Rustington” is given as “John Cooke of Rustington”, but “Richard” is written above.

In the 1563-4 visitation of Yorkshire in the Sholmsted pedigree the father of “John Cooke” is given as “Rychard Cooke”, and Richard’s father as “...Cooke of Rustyngton”. This last visitation is odd, as there are no names after John Cooke (died about 1500), there are no Yorkshire names except for a man who died in the 1390s, and there is a note: “This Pedigree is not in roundles, but in squares.” Also, some names in the pedigree appear to be misreadings (e.g. “Bosyne”, presumably for “Bohyne” [Bohun]). This leads me to believe that this pedigree may be based on a 15th-century manuscript.

The identification of John’s father as Richard is supported by other evidence:

In 1453, John Rookley settled, or attempted to settle, the manor of Brooke and other lands on his wife, then to his daughters, then to his cousin Richard Cook and Richard’s heirs. In 1496, John Rookley’s daughter Joan Bowerman in a draft will made John Cooke a feoffee and granted a remainder in some property to John’s son Thomas, Thomas’s wife Jane, and Jane’s heirs.

In 1431 Richard Cooke, a gentleman of Sussex, is recorded as possessing property in Rookley, which the Hampshire VCH notes stayed in the family until the death of John’s son Thomas.

References

Calendar of the Patent Rolls. Henry VI. vol. 5 A.D. 1446-1452. (1909).

Salzmann, L.F. (ed.) An Abstract of Feet of Fines for the County of Sussex v. 3 1308-1509 (Sussex Record Society, 1916).

The Visitation of Yorkshire in the Years 1563 and 1564 (London, 1881).

The Visitations of the County of Sussex made and taken in the years 1530 and 1633-4 (London, 1905).

Will of Joane Cooke of Rustyngton. Proved 1525 in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.