Family and Education

?bap. (as John Coke) Kingston 1542. educ. ?G. Inn 1577. m. (1) 1591 at Kingston, Frances; (2) 19 Sept. 1594 at Kingston, Lettice, 1da.1

Offices Held

Ballaster at Woolwich by 1585; steward, Bletchingley by 1578; under-steward, manors of Molesey, Imber, etc. by 1583, of Hampton Court by 1586; freeman, Kingston 1588; feodary, ct. of wards, Surr. in 1589.2

Biography

Cox (Coxe or Cockes) was a servant of Charles Howard I, Lord Howard of Effingham, who returned him for Bletchingley to three consecutive Parliaments. The only reference to him in the parliamentary journals occurs on 24 Feb. 1589, when he was granted leave of absence. Throughout Elizabeth’s reign the Lords Howard, William and his son Charles, were chief stewards of Hampton Court and of the many royal manors in Surrey including Molesey, Imber and Sandown, which formed part of the honour of Hampton Court. By 1584 Cox was deputy steward of all these. When the manor of Molesey Matham was leased by the Crown to Thomas Heneage in 1587, Cox remained the acting steward. Though the lease changed hands, he was holding the court there as late as 1602. As ballaster at Woolwich, Cox held another post under Howard, who was lord admiral, which he performed through a deputy, Peter Pindar, whom he appointed after consulting Julius Caesar, one of the Admiralty judges. Cox lived in Kingston, leasing two messuages and part of the grammar school’s lands from the Kingston corporation. He was assessed there at £15 for the 1593 subsidy. In 1600 he was required to contribute £10 towards the war in Ireland. He died about 1603.3

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: R.C.G.

Notes

• 1. Surr. Arch. Coils. Colls. ii. 92; Kingston-upon-Thames par. reg. transcript in Kingston Pub. Lib.
• 2. Lansd. 145, ff. 239, 241; Surr. RO, Clayton estate deeds no. 253; SC 6 Eliz. 2148; Kingston borough archives G.407; D. iv. C.1; J. Hurstfield, Queen’s Wards, 81.
• 3. D’Ewes, 438; CPR, 1558-60, p. 16; Surr. RO, SC 6 Eliz. 2148, SC/37/4/2a; Lansd. 145, ff. 239, 241; Kingston borough archives, G.396, G.416; D.iv. C.1; Surr. Arch. Colls. xviii. 203; APC, xxx. 29.