Family and Education

bap. 9 Sept. 1646, 1st s. of Thomas Cocks of Castleditch, Herefs. by 2nd w. Elizabeth Gower.  m. bef. 1685, Mary, da. of John Somers of Worcester, sis. and event. h. of Sir John Somers*, 2s. 4da. (2 d.v.p.).1

Offices Held

Clerk of the patents 1699–?2

Asst. Worcester workhouse 1705.3

Biography

As the son of his father’s second marriage, Cocks could not hope to inherit a landed estate. He turned to the law, practising as a solicitor in Worcester, for such influential clients as the Worcester clothiers’ company. Cocks must be distinguished from his many namesakes, who included a cousin admitted at the Middle Temple in 1667; an uncle (d. 1691) who became a barrister at Furnival’s Inn; and a second cousin (the brother of Sir Richard Cocks, 2nd Bt.*) who became rector of Dumbleton in Gloucestershire. The mainspring of his political career was no doubt his marriage to Mary Somers, sister of the future lord chancellor. When Somers was raised from attorney-general to be lord keeper of the great seal in March 1693 Cocks sought to replace him as Member for Worcester. The election was no formality, however, and a bitter contest ensued, in which he was defeated. Cocks petitioned, and was eventually seated on 7 Feb. 1694.4

During his first session in the House Cocks acted as a teller on 15 Mar. 1694 in favour of an unsuccessful motion that Sir Jonathan Raymond* be granted leave of absence to attend his mother-in-law’s funeral. In the 1695 election he retired from the contest at Worcester to come in instead for Droitwich, possibly in a move to avoid adding to the animosities engendered by the Worcester by-election. Henceforth his appearances in the Journals are difficult to distinguish from those of Charles Cox (Southwark) and, later on, from Charles Coxe (Cirencester). In the 1695–6 session Cocks was forecast as a likely supporter of the Court in the divisions of 31 Jan. 1696 over the council of trade. He signed the Association, and in March 1696 voted for fixing the price of guineas at 22s. In the following session, he voted on 25 Nov. for the attainder of Sir John Fenwick†. A Mr ‘Cox’ or ‘Cocks’ acted as a teller three times during this Parliament and received leave of absence for three weeks on 9 Jan. 1697 and again on 21 Mar. 1698.5

Despite the possibility of a contest at Droitwich in 1698 if the Foleys, Thomas I* and Thomas III*, were defeated for Worcestershire and Stafford respectively, Cocks was returned unopposed with the backing of both Shrewsbury and Somers. Given his close association with Somers, it is not surprising that on a comparative analysis of the old and new Parliaments compiled in about September 1698 he was classed as a Court supporter. During the 1698–9 session Cocks may have been a teller twice. A ‘Mr Cox’ received leave of absence on 14 Mar. 1699. At the end of the session, in May, Cocks’s relationship to Somers bore fruit, with his appointment as clerk of the patents, an office in the court of Chancery in the lord chancellor’s gift, and he was appropriately ascribed to Somers’ and the Junto’s interest in an analysis of the House undertaken between January and May 1700.6

Cocks does not seem to have been troubled at Droitwich in the election of January 1701. The possibility of a contest at Droitwich in November again depended on the disposition of the other seats. However, with the election of Sir John Pakington, 4th Bt.*, for the county, this threat receded and Cocks was duly returned unopposed with Edward Foley*. On Robert Harley’s* analysis of the new Parliament, he was listed with the Whigs, and he may have acted as a teller twice during the session.7

Cocks was returned unopposed at Droitwich at the 1702 election. On 2 Nov. 1702, he may well have told against the motion that the Commons had not had right done them by the Lords over the impeachments. He also followed a predictably Whiggish line on 13 Feb. 1703, when voting for the Lords’ amendments to the bill enlarging the time to take the Abjuration. On the main issue of the 1704–5 session, Cocks was listed on 30 Oct. 1704 as a probable opponent of the Tack, may have been on Harley’s lobbying list (although this is unlikely), and he did not vote for the Tack on 28 Nov.

Cocks was again returned for Droitwich in 1705, and his name appears on a list of placemen, by virtue of his position as clerk of the patents, and as ‘no Church’ on an analysis of the new House. In the two extant division lists for 1705–6 he voted on 25 Oct. 1705 for the Court candidate for Speaker, and on 18 Feb. 1706 he supported the Court on the proceedings over the ‘place clause’ in the regency bill. In between, a ‘Mr Cox’ had received leave of absence for a month on 15 Dec. 1705. In 1706–7 Cocks seems to have been deeply involved in the manoeuvring around a bill to better preserve the ancient salt springs in Droitwich and the rights of proprietors. On 14 Feb. he and William Bromley I* were ordered to prepare it. Cocks, it seems, favoured a return to the position whereby the corporation rather than the proprietors had ultimate control over the salt industry. In the event the bill ran into opposition and lapsed in committee. The last session of the Parliament was again dominated by the bill to preserve the Droitwich salt springs. Cocks was the main parliamentary manager of the bill. On 15 Jan. 1708, James Vernon I* reported to Shrewsbury that ‘Mr Cox [sic] intends to move tomorrow for bringing in the Droitwich bill’. He presented it on the 17th, but it was again opposed and came to grief in committee on the issue of the corporation’s assent. As this had not been signified in writing, and at least one burgess was there to dissent, ‘Mr Cox [sic] the chairman thought it advisable to adjourn for a fortnight, that in the meantime the corporation might signify their consent to it if it was their intention’. Vernon regarded this as a defeat, and it seems highly likely that the fiasco cost Cocks his seat. Certainly Cocks’s colleague Edward Foley succeeded in distancing himself from the debacle and in the 1708 election was joined in Parliament by his relative Edward Winnington. National considerations are unlikely to have played any part, for Cocks had remained a Whig, as is shown in an analysis of early 1708, and the election was in general something of a Whig triumph.8

Cocks did not stand again, although he was probably the ‘Mr Cocks’ touted as a possible partner for Thomas Wylde* at Worcester in 1710. He probably died early in 1727, as his son, James*, wrote to Philip Yorke† on 27 Feb. about taking out an administration for the will. James Cocks eventually inherited all the Somers estates in Worcestershire and Reigate, but it was his grandson by his second son, John, for whom the Somers barony was revived in 1784.9

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: Stuart Handley

Notes

• 1. IGI, Herefs.; J. V. Somers Cocks, Hist. Cocks Fam. 87–88; Add. 45094 M; Clutterbuck, Herts. i. 457; Manning and Bray, Surr. i. 286.
• 2. CSP Dom. 1699–1700, p. 191.
• 3. Hereford and Worcester RO (Worcester, St. Helen’s), Cal. Wm. Lygon letters, 127, Thomas Bearcroft to Lygon, 7 July 1705.
• 4. Hereford and Worcester RO (Worcester, St. Helen’s), Worcester clothiers’ co. mss 705:232/BA 5955/7/V, receipt for legal services, 1686; Hooper, Reigate, 32; Somers Cocks, 76–77, 96–97; info. from Dr D. F. Lemmings; Surr. RO (Kingston), Somers mss 371/14/B5, 6, 8, Cocks to Somers, 11, 13 Nov., 9 Dec. 1693.
• 5. W. L. Sachse, Ld. Somers, 107–8.
• 6. Somers mss 371/14/E14, Shrewsbury to Somers, 11 May 1698; Vernon– Shrewsbury Letters, ii. 119; A. Browning, Danby, iii. 214; CSP Dom. 1699–1700, p. 191.
• 7. Somers mss 371/14/B20, William Walsh* to [Somers], 26 Oct. 1701.
• 8. Northants. RO, Montagu (Boughton) mss 77/81, Talbot to [Shrewsbury], 25 Feb. 1706–7; 48/177, 193, Vernon to same, 15 Jan., 24 Feb. 1707–8.
• 9. Add. 35359, f. 131.