COCKS, Hon. John Somers II (1788-1852).

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1812 - 1818
1818 - 1832
1832 - 5 Jan. 1841

Family and Education

b. 19 Mar. 1788, 2nd s. of John Somers Cocks I*, 2nd Baron Somers (afterwards 1st Earl Somers), by 1st w., and bro. of Hons. Edward Charles Cocks* and James Somers Cocks*. educ. Westminster 1797-1803. m. 4 Feb. 1815, Lady Caroline Harriet Yorke, da. of Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke, 1s. 4da. Styled Visct. Eastnor 1821-41; suc. fa. as 2nd Earl Somers 5 Jan. 1841 and took name of Somers before Cocks by royal lic. 27 Apr. 1841.

Offices Held

Cornet 16 Drag. 1803, lt. 1805, capt. 1806; capt. 2 Drag. Gds. 1807, ret. 1813.

Maj. commdt. Worcs. yeoman cav. 1813-27; lt.-col. Herefs. militia 1831, col. 1836.

Ld. lt. Herefs. 1845-d.

Biography

Cocks entered Parliament on the family interest for Reigate. Two days after his return, on the death of his elder brother in the Peninsula, where he also served, he became his father’s heir and retired from the army. He followed his father’s line in the House. He was in the minority on the vice-chancellor bill, 11 Feb. 1813. He voted for Catholic relief on 2 Mar. and 13 May, pairing in favour on 24 May 1813: he voted for the motion against the Speaker on the same issue, 22 Apr. 1814, and again supported it in 1816 and 1817. He favoured the disbanding of the militia in peacetime, 28 Nov. 1814, 28 Feb. 1815, and voted against the transfer of Genoa, 27 Apr. On 8 Mar. 1816, in his first known speech, he called for retrenchment in the debate on the army estimates, with particular reference to the cavalry. He voted steadily in this sense, assuring his approving father-in-law, 16 Apr. 1816, that ‘rigid economy ... both in the civil and military departments’ was a prerequisite to the restoration of public credit.1

Cocks’s conduct was modified in 1817 by his father’s decision to give a general support to the Liverpool administration, from whom he hoped for an earldom. The line of the Grenville party provided a stepping stone. Cocks voted for Williams Wynn as Speaker, 2 June 1817, and went on to support the suspension of habeas corpus, 23 June. (On 25 Feb. he had expressed his hostility to reform meetings.) He further sided with ministers on the modus operandi of the suspension, 5 Mar. 1818. At that time he and his kinsman James Cocks* took their seats on the Grenville bench in the House.2 The ducal marriage grants of April 1818 posed a problem. Cocks shuffled, declining to join the opposition on 13 Apr. on a technical point, but joining their majority on 15 Apr.

Since 1816 Cocks had been the instrument of his father’s ambition to take over the late Duke of Norfolk’s role in Hereford politics, sacrificing an opening for Worcestershire. Had he remained in opposition Symonds, one of the Hereford Members, would have retired in his favour, but in view of his volte face he faced a severe contest, in which he defeated one of the Whig candidates.3 In the ensuing Parliament his support went exclusively to government. He defended the Duke of York’s remuneration under the Windsor establishment bill, 25 Feb. 1819, and voted in the majorities on Wyndham Quin*, 29 Mar., against Tierney’s censure motion, 18 May, and for the foreign enlistment bill, 10 June. On 23 Nov. 1819 he ably moved the address, defending measures against sedition. He remained in town as late as 23 Dec. to support them. He died 5 Oct. 1852.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Authors: Brian Murphy / R. G. Thorne

Notes

  • 1. Add. 35652, f. 49.
  • 2. Add. 38573, f. 127; Buckingham, Regency, ii. 212, 238; NLW, Coedymaen mss 8, f. 555.
  • 3. Add. 35652, f. 87; 38280, f. 12; 38458, f. 269.