Thomas Coke, 4th Earl of Leicester

Thomas William Coke, 4th Earl of Leicester, KStJ, DL (9 July 1880 – 21 August 1949) was a British peer and Army officer, styled Viscount Coke from 1909 to 1941.

Arms of Coke, Earls of Leicester: Per pale gules and azure, three eagles displayed argent[1]

Early life

Coke was the son of Thomas William Coke, 3rd Earl of Leicester, and Hon. Alice Emily White. Educated at Eton and Sandhurst, he entered the Scots Guards as a cadet, and was promoted to second lieutenant on 21 February 1900.[2]

Military career

Coke was seconded for service in the Second Boer War in South Africa on 26 November 1901,[3] and was promoted to lieutenant on 10 January 1902.[4][5] Following the end of the war in June 1902 he returned with most of the men of the guards regiments on board the SS Lake Michigan, which arrived in Southampton in October 1902.[6] He went on half-pay on 13 April 1905 due to illness,[7] but returned to service on 8 November 1905.[8]

Coke was promoted to captain on 14 March 1906.[9] He resigned his commission on 6 March 1909, after his father succeeded to the earldom and he became heir apparent; his uncle John, then a lieutenant in the Guards, was promoted captain in his place.[10] On 1 October 1909, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the Norfolk Yeomanry.[11] Made a captain in the General Reserve of Officers on 4 June 1911,[12] he surrendered his commission in the General Reserve on 10 July 1912 to return to the Scots Guards as a captain.[13] He would serve with the Guards for the duration of the First World War. On 1 May 1917 he was appointed an aide-de-camp.[14]

Later life

Coke was also a Knight of the Order of St. John, and a Justice of the Peace for Norfolk. He was a talented violinist.[15] He succeeded his father as Earl of Leicester in 1941 and was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk in 1944. He died in 1949 and was succeeded by his elder son Thomas.

A recording that his daughter, Lady Silvia, made recounting the history of Holkham Hall was made at the age of 90, and is a British Library exemplar of the conservative received pronunciation accent of English.[16]

Family

Leicester was married on 2 December 1905 to Marion Gertrude Trefusis (daughter of Colonel Hon Walter Trefusis and Lady Mary Montagu-Douglas-Scott. Lady Mary was the daughter of Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch). They had five children:[17]

Honours

References
  1. Debrett's Peerage, 1967, p. 669.
  2. "No. 27167". The London Gazette. 20 February 1900. pp. 1173–1174.
  3. "No. 27395". The London Gazette. 7 January 1901. pp. 149–149.
  4. "No. 27432". The London Gazette. 9 May 1902. p. 3091.
  5. "No. 27474". The London Gazette. 16 September 1902. p. 5961.
  6. "The Army in South Africa - Troops returning home". The Times (36876). London. 18 September 1902. p. 5.
  7. "No. 27786". The London Gazette. 21 April 1905. p. 2974.
  8. "No. 27851". The London Gazette. 7 November 1905. p. 7424.
  9. "No. 27897". The London Gazette. 23 March 1906. p. 2062.
  10. "No. 28249". The London Gazette. 11 May 1909. p. 3560.
  11. "No. 28340". The London Gazette. 18 February 1910. p. 1211.
  12. "No. 28503". The London Gazette. 13 June 1911. p. 4426.
  13. "No. 28625". The London Gazette. 9 July 1912. pp. 4973–4974.
  14. "No. 30090". The London Gazette. 22 May 1917. pp. 5071–4974.
  15. "Holkham Hall Family Tree". Archived from the original on 16 December 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2009.
  16. "Conservative Received Pronunciation: Lady Silvia recalls her childhood at Holkham House." The British Library, British Accents and Dialects.
  17. The Peerage, entry for 4th Earl of Leicester
Honorary titles
Preceded by
Russell James Colman		 Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk
1944–1949		 Succeeded by
Sir Edmund Bacon
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Thomas Coke		 Earl of Leicester
1941–1949		 Succeeded by
Thomas Coke
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