Charles Wallwyn Radcliffe Cooke Vanity Fair 1892-07-30

Charles Wallwyn Radcliffe Cooke (1841 – 26 May 1911) was an English farmer and

cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the Fermented drink, fermented Apple juice, juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and Ireland. The United Kingdom has the world's highest ...

producer and a Conservative Party politician. He sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1885 to 1892 and from 1893 to 1900.

Biography

Cooke was the son of Robert Duffield Cooke of Hellens,

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

. He was educated at

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

, becoming "Le Bas" Prizeman in 1864, and "Burney" Prizeman in 1866 and 1867 for English Essays. In 1869 he co-wrote with Angelina Gushington ''Thoughts on Men and Things: A Series of Essays''. In 1872, he was called to the bar at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

, but showed a greater interest in farming in Herefordshire. He was President of Herefordshire Chamber of Agriculture, and Chairman of the

Ledbury Ledbury is a market town and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England, lying east of Hereford, and west of the Malvern Hills. It has a significant number of Tudor style timber-framed structures, in particular along Church Lane a ...

Highway Board Highway districts were areas in England and Wales united for the maintenance and repair of highways. They were first formed in 1862 and consisted of groupings of civil parishes in rural areas. They were abolished in 1894 when their powers and dutie ...

. He wrote pamphlets on political and other questions and authored works on the Agricultural Holdings Act of 1875. His particular interest was cider growing and he saw commercial production of

as a way of stimulating cultivation of orchards during the period of

agricultural depression An agricultural recession describes a period of low crop prices and sharply reduced farm incomes. Consequences may include second order effects such as rural flight of people to towns and also had political effects. A common feature of agricultura ...

. He was J.P. for Herefordshire. At the 1885 general election Cooke was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Newington West Newington West was a United Kingdom constituencies, parliamentary constituency in the Newington, London, Newington area of South London. It returned one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of ...

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

, where he was re-elected in

1886 Events January * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British rule in Burma, British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5–January 9, 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson ...

, but did not contest the seat at the 1892 general election. He returned to Parliament the following year, when he was elected at a by-election in August 1893 as the MP for

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

and became known as the MP for Cider. He retired from the Commons at the 1900 general election. His book ''Four Years in Parliament With Hard Labour'' was republished in 2008.

Personal life

Cooke married Frances Parnther Broome in 1876. Cooke lived at Hellens, Herefordshire and died at the age of 69. Their eldest daughter Constance Chellingworth Radcliffe Cooke (1877-1963) was active in the women’s suffrage campaign in Herefordshire, and a member of the

WSPU The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom founded in 1903. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and p ...

, the Labour Party, and later joined

CND The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucle ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Charles Wallwyn 1841 births 1911 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1895–1900 Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Members of Lincoln's Inn Politicians from Herefordshire