George Coke 1636-1646

George Coke was bishop of Hereford at a time of great crisis for the city and country. He moved to Hereford from Bristol where he had been bishop and probably owed his preferment to Archbishop William Laud. By all accounts his time at Hereford was not a happy one. He described the city in February 1640 as ‘this place of trial, under so much variety of business and among such men, as are too strong and cunning for me.’He estimated that among all the justices in the county, only four were his staunch supporters and he sensed a great deal of opposition. Added to this, he experienced personal and family difficulties – by 1637 his eyesight was failing, and in dim light he was forced to wear spectacles. In October 1638, he was censured by Archbishop Laud for presenting one who was insufficiently learned to a cathedral post. Apparently one of Coke’s sons had deserted his apprenticeship and had run away to sea, but seeing in the storms that battered his vessel a sign from heaven, he had turned back, and sought ordination. His indulgent father, Bishop Coke, made him precentor of Hereford Cathedral! Coke was certainly of the high church party and fought for all that the Church of England stood for. When, in 1641, a bill for excluding bishops from the House of Lords was passed by the Commons, twelve bishops, including Coke petitioned Parliament, for which he was impeached and imprisoned for seventeen weeks. Retiring to his see, he was in Hereford in April 1643 when it fell to Parliament, but, under the articles of surrender of the town, escaped further persecution. However, when Hereford fell for the second time, in December 1645, Coke was captured and taken to Gloucester and, in August 1646, he and other prisoners were taken to London. He was allowed to return to his house at Eardisley and died there. Coke was buried in Eardisley church and there is a cenotaph in his memory in the south-east transept of Hereford Cathedral.