John George Cooke
Sitter in 3 portraits
attributed to Sir Anthony Coningham Sterling
salt print, late 1840s
NPG P171(9)
attributed to Sir Anthony Coningham Sterling
salt print, late 1840s
NPG P171(10)
attributed to Sir Anthony Coningham Sterling
salt print, late 1840s
NPG P171(11)
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Edward Lipscomb
22 September 2020, 17:24
JOHN GEORGE COOKE was born in Sevenoaks in 1819 to Christopher Cooke (1759-1833)and his second wife Elizabeth Austen (1780-1858), second cousin of Jane Austen. In his youth he was a gadabout, travelling to New Zealand in 1841, where he fathered several children by different Maori women. Returning to England in 1850, he settled down as a stockbroker. In 1868 he married Margaret Townsend with whom he had three children. He died on 20th October 1880.
He was a great nephew of John Cooke, President of Corpus Christi, Oxford (NPG D34095)
Helene Connor
06 January 2021, 01:00
John George Cooke (1819-1880) was born at “Ashgrove”, Sevenoakes, Kent, England. His father was Christopher Cooke (1759 – 1833) and his mother was Elizabeth Austen Skyring Cooke (1780 – 1858). Through his maternal grandfather, Francis Motley Austen (1747 – 1815) he was related to Jane Austen (1775 – 1817), the English novelist. Jane Austen’s mother also had a connection to Cooke’s family via her cousin, Cassandra Leigh who married the Reverend Samuel Cooke.
John George Cooke lived in Aotearoa New Zealand from 1841 – 1850. He had a Māori common law wife, Ngapei Ngatata (circa 1811 - 1906) to whom he had two children, Te Piki Ngatata also known as Mary Ann Cooke (1843 -1932) and George Gray Cooke (1848 –1865).
On his return to England he married Margaret Townsend (1837 – 1912) (formerly Mrs Crosbie Ward).
John George Cooke formed close friendships Jane Welsh Carlyle (1801 - 1866) and her great friend the novelist Geraldine Endsor Jewsbury (1812 – 1880). Jane described him in a letter to Mary Russell, as: “a man betwixt thirty and forty; tall, strong, silent, sincere; has been a sailor, a soldier, a New Zealand settler, ‘a Man about Town,’ and a Stock Broker!!!
https://carlyleletters.dukeupress.edu/volume/34/biographicalNotes
John George Cooke died of cancer on 20 October 1880, aged 61. He was buried at Brompton Cemetery, Fulham Rd, Kensington, London SW10 9UG, United Kingdom. He was survived by his wife Margaret Townsend Ward Cooke (1837-1912) and their three surviving children: Harriet Marcia Cooke (1869-1945); Janet Mary Maurice Cooke (1872-1949) and Christopher Crosbie Cooke (1878-1945).