Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke , 1747-1814, English clergyman and early bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America. After taking orders (1777) in the Church of England, he openly allied himself with the Methodists. He was president of the Irish conference in 1782 and two years later was ordained as superintendent for America by John Wesley . When Coke was styled bishop shortly after the American conference of 1784, the change was not approved by Wesley. Coke visited America nine times, the last time in 1803. Always deeply interested in Methodist missionary work, he sought (1813) an appointment by the government as bishop of India, agreeing to return to the Established Church. As the request was not granted, he himself secured funds for a Methodist mission, but died on the way to Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

Bibliography: See biographies by W. A. Candler (1923) and J. A. Vickers (1969).

Coke, Thomas (1747–1814), pioneer of Methodist missions. In 1784 J. Wesley ‘ordained’ him as Superintendent (or ‘Bishop’) of the Methodist Episcopal Church formed at a conference in Baltimore later that year. Coke divided his time between the American Church and the West Indian missions which he initiated.

Coke, Thomas William, 1st earl of Leicester (1754–1842). ‘Coke of Norfolk’ was an assertively Whig MP for Norfolk for over 50 years. He is remembered as an agricultural improver. New crop rotations raised production: turnips (winter food for sheep) preceded grain, followed by sown grass (summer food for sheep) leading again to grain; sheep fertilized for wheat and barley. Publicity for Coke's work has caused neglect of the agricultural improvements of his great‐uncle Thomas Coke (1697–1759), earl of Leicester (1744).