Washbourne Cooke (1744–1804)
Of Woodforde's Oxford friends one who did him a particular favour was Washbourne Cooke.
Cooke was born on 16 April 1744 to the Revd Francis Cooke and Susanna (née Washbourne) and baptised on 2 May 1744 at the Church of All Saints', Edmonton, Middlesex, where his father was vicar. He was given his mother's maiden name as his own, but was probably also named in honour of Revd William Washbourne, his maternal grandfather, who was his father's predecessor as vicar. He was admitted to Winchester College on 16 September 1757, aged 13. This was five years after Woodforde, who had been admitted on 5 September 1752.
Revd William Washbourne
The Revd William Washbourne died in 1737 and is buried in All Saints' churchyard. He was held in such affection by his granddaughter Margaret Cooke, the Revd Francis Cooke's daughter and Washbourne Cooke's sister, who later married and became Margaret Uvedale, that she left funds in her 1814 will 'to keep in good repair the vault with the tomb and railing over it and the flat stone that covers part of the vault in the churchyard of this parish, belonging to the family of the Reverend William Washbourne, the late vicar of it, and to cause the railing to be painted with two good coats of paint, once in every three years'.
Woodforde's friendship with Cooke
Although he was four years older, it was James Woodforde who, on 7 July 1762, “met Cooke in Bagly Wood who was coming from Winton School, to be sped to our College.” There is no obvious connection between their families, but it is probable that Woodforde remembered Cooke from Winchester.
Woodforde rather took Cooke under his wing at New College and introduced him to the undergraduate pleasures of Oxford, including a taste for porter and oysters. When, in October that year, Woodforde had a 'Boyle' (presumably a stye) on his eye, which broke and 'discharged but a small quantity', it was Cooke who spent the evening with him when Woodforde determined that it would be improper' to go into the Bachelors' Common Room (BCR).
Their academic careers followed similar paths: B.A. (Woodforde, 1763; Cooke, 1766), B.D. (Woodforde, 1765; Cooke, 1781), M.A. (Woodforde, 1767; Cooke, 1770).
High Street, Oxford, J.M.W. Turner, 1810 [J. M. W. Turner, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons],_by_Turner_(1810)_crop.jpg){kind=link}
Pro-Proctors
Disappointed in his hopes of obtaining at least one of the livings at Castle Cary or Ansford following his father's death in 1771, Woodforde returned to Oxford and New College in 1773. He was made sub-warden of New College for the next year, a largely honorific, ceremonial role which he seemed to enjoy. In 1774, both Woodforde and Cooke had the honour of pro-proctor conferred on them. Woodforde's diary entry records:
1 May 1774 . . . At half past 10. this morning I went with Webber & Cooke Senr to St Peters Church to receive the Holy Sacrament there as being lately made Pro Proctor –
They endeavoured to maintain some order among the undergraduates, although Woodforde seems to have been more assiduous than Cooke. One particular diary entry for provides a detailed account of their nocturnal duties:
1 December 1774 . . . I went to Prayers this Evening at 5. o'clock – Cooke treated me with some Fish for Supper – Bingham had a good deal of Company at his Room this Evening and at 11. o'clock they being all merry made such Intolerable Noise by hallowing [hollering] that myself & Cooke went to Binghams Room, called him out & gave him a Lecture which made all quiet – Cooke & myself afterwards took a Walk over the University, and in our Walk we met with some of Mr Binghams Company, who are to wait on us to Morrow Morning, – Cooke took to two and I took to two more – Mr Hart of Christchurch Coll: & M. Lawrence of Corpus College – We returned home a little before 1. o'clock –
During their pro-proctorial year (1774–1775), Woodforde and Cooke – referred to in the diary as Cooke Senior to distinguish him from William Cooke, no relation, who is called Cooke Junior – were much in each other's company. The diary frequently notes that 'Cooke Senr breakfasted with me', and sometimes that he 'took a walk with Cooke up the Hill'.
Freemasons
Both Woodforde and Cooke were members of the Alfred Lodge and were often at the same lodge meetings. The diary records some of their fellow masons:
24 November 1774 . . . I dined & spent the Afternoon at the Lodge at the New Inn. Dr Wall, Master, Cooke Senr Warden. Velley Junr Warden, Wood, Hinton, Ballanche, Birt, Gilbert, Salisbury, Huddesford, Rawbone, Cox, Henniston, Modd, Walond, Dan: Williams, & Lates Senr present – Brother Wood gave a Lecture on Masonry –
Woodforde was admitted to the Lodge by Dr Robert Holmes, a Fellow of New College. It was in an earlier diary entry that year when he first mentions the Lodge and his membership:
21 April 1774 . . . I went with Holmes to the Free-Masons Lodge held this Day at the New Inn, was there admitted a Member of the same and dined & spent the Afternoon with them – The Form & Ceremony on the Occasion I must beg leave to omit putting down
Woodforde and Cooke were likely to have been early members, as the Lodge of Alfred in the University of Oxford had been founded only a few years previously, in 1769.
The Weston living
A pressing motive for Woodforde's return to New College was to secure one of the livings in the gift of the college. Having failed to obtain the Headmastership of Bedford School – 'the third best thing in the gift of the college' – he was elected to the rectory of Weston Longville in Norfolk on 15 December 1774.
His fellow proctor and mason, Washbourne Cooke, voted in his favour, and given their friendship over many years, it is hardly surprising that Woodforde chose Cooke to accompany him on his first visit to his new parish in 1775. Woodforde met the costs for both of them, as the diary records:
10 April 1775 . . . I breakfasted in my Room [at New College] this morning at 7. o'clock upon some Chocolate as did Cooke with me - after breakfast about 8. o'clock I set of in Jones's Post Coach for the City of London – Cooke went with me in the same, and I promised to frank him all the Way to Norfolk as he goes to oblige me
Cooke reciprocated the compliment. After their visit to Yarmouth, he went to the home of his sister, Margaret Uvedale, near Ipswich in Suffolk, and invited Woodforde to join his family there.
A visit to Suffolk and London
When Woodforde arrived at Bosmeer – Bosmere, need Needham Market, Suffolk – he 'met Cooke in the fields walking'.
9 May 1775 . . . Cooke conducted me to Bosmeer House to his Brother in Laws Captain Sam. Uvedale, who has a most noble House & a very fine Estate all round the same. I dined, supped & slept at Captain Uvedales with him his Wife & Mr Cooke – Every thing very elegant – Captain Uvedale & Lady behaved exceeding civil & polite to me indeed – very agreeable People
Woodforde remained at Bosmere until 16 May when he and Cooke 'went in the Captains Chariot for Ipswich to go in the Ipswich Post Coach for London'.
They spent four nights at the Turk's Head Coffee House in the Strand, where they had stayed and clearly felt comfortable on their journey from Oxford to Norfolk in April:
10 April 1775 . . . We got to London about six o'clock – Cooke and myself then took a Hackney Coach and went to the Turk's Head Coffee House in the Strand opposite Catherine Street, kept by one Mrs Smith a Widow & a good motherly kind of a Woman
The site of the coffee house at 142 Strand, close by the western wing of Somerset House, is now occupied by a modern office development, Strand Bridge House.
They attended a play at the nearby Drury Lane Theatre on 17 May, and the following day:
18 May 1775 . . . after breakfast we took a Walk in S. James's Park and whilst we were there the King & Queen with their Guards went by us in Sedan Chairs from the Queens Palace to St James's Palace, there being a Levee at St James's to day at 2. o'clock – The King did not look pleasant but the Queen did –
Having 'lost my Companion Cooke', presumably in the crowds of St James's, Woodforde walked to Westminster, 'where I saw the Lord Chancellor presiding in the Court of Chancery & Lord Mansfield in the King's Bench'. Cooke, having procured tickets for the Prince of Wales's box, spent the evening with him at Covent Garden Theatre, where they saw The Merchant of Venice and, for entertainment, Love Alamode.
The next day they set off for Oxford and returned to their old habits, not least the drinking of porter. However, having been given a year's grace, it was time for Woodforde's removal to Norfolk, but not before visiting his family in Somerset. Sub-warden Cooke breakfasted with him on 14 February 1776, and the following day Woodforde left Oxford for Ansford, remaining there until a brief return to Oxford with William Woodforde, 'Nephew Bill', on 11 May 1776, before his final departure from New College on:
20 May 1776 . . . We breakfasted at College and about 10. took my final Leave of my Rooms at College and we set forth for Norfolk, myself, Bill Woodforde and my Serv: Will: Coleman –
The diary does not mention whether Woodforde met Cooke on that final visit, but had he done so it is likely that he would have recorded it. The next we hear of Cooke is in reference to a letter received by Woodforde at Weston:
1 November 1777 . . . Had a Letter this Evening from Mr Crowe of N: Coll: and upon it, a droll one from Cooke being drunk
Cooke's early parishes: Whaddon and Hardwick-cum-Weedon
Church of St Mary, Whaddon [Mertbiol, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons]In 1778, Cooke was elected to the living of Whaddon in Buckinghamshire. The church, dedicated to St Mary, had originally been granted by the Domesday landholder to the Priory of St Faith at Longueville in Normandy, but in 1441 the priory and all its possessions passed to New College, Oxford.
It lies below the open country of Whaddon Chase, yet close to the western perimeter of Milton Keynes. The 1801 Census recorded a population of 545, with an additional 265 persons in the hamlet of Nash, whose Church of All Saints lies one mile to the west. Whaddon was a rural parish, similar to Woodforde's at Weston, which had a population of 365 in 1801.
The advowson of the Hardwick living has an intriguing history and connection a with New College, Oxford:
The manor passed through many hands until the middle of the thirteenth-century when the then Lord split the manor into two parts leaving it to 2 daughters, with each daughter holding parts of both villages. In 1385 William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, purchased from a descendant of one of the 2 daughters one half of the original manor and presented it to New College, Oxford for the building and upkeep of Winchester School. This eventually gave New College the right to appoint the rectors of the parish which they retained until 1968. The last New College lands in Hardwick were sold in the mid 1990s.
Weedon's history is no less interesting.
The Hatford living
Church of St George, Hatford [ Motacilla, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons]
Cooke died in 1804 and was buried at the Church of St George, Hatford, Berkshire, on 2 March. The parish register describes him as B.D. and Rector of the parish of Hatford, as well as of Hardwick in Buckinghamshire. This entry indicates that he held two livings, but he was probably an absentee cleric at Hardwick after succeeding to the incumbency of Hatford in 1795, having served as his uncle's curate there since 1790. The Hardwick living was valued at about £400 a year, while Hatford provided an additional £120 a year in income.
The advowson of Hatford was not held by New College but was in private hands, as it remains today, administered by Simeon's Trustees. His predecessor there from 1761 was Revd Richard Washbourne, his uncle, whose will specified, 'I give to my nephew Washbourne Cooke all my printed books & manuscripts'. Cooke was certainly favoured by his uncle, having briefly served as his curate at Great Harrowden, Northamptonshire, a parish of which his uncle was also rector and where he is buried.
St George's is a tiny twelfth-century church comprising a nave, extended in the thirteenth-century when a chancel was added, and notable for its Norman south doorway.
Oxford again
Following Woodforde's departure for Norfolk in 1776, there is no evidence in the diary that he met Cooke again until 1793. Woodforde had been at Bath with his niece Anna Maria ('Nancy'), and he broke his return journey at Oxford:
18 October 1793 . . . Mr Sissmore one of the Senr Fellows of New-Coll: and a Contemporary of mine there, shewed us the College and went with us over the University, as did my old Friend Washbourne Cooke, presented last Year to the Living of Hardwicke –
Later that same day:
18 October 1793 . . . I went to New College and there dined in the Hall & spent the Afternoon in the Senior Common Room with Cooke who acted as Sub-Warden, Mr Sissmore, Mr Caldecot, Mr Charles Bathurst, Mr Cummins, Mr Hamley &c. 16. in all – We had for dinner a Rump of Beef boiled, a Jigget of Mutton alias Haunch rosted with sweet Sauce &c. &c. – About 6. o'clock took my leave of the Gentlemen of New Coll: as we go for London to Morrow –
It was, apparently, their final meeting. Their lives had run in parallel: both were Church of England clergymen in rural parishes, neither married, and both lived for six decades or a little more. Woodforde's hopes of following his father in one of his Somerset parishes were stymied by his family, while Cooke's family were perhaps more kind and generous.
There is no information about Cooke's health in later years, but the diary makes it clear that Woodforde's health began to deteriorate in his mid-fifties. Many readers have wondered whether their undergraduate indulgences – 'I had a bottle of my wine' and . . .
Went to Chapel this Evening at 5. o'clock and after Prayers Cooke Senr & self took a long walk – For Porter after our Walk this Evening – Pd. 0 : 0 : 6
undermined their health in youth, or whether habits formed at Oxford simply persisted into later life.