Charles Coke
{{Short description|English Royal Navy officer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=Sir Charles Coke
|birth_date={{birth date|1854|10|2|df=yes}}
|death_date={{death date and age|1945|2|23|1854|10|2|df=yes}}
|image=
|caption=
|birth_place=Ropsley, Lincolnshire, England
|death_place=Exmouth, Devon, England
|allegiance={{UK}}
|branch={{Navy|United Kingdom}}
|rank=Admiral
|serviceyears=1868–1945
|commands={{HMS|Sirius|1890|6}}
{{HMS|Talbot|1895|6}}
{{HMS|Terpsichore|1890|6}}
{{HMS|Scylla|1891|6}}
{{HMS|Cornwallis|1901|6}}
Sheerness Gunnery School
Commander-in-Chief, Coast of Ireland
Newfoundland Patrol Service
|battles=Third Anglo-Ashanti War
World War I
|awards=Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
|relations=
}}
Admiral Sir Charles Henry Coke KCVO (2 October 1854 – 23 February 1945) was a Royal Navy officer who served during the First World War.
Early life
Coke was born on 2 October 1854 in the village of Ropsley in Lincolnshire where his father was the local rector.
Naval career
Coke joined the Royal Navy on 7 April 1868 when he entered the training ship Britannia, in 1872 was appointed a midshipman on the corvette {{HMS|Druid|1869|6}}. Coke served during the Third Anglo-Ashanti War and was present during the attack on Elmina on 13 June 1873, he was awarded the Ashantee Medal. He was appointed lieutenant on HMY Victoria and Albert on 5 September 1877.{{London Gazette|issue=24501|page=5151|date=7 September 1877}} In 1880 he served on the gun-vessel {{HMS|Fly|1867|6}} on the China Station, returning to England two years later to do a gunnery course. In 1889 he took command of the sailing brig {{HMS|Pilot|1879|6}}. Promoted to Commander in 1892 he moved to HMS Active before moving on to command {{HMS|Ganges|shore establishment|6}}, a boys training ship at Falmouth. He became commanding officer of the cruiser {{HMS|Sirius|1890|6}} in July 1899, Divisional Transport Officer posted to HMS Eagle in March 1900,{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & military Intelligence |date=17 March 1900 |page=14 |issue=36092}} and commanding officer of the cruiser {{HMS|Talbot|1895|6}} in July 1900. In February 1901 he was appointed commanding officer of the cruiser {{HMS|Terpsichore|1890|6}}, serving at the Cape of Good Hope Station. He went on to be commanding officer of the cruiser {{HMS|Scylla|1891|6}} in April 1904 and of the battleship {{HMS|Cornwallis|1901|6}} in January 1905.{{cite web|url=http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/ROYAL%20NAVY%20WARSHIPS.pdf |title=Captains commanding Royal Navy warships |access-date=27 December 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714184102/http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/ROYAL%20NAVY%20WARSHIPS.pdf |archive-date=14 July 2015 |df=dmy }}
After that Coke became Captain, Sheerness Gunnery School in January 1907, Senior Officer on the Coast of Ireland in April 1911{{cite web|url=http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Senior%20Royal%20Navy%20Appointments%201900-.pdf |title=Senior Royal Navy appointments |access-date=27 December 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315105247/http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Senior%20Royal%20Navy%20Appointments%201900-.pdf |archive-date=15 March 2012 |df=dmy }} and commander of the Newfoundland Patrol Service in March 1917.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=afOEdO8mh1gC&pg=PA51|title=Canada's Navy: The First Century|page=51|first= Marc |last= Milner|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0802096043}}
Family life
Coke married Anna Marie Madeleine Fergusson in 1883 and they had one son and a daughter."Obituary." Times [London, England] 26 February 1945: 6. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 27 December 2014
Coke died at Hughenden, Exmouth, Devon on 23 February 1945 aged 90.
References
{{reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef|before=Sir Alfred Paget}}
{{s-ttl|title=Senior Officer on the Coast of Ireland|years=1911–1914}}
{{s-aft|after=Robert Stokes}}
{{s-bef|before=Robert Stokes}}
{{s-ttl|title=Senior Officer on the Coast of Ireland|years=1914–1915}}
{{s-aft|after=Sir Lewis Bayly}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coke, Charles}}
Category:Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Category:Graduates of Britannia Royal Naval College
Category:People from South Kesteven District
Category:British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Ashanti War