COKE, SIR JOHN (1563-1644), English politician, was born on March 5, 1563, and was educated at Trinity college, Cambridge. After leaving the university he entered public life as a servant of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, afterwards becom ing deputy treasurer and then a commissioner of the navy. He became M.P. for Warwick in 1621 and was knighted in 1624, afterwards representing the University of Cambridge. In the parliament of 1625 Coke acted as secretary of State; in this and later parliaments he introduced the royal requests for money, and defended the foreign policy of Charles I. and Buckingham, and afterwards the actions of the king. His actual appointment as secretary dates from Sept. 162 5. Disliked by the leaders of the popular party, his speeches in the House of Commons did not improve the king's position, but when Charles ruled without a parliament he found Coke's industry very useful to him. The secretary retained his post until 1639, when a scapegoat was re quired to expiate the humiliating treaty of Berwick with the Scots, and Coke was dismissed. He died at Tottenham on Sept. 8, 1644. Coke's son, Sir John Coke, sided with the parliament in its struggle with the king, and it is possible that in later life Coke's own sympathies were with this party, although in his earlier years he had been a defender of absolute monarchy.