COKER, Henry (c.1528-95), of Mappowder, Dorset.

Coker probably came in for Shaftesbury through the good offices of his fellow-Member Sir John Zouche, with whose family his own was related through marriages with the Ludlows. Coker signed the Dorset bond of association in 1584, but otherwise made little impression on the records. He was put down for £100 to the Armada fund. In 1591 he told the Privy Council that recusants were escaping presentment at the Dorset assizes. He made his will in May 1593, leaving £600 to be divided among his six grandchildren. Charitable bequests were made to the poor of Dorchester and to the parish church of Mappowder. The will was proved in July 1595.1C142/163/27; Wards 7/14/34; Harl. 1451, f. 78; Genealogist, n. s. ii. 298; Hutchins, Dorset, iii. 723-6; Roberts thesis; Dorset Nat. Hist. Antiq. Field Club Procs. xxxii. 103; Som. and Dorset N. and Q. viii. 118-19; SP12/174/7; T. C. Noble, Names of Those who Subscribed, 15; PCC 51 Scott.