Cooke, Thomas Potter

1786

1864

Cooke was born in Marylebone on 23 April 1786, the son of a surgeon. As a lad he was with the Royal Navy on board HMS Raven at the siege of Toulon in 1796, and in the battle off Cape St Vincent in 1797. After several other engagements, at the end of the hostilities in 1802 he returned to London to make his debut in a small part at the Royalty Theatre in Wellclose Square in January 1804. He performed at Astley’s Amphitheatre (where he appropriately appeared as Nelson) at the Lyceum and in Dublin and in 1809 he was engaged as stage manager at the Surrey Theatre. Over the years, at Drury Lane, the Lyceum, the Adelphi, and Covent Garden he appeared in a number of characters in melodramas, including Ruthven in “The Vampire”, Hans Ketzler in “Castle Spectre”, and Frankenstein in “The Fate of Frankenstein”. At Covent Garden on 19 October 1822 he played Zenocles in “Ali Pasha”, the role in which he was pictured by Clint (G0137). Among his most successful roles was William in “Black-Eyed Susan” on 6 June 1829 at the Surrey, where he played it for 100 nights and then transferred with the production to Covent Garden and subsequently to Drury Lane. Cooke’s last appearance on the stage was in that role at Covent Garden on 20 October 1860, for the benefit of the Dramatic College. He died on 10 April 1864 at No 37, Thurloe Street and was buried in Brompton cemetery. He was one of the original members of the Garrick Club in 1831. Cooke was shown in numerous penny-plain and tuppence-coloured prints. A Staffordshire pottery figure of him as William is in the Garrick Club (B0004).