John Cooke (fl. 1800 - )

British map engraver who became an engraver to the Admiralty. He commenced business in the late 1780s at Clare Court off Drury Lane but by 1790 had removed to Hendon, specifically to Mill Hill, where the house and gardens that he occupied can be glimpsed at the centre of his one of his trade card. Cooke was not destined to enjoy the lofty delights of Mill Hill for long; by the summer of 1797 he was in the Fleet prison as a debtor and described as ‘late of Mill-Hill’; London Gazette, 29 July, 1 August, 5 August 1797. He appears to have been back on his feet by 1799 and trading from Howland Street, from whence he issued his later trade card (Banks 59.44) which he adapted for his wife (Banks 59.46). From Howland Street, in 1802 Cooke moved to a little further north to Camden Town where he published as well as engraved maps and claimed the title ‘Engraver to the Admiralty’. About the year 1817 Cooke removed to Plymouth where he was still working as an engraver in 1845 at the age of 80 years.