John and Joan Cooke

JOHN COOKE (d. 1528) and JOAN COOKE (d. 1545). The names of this couple are probably the best-known amongst Gloucester's benefactors. The portrait is the only one of this group containing two figures. John Cooke has been variously described as a brewer and a mercer. but in any case he held a prominent position in local affairs, and may well have had a number of business interests. He was one of the first aldermen of Gloucester, was sheriff in 1494 and 1498, and became Mayor in 1501, 1507, 1512 and 1518.

John Cooke tells us in his will that he was born in Minsterworth, but of his personal life, and that of his wife Joan, little is known. His Will, dated 18 May 1528, and proved on the 19 October of that year, made many bequests to the city, including money for the upkeep of the highways, both towards Evesham and towards 'Byrdlyppe.' He also left five pounds for repairing 'the great West Brigge'. This type of benefaction at the time was a frequent and necessary one, for the highways and bridges were, it seems in constant need of attention, and trade with the outside world was dependent on them. He left vestments to the abbey church and also to all the other churches in Gloucester at that time, of which there were then eleven. He also left money for repairing St. Bartholomew's Hospital and for mending the houses of the poor people there 'to kepe them from the daunger of the great waters in the wynter time'.

To his wife Joan he left a large fortune and extensive property in the city and county, for her life and she was to use it 'as she doo know my full mynde'. It had been his wish that she should establish and endow 'a contynuall free scole of Grammer for the contynuall erudition and teaching of children and Scolers ther forever'. He also desired his wife not to re-marry and she duly respected his wishes and became a mourning widow. Thus, at the Dissolution she purchased a large part of the estate of Llanthony Priory with which she built and endowed the Crypt School adjacent to St. Mary de Crypt church in Southgate Street.

The building was completed by the end of 1539, and the school, Gloucester's most ancient, continues to this day, after a number of moves and vicissitudes, which seem to be the lot of most such schools here. Dame Joan Cooke died in 1545, and her will was proved 25 February 1545/6. In it she, too, made many local bequests, including gifts to the prisoners in Gloucester Castle, to the Cathedral, St. Bartholomew's Hospital and other places. She likewise left money for the highways in and around Gloucester.

John and Joan Cooke were both buried in St,. Mary de Crypt church, and there was formerly an early brass memorial to them, now replaced with a modern copy taken from a rubbing of the original. Neither figure would appear to bear any resemblance to the painting. We are informed, too, that she was 'soch an unweldy woman for age and unweldynes that she could not ride nor go herself to soche places owte of the towne of Gloucestr ... ' Neither the brass nor the painting would give any hint of 'unweldynes' which might suggest that neither of them was a true likeness of her, or were done at a time (presumably before the death of John Cooke) before she put on such weight. If done from life, then the painting must date from before 1528.

A very full account of them and their good works, is to be found in Roland Austin's 'Crypt School' (1939), which casts doubts on the authenticity of the painting.