He was the second son of
Sir Edward Coke and his wife, Bridget Paston, daughter of John Paston (MP), becoming his father's heir when the eldest son Edward died as an infant. He was knighted in 1607. After marrying Theophila, daughter of
Sir Thomas Berkeley, he resided at
Caludon Castle, owned by his wife's family the Berkeleys, and was elected to parliament for
Coventry, in the vicinity, in 1614. That year he was the dedicatee of a mathematics book by
William Bedwell, based on a work by Lazarus Schöner. In summer 1617, when
Frances Coke was defying her father Sir Edward's wishes over a marriage, she was sent to her brother Sir Robert at
Kingston upon Thames. This was one step in a complex story mostly played out along the
River Thames. Coke was heavily in debt in the 1620s. He was elected again to parliament, in 1624, for
Fowey, thought to be a nominee for
William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke. When his father died in 1634 he was deeper in debt; he inherited a family home at
Huntingfield, Suffolk. In 1634, also, Coke had the monument at
Bramfield church completed by
Nicholas Stone, to his late indebted brother Arthur and his wife. Having lived in Suffolk for a period, he then moved to a family house, "Durdans" near
Epsom in
Surrey. A royalist of the
First English Civil War, Coke was detained in the
Tower of London. Coke was made to pay a fine, and had his lands sequestered until 1647. Coke was pricked
High Sheriff of Suffolk for 1652–53 and died at Epsom on 19 July 1653. ==Family and legacy==