Cole was born on 8 December 1753 at
Mersham in
Kent, and received in early life great assistance from a friend of his mother,
John Chapman, archdeacon of
Sudbury (1704–1784). Chapman sent him first to
Ashford Grammar School (now
The Norton Knatchbull School), and afterwards to a private seminary at
Bierton, near
Aylesbury,
Buckinghamshire. In 1766 he was admitted at
Eton College on the foundation, and in 1773 was made scholar of
King's College, Cambridge, and fellow in 1776, proceeding B.A. in 1778, and M.A. in 1781. In 1777 he returned to Eton as a master, but, having ruptured a blood-vessel while an undergraduate, found himself not strong enough for the post, and resigned it in 1780 on being appointed tutor to
George, Marquess of Blandford, and
Lord Henry Spencer, the sons of the
Duke of Marlborough, to whom he became chaplain. In 1781 he was inducted to the first portion of the rectory of
Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire, on the presentation of the Duke of Marlborough, but resigned it in 1788, on being collated to the rectory of Mersham, Kent, by the
Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1792 he was installed prebendary of
Westminster, and in 1795 received the degree of D.D. by the archbishop's diploma at the archiepiscopal visitation at
Canterbury. In 1796 he was presented to the vicarage of
Shoreham, Kent, by the dean and chapter of Westminster. In 1795 he married Mary, the second daughter of
Sir William Blackstone, but left no issue. He died on 24 September 1806, and was buried in the north aisle of
Westminster Abbey. ==Works==