George Lewis Coke

George Lewis Coke
portrait by Pompeo Batoni
Born	1715 Derbyshire
Died	1715 (aged -37–-36) prob. Melbourne, Derbyshire
Education	Oxford University
Occupation	Gentleman
Parent(s)	Thomas Coke

George Lewis Coke (1715–1751) inherited his father's property at Melbourne, Derbyshire. Some accounts say he returned from his Grand Tour to complete his father’s work on Melbourne Hall. On his death, the property went to his sister who was to become grandmother to William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, the Victorian Prime Minister.

George Lewis Coke was born in 1715 to Thomas Coke and his wife Mary (née Hale). His father had been Vice-Chamberlain of the Household to Queen Mary and George I. Thomas Coke had also been Teller of the Receipt of the Exchequer briefly in 1704.

His father died when he was twelve and he was taken care of by his uncle, John Coke, in London. He attended Oxford University in 1732 and property at Kings Newton was purchased for him by his uncle.

When Coke was nineteen he embarked on the traditional Grand Tour of Europe, despite being appointed Surveyor-General of His Majesty's Customs two years before when he was just 17. In the first year he visited Paris and ?? after staying over the winter in Montpelier, he visited Rome, Venice. Whilst in Italy he had his portrait made by the Italian painter, Pompeo Batoni – who made a good living from young English aristocrats. Like other Grand Tour portraits, Coke appears amongst antiquities. In this case the Coliseum is in the background of Batoni's composition.

Coke returned from abroad and unusually he came back with a "companion and tutor" known as John Lewis Pasteur.

Between 1742 and 1745, Coke hired William Smith to remodel the gardens of Melbourne Hall which together with rebuilding the front and east wing completed the plans of his father who had died prematurely.

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