Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (fifth creation)

Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester, KB (1697–1759) was an English land-owner and patron of the arts. He is particularly noted for commissioning the design and construction of Holkham Hall in north Norfolk. Between 1722 and 1728, he was one of the two Members of Parliament for Norfolk. He was honoured by being created first Earl of Leicester, in a recreation of an ancient earldom.

He was the son of Edward Coke (Coke is pronounced "Cook") and Carey Newton. As a young man, Coke embarked on a six-year 'Grand Tour', returning to England in the spring of 1718. During his time in Rome in 1715, he made the acquaintance of Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, the aristocratic architect at the forefront of the Palladian revival movement in England, and of William Kent. Both were later to be engaged by Coke to work on his mansion at Holkham which housed the considerable collection of works of art that Coke had accumulated on his travels. In 1717, during these travels he purchased the Codex Leicester, containing some of the works of Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist and scientist.

However, Coke was badly affected by financial losses when his investments in the South Sea Company proved worthless. This delayed the building of Coke's planned new country estate for over ten years. It was not until around 1732 that Burlington and Kent made their first drawings for the new country house. Norfolk architect Matthew Brettingham was also influential in the design of the mansion (though he attributed the design of the Marble Hall to Coke himself). Work on the foundations began in 1734, but it was to be 30 years before work was completed. As he surveyed the result of his long years of labour and achievement, Lord Leicester lamented: "It is a melancholy thing to stand alone in one's own country. I look around not a house to be seen but my own. I am Giant of Giant Castle and have ate up all my neighbours my nearest neighbour is the King of Denmark."

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