ABOUT
TRUSLEY

Trusley Dovecote - An old brick dovecote with a peaked roof, stairs leading up to a wooden door, surrounded by trees and a grassy area.

Trusley is a small village in south Derbyshire.  

As 'Toxenai' it was mentioned in the Domesday Book
as a manor belonging to Henry de Ferrers. 

Many of the buildings in Trusley village date from the 18th century |including All Saints Church built for William Coke in 1712. 

Oliver De Odingsells purchased the Manor of Trusley from
Ralph de Beufey in the reign of King Henry III [1216-72].

In 1418 a De Odingsells co-heiresses married Thomas Coke
and from this time the Coke family came to live at Trusley. 

The original homes of the Cokes' have long since vanished, however in 1904
Major General John Talbot coke built a new Trusley Manor. 

In 1948, after the Second World War, Trusley Manor
was cut down in size; a quarter of the house survives today.

Some of the Cokes
from Trusley

A historical portrait of Sir John Coke of Trusley, Secretary of state to King Charles 1st. wearing a ruffled collar, dark clothing with a leather doublet, and a cap. He has a moustache and beard, and is holding a closed book.
A black-and-white studio portrait of Desmond Coke a British poet & fiction writer man in formal attire, with a bow tie.

Sir John Coke, Secretary of State in the reign of Kings Charles 1st

Desmond Coke
British poet & fiction writer

Black and white portrait of Richard Coke, Governor of Texas (who came from Trusley) with a beard and formal attire.
Historical black and white photo of seven men, with one seated who was General Sir John Coke who raised the 55th Cokes' Rifles Regiment.
A painting of Major General John Talbot Coke in military uniform standing outdoors, wearing a dark coat, a tall feathered hat, and holding a ceremonial sword.
Daniel Parker Coke, with his very distant cousin the Rev. D'Ewes Coke (standing) and his cousin's wife, by Joseph Wright, 1782

Major General John Talbot Coke

Daniel Parker Coke MP

George Coke
Bishop of Bristol & Hereford

Roger Coke
20th-century Derbyshire composer

General Sir John Coke who raised the 55th Cokes' Rifles Regiment

Richard Coke
Governor of Texas

A photo of Roger Sacheverell Coke with white hair sitting at a Steinway grand piano, looking up at the camera, in a room with wooden floors and stacked papers on the piano.
A stone sculpture of George Coke, Bishop of Bristol & Hereford with a beard and long hair, dressed in historical clothing with a ruffled collar, lying on a carved stone surface with hands clasped together.
A classical painting depicting Jesus Christ washing a woman's feet, with a woman holding a bowl and a young girl watching.

Alfred Sacheverel Coke
Aesthetic movement artist

A black and white illustration of a sun with a human face, rays radiating outward, and a twisted red and white rope below it.

Extract from The Magna Britannia Survey of 1806

Coke of Trusley
”This family is of considerable antiquity. Hugh Coke married the heiress of Owen, of Marchington, in Staffordshire, and settled at that place in the reign of Edward III.: Thomas, his grandson, about the middle of the fifteenth century settled in Derbyshire, in consequence of his marriage with one of the coheiresses” of Odingsells, of Trusley. Richard Coke, the fifth in descent from this Thomas, married the heiress of Sacheverell, of Nottinghamshire. William Coke, grandson of Richard, married a coheiress of Beresford, of Alsop. William Coke, great-grandson of the last-mentioned William, dying without male issue in 1716, the elder branch became extinct: his daughters and coheiresses married Edward Wilmot, or the Chaddesden family, and D’Ewes Coke, of Suckley, in Worcestershire, descended from George Coke, Bishop of Hereford, a younger brother of Sir Francis Coke, of Trusley, who died in 1639. The Reyerend Francis Wilmot, Rector of Trusley, and D’Ewes Coke, Esq., of Brookhillhall, in the Nottinghamshire part of the parish of Pinxton, are the repre sentatives of this branch.

Daniel Parker Coke, Esq., of the College in Derby, descended from the Reverend Thomas Coke, Rector of Trusley, a younger brother of Robert Coke, Esq., who died in 1713, is the male representative of the family, being the eleventh in descent from Thomas Coke, who married the heiress of Odingsells. The mother of Mr. Coke was heiress of Goodwin; his grandmother, the heiress of Willet, both of Derby. Sir John Coke, Secretary of State to King Charles I., and younger brother of Sir Francis Coke, of Trusley, settled at Melbourne in this county. George Lewis Coke, Esq., the last heir male of this branch, died in 1750; his sister and sole heir married Sir Matthew Lambe, Bart., father of the present Lord Viscount Melbourne”.

Arms of Coke, of Trusley: Gules, three crescents, and a canton or.
Crest: The sun in splendor.”