A most prolific writer, he published a string of grammars, several dictionaries, comparative work, and a history of Bantu linguistics.
His father, Reverend Joseph J. Doke, left England and travelled to South Africa in 1882, where he met and married Agnes Biggs.
The Dokes were supposed to investigate whether the mission in Lambaland could be taken over by the Baptist Union of South Africa.
The South African Baptists decided to take over Kafulafuta Mission, and its founder, Reverend Phillips, remained as superintendent.
Soon, however, he mastered the language and published his first book, Ifintu Fyakwe Lesa ("The Things of God, a Primer of Scripture Knowledge") in 1917.
The book is couched in traditional grammatical terms, as Doke had not yet established his innovative method to analyse and describe the Bantu languages.
In 1931 he compiled The Lambas of Northern Rhodesia, which remains one of the outstanding ethnographic descriptions of the peoples of Central Africa.
So that he could secure a qualification as a lecturer, the family moved to England, where he registered at the School of Oriental and African Studies.
Doke supported the appointment of Benedict Wallet Vilakazi as member of the staff, as he believed a native speaker was essential for acquiring a language.
He was also an early describer of Khoisan and Bantu click consonants, devising phonetic symbols for a number of them.
He was elected President of the South African Baptist Union in 1949 and spent a year visiting churches and mission stations.