As a supporter of Fox, Coke was one of the MPs who lost their seats in the 1784 general election, and he returned to Norfolk to work on farming, hunting, and the maintenance and expansion of Holkham Hall, his ancestral home.

Described as the "greatest commoner in England",[4] he chose the passage of the Great Reform Act 1832 as the moment to retire, later being made Earl of Leicester in July 1837.

Little is known of Coke's father; Wenman is described as a shy person who "saw little company and lived much out of the world; his habits were those of a country gentleman, bending his mind to agriculture, moderately addicted to field sports and more than either, to reading in which he passed many hours; firm in his principles which were those of the old Whig; amiable in his disposition mild in his manners, he was beloved of his friends".

[8] Few records exist of Thomas Coke's early years, although it is known that he was educated in Longford, Derbyshire, before going to a school in Wandsworth run by French settlers.

Coke was apparently happy at Eton, and was excellent at field sports; on one occasion 70 snipes he had killed were found in his room, and on another, he narrowly avoided being punished for shooting a pheasant in Windsor Great Park.

He was not particularly interested in his academic studies, but by the time he left Eton in 1771 Coke had developed a close circle of friends and connections from the landowning class, and practical skills to deal with his future estates.

Coke was not enthusiastic, not seeing himself as a politician and hoping to enjoy his new estates and wealth, but after his visitors pointed out a Tory might otherwise replace him "my blood chilled all over me from my head to my foot, and I came forward".

During that summer, however, he struck up a relationship with Charles James Fox, a soon-to-be famous Whig politician noted for his outspoken and flamboyant lifestyle.

Following the Battles of Saratoga, it became clear that any victory in America would be long and expensive, and in an attempt to raise funds King George III asked subjects to donate.

[14] Windham, Coke and their supporters then withdrew to a nearby pub, where they drafted a petition to the king from "the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, Freeholders and Inhabitants of the County of Norfolk".

During the late 18th century a series of laws were passed protecting a landowner's right to hunt, and giving severe penalties to poachers.

On 22 February, Henry Seymour Conway brought a motion asking the King to "listen to the humble prayer and advice of his faithful Commons, that the war on the continent of North America may no longer be pursued for the impractical purpose of reducing the inhabitants of that country to obedience by force".

[20] A 2023 reappraisal of his contribution to the art collection discusses his addition of portraits by Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds, Ramsay Richard Reinagle, George Hayter, Chester Harding, and John Opie.

[26] As a landlord, Coke was a firm believer in the right and moral obligation of a landowner to improve the quality of life of those living on his estates.

Blaikie travelled to Manchester to meet the solicitor who had handled the sale, finding not only poorly drafted conveyances but that all the sold land had been rich in coal.

The husbandry involved the milking comparisons of various types of cow, along with the first planting of Scottish turnips, which are "a good table vegetable being more palatable and nutritious and not so watery as the Norfolk variety".

Initially small events of local farmers, the shearings soon became 200-person formal dinners, rising to 300 people in 1821 and 700 soon after, with even the American ambassador Richard Rush attending in 1819, along with the French Consul and the Duke of Sussex.

The Board published a series of county reports for most of the United Kingdom, describing new farming measures being undertaken in various parts of the country.

[36] Coke has been described as "the real hero of Norfolk agriculture", despite the fact that his land was so poor one critic is said to have remarked that "the thin sandy soil must be ploughed by rabbits yoked to a pocket knife".

He is credited with inventing four-crop rotation which Naomi Riches has described as an "error",[38] and R. A. C. Parker, writing in the Economic History Review, states that "many of the innovations he is supposed to have introduced should be attributed to his predecessors in Norfolk"; however that "is not to deny the substantial contribution of Coke himself to the advance of farming technique in England".

The French Revolution a year earlier had torn the Whig party in half, with Coke and Fox in the isolated minority who supported the revolutionaries as their acts became more brutal.

Coke was notably absent from any preparations for defence, feeling that the risks of invasion were exaggerated, but was eventually persuaded by public opinion to reform the Yeoman Cavalry in 1803; it was again dissolved in 1805.

[42] He felt more comfortable with local matters, however, and his main concerns "were those of the agricultural interest", arguing against a new land tax and introducing a bill to shorten the shooting season, allowing for the production of more corn.

The government reportedly offered Coke a peerage, which he refused primarily to focus on abolishing Britain's involvement in the Atlantic slave trade, which was accomplished roughly a year after Fox's death on 13 September 1806.

[45] His attendance in the next two years was very limited, and the next occasion of note was his support of the Corn Laws, which were highly unpopular in Norfolk and led to him being physically attacked by a mob in 1815.

[46] With a County Meeting on 5 April 1817, Coke spoke on the King's intent on "overturning democracy and enslaving the country" by restricting freedom of speech and the press, suggesting that the government needed to be removed.

Anne had initially been brought to Holkham to partner with his nephew William, who due to Coke's lack of sons would inherit the estate, but they failed to get on.

He expressed delight at the Great Reform Act 1832, although he only spoke on the subject once, and chose its passage on 4 June 1832 as the appropriate moment to retire as an MP.

[51] After a short and painful illness while visiting his estate (and childhood home) at Longford Hall, Derbyshire, Coke died in the early hours of 30 June 1842 at the age of 88; his last words were reported to be "well, perhaps I have talked too much".

On the final leg of the journey, with a funeral procession two miles in length led by 150 Holkham tenants on horseback and followed by several hundreds of private carriages, 200 gentlemen on horseback, riding two abreast, and lastly, a long train of neighbours, tenants and yeomen, Coke was eventually buried at the family mausoleum in Tittleshall on 11 July.