Thomas Cooke (actor)

He sailed again on board HMS Prince of Wales, carrying Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Calder, to the blockade of Brest.

He subsequently played at the Lyceum, and then joined the company of Henry Erskine Johnston, who opened a theatre in Peter Street, Dublin.

[1] On 19 October 1816, Cooke appeared at Drury Lane as Diego Monez, an officer, in a melodrama, attributed to Robert Bell,[2] and called Watchword, or the Quito Gate.

He then played some new characters, mainly foreigners, such as Monsieur Pas in the farce Each for Himself, Almorad, a Moor, in Manuel by Charles Maturin, and Hans Ketzler in George Soane's Castle Spectre.

Cooke then joined the Covent Garden Company, and played Zenocles in Ali Pacha, by John Howard Payne, on 19 October 1822, Richard I in Maid Marian on 3 December 1822, and other parts.

When, in 1825, Frederick Henry Yates and Daniel Terry took the Adelphi, Cooke was engaged and played Long Tom Coffin in Edward Fitzball's drama The Pilot.

His last appearance was at Covent Garden, for the benefit of the Royal Dramatic College, on 29 October 1860, when he once more played William in a selection from Black-Eyed Susan.

Thomas Potter Cooke in a nautical part
Thomas Potter Cooke, 1843 lithograph