Sir John Cope (July 1688 – 28 July 1760) was a British soldier, and Whig Member of Parliament, representing three separate constituencies between 1722 and 1741. He is now chiefly remembered for his defeat at Prestonpans, the first significant battle of the Jacobite rising of 1745 and which was commemorated by the tune "Hey, Johnnie Cope, Are Ye Waking Yet?", which still features in modern Scottish folk music and bagpipe recitals. His military service included the wars of the Spanish and Austrian Successions. Like many of the senior officers present at Dettingen in 1743, victory resulted in promotion, and he was appointed military commander in Scotland shortly before the 1745 Rising. Although exonerated by a court-martial in 1746, Prestonpans ended his career as a field officer. In 1751, he was appointed governor of the Limerick garrison, and deputy to Viscount Molesworth, commander of the army in Ireland. He died in London on 28 July 1760. Biographical details For someone who held high rank, Cope's background is unusually obscure, and for many years biographies referred to his parentage as unknown. His father Henry Cope (1645 – 1724), was a captain in the Foot Guards, who resigned his commission in April 1688 in order to marry Dorothy Waller. While Cope's date of birth is often given as 1690, parish records show he was baptised on 7 July 1688 at St Giles in Camden; he had two siblings, Mary (1679–1758) and a brother Henry, who died young. The Cope baronets of Hanwell were the senior branch of the family, with other Copes spread throughout England and Ireland. His grandfather William (1612–1691) fought for Parliament in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, married his brother's widow, and purchased an estate in Icomb, Gloucestershire. William allegedly disapproved of Henry's marriage, and only allowed him use of Icomb during his lifetime. When he died in 1724, it passed first to his sister Elizabeth (1647–1731), then to his niece Elizabeth (1682–1747), effectively disinheriting John. Cope's cousin, another Sir John Cope (1673–1749), was disinherited by his father for similar reasons, but also had an extremely successful career. He became a director of the Bank of England in 1706, sat as an MP from 1708 to 1741, and succeeded his father as baronet. In 1709, Cope had a son James, whose mother is unknown; he later became commercial consul in Hamburg, and was briefly an MP before dying unmarried