 He was a leading Freemason, president of the Soldiers' Home League, the School of Arts and Crafts and the Myrtle Bank Home and prominent in many other associations.His widow and daughter presented the Royal Geographical Society with a brass surveyor's level, made by Troughton & Simms, and reputedly used by Colonel William Light.John Herbert Cooke married Harriet Williams on 15 December 1896.