 Thomas William Coke , 1st Earl of Leicester ( 6 May 1754 – 30 June 1842 ) , known as Coke of Norfolk or Coke of Holkham , was a British politician and agricultural reformer . Born to Wenman Coke , Member of Parliament ( MP ) for Derby , and his wife Elizabeth , Coke was educated at several schools , including Eton College , before undertaking a Grand Tour of Europe . After returning to Britain and being married , Coke 's father died , leaving him the owner of a 30 @,@ 000 acre Norfolk estate . Returned to Parliament in 1776 for Norfolk , Coke became a close friend of Charles James Fox , and joined his Eton schoolmate William Windham in his support of the American colonists during the American Revolutionary War . 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 . 
