Cokayne, William (1559-03-25 - 1626-10-20)

The exact date of birth of William Cokayne is unknown. Born in c. 1559, he was the second son of William Cokayne (d. 1599) of Baddesley Ensor, Warwickshire, a freeman of the Skinners' Company of London. William Cokayne the younger became free of the Skinners' Company by patrimony on 28 March 1590. He was admitted to Gray's Inn on 10 August 1600, but quickly established a career as a merchant. From 1609 until 1610, Cokayne served as sheriff of London; ten years later, he would serve as lord mayor of London. His mayoral pageant, The Triumphs of Love and Antiquity, was written by Thomas Middleton. By this time, he had already been knighted. William Cokayne died on 20 October 1626. He was buried on 12 December in St Paul's Cathedral; his funeral sermon was delivered by John Donne. See Peter McCullough, 'Preaching and Context: John Donne's Sermon at the Funerals of Sir William Cokayne', in The Oxford Handbook of the Early Modern Sermon, ed. by Peter McCullough, Hugh Adlington and Emma Rhatigan (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 213-267.