236 THE MEYNELL HOUNDS. [18C5 



Nicholas de Longford represented the county in Parliament. 

 This family died out in the early part of the seventeenth 

 century, and Longford came into the possession of a 

 descendant of Sir Edward Coke, Lord Chief Justice of 

 England in the time of James L Edward Coke, Esq., of 

 Longford,* was created a baronet in 1641, and he served 

 the office of Sheriff for the county in 1646. He married 

 Catharine, the granddaughter of the Lord Chief Justice 

 Dyer, and was succeeded in his title and estates by Sir 

 Edward, his fourth son, who died without issue. The 

 place then became the property of Edward, the second son 

 of Edward Coke, Esq., of Holkham in Norfolk, a lineal 

 descendant of the Chief Justice Coke. Dying unmarried 

 in 1783, he left the estate to his younger brother, Robert 

 Coke, Esq., who was vice-chamberlain to Queen Caroline. 

 He married Lady Jane, eldest daughter and co-heiress of 

 Philip, Duke of Wharton. On the death of the last- 

 named possessor, the estate descended to his nephew, 

 Wenman Roberts, Esq., who took the name and arms 

 of Coke, and, in 1772, was chosen one of the representatives 

 in Parliament for the county of Derby. Thomas William, 

 his eldest son, not only succeeded his father in his estates 

 in the counties of Derby and Lancaster, but afterwards 

 became heir to the vast property of Viscount Coke, Earl 

 of Leicester. The estate and manor of Longford, however, 

 were enjoyed by Edward Coke, Esq., the second son, who 

 for many years represented the borough of Derby in 

 Parliament, and who was nominated High Sheriff for the 

 county in 1819. On his death the estate and manor 

 again reverted to Thomas William Coke, Esq., of Holkham, 

 created, July 21st, 1837, Earl of Leicester and Viscount 

 Coke. It was his son, the Hon. Edward Coke, who, as 

 " Ned " Coke, was so well known with the Hoar Cross and 

 Meynell hounds for so many years. He always rode 

 nearly, if not quite, thoroughbred horses with long tails, 

 and his tall, spare figure was always in the van, while 

 the keen, intellectual face, with its iron-grey beard, was 



* " Ashbourne and the Valley of the Dove." 



