Charles Cocks’s father had intended him to stand for Worcestershire when he came of age, but at the dissolution of 1806 he was still only 20 and the opportunity lapsed.
Cocks made an able, animated and very impressive speech, which was received with great applause and real satisfaction. He spoke of his gratitude to the electors, his love for his country, the zeal with which he should execute this important trust, and the interest he should always take in the borough of Reigate, and for every individual in it. If he committed some errors, he hoped they would impute it to his inexperience, and give him credit for his determination to correct them.
Add. 35646, f. 39.
His father was well disposed to the Grenville ministry. On 2 Mar. 1807 he himself was a defaulter; on 16 Mar. and 13 Apr. he took leaves of absence. He was then with his regiment. He was absent ill on his re-election in May.
Cocks was killed at the siege of Burgos, 8 Oct. 1812. According to Wellington, ‘Had Cocks outlived these campaigns, which from the way he exposed himself was morally impossible, he would have become one of the first generals in England’.