Richard Cocks

Richard Cocks (1565–1624) was the head of the British East India Company trading post in Hirado, Japan, between 1613 and 1623, from its creation, and lasting to its closure due to bankruptcy. Life in France He was baptised on 20 January 1565 at St Chad's, Seighford, Staffordshire, the fifth of the seven children of Robert Cocks of Stallbrook, yeoman, and his wife, Helen. He was apprenticed in London and became a member of the Clothworkers' Company. He moved to Bayonne in Southern France. In 1605, he was recruited by Sir Thomas Wilson as a spy, where he monitored the movements of English Roman Catholic exiles who passed through the region on their way to Spain. After losing a large amount of money to a Portuguese con artist, he was no longer able to pay his English creditors and returned home in disgrace. His reputation at home was ruined and he decided to leave England to start a new life in Japan. Life in Japan