He was born at Payneham, South Australia, the third son of Ebenezer Cooke (ca1832 – 7 May 1907), Commissioner of Audit for South Australian, of "Richmond House", South Terrace, Adelaide and his second wife Rosa, née Phillipps (ca1845 – 9 July 1941).
He was employed at the Islington Railway Workshops, before becaming a consulting engineer and patent attorney. In South Australia, he was a councillor (Parkside ward) 1900–1904 and first mayor of the newly proclaimed City of Unley 1905–1907 (Mrs Cooke laid the foundation stone of the new Town Hall in March 1907) then an alderman 1908–1914. 2 seat on the Legislative Council in 1915 and remained an energetic member until 1933.
In 1933, he lost preselection to Hermann Homburg and Collier Cudmore, and ran for Central Number.
1 district as an independent. Though he performed creditably in a strong Labor district, he was unsuccessful.
Unusually, he was permitted to continue using the honorific "Honorary" after leaving parliament, on account of his long and meritorious service. He was a director of the Cowells Patent Lock Company and the Bruer Pianoforte Company amongst others, and invested in startup companies of local inventors.
He was a leading Freemason, president of the Soldiers" Home League, the School of Arts and Crafts and the Myrtle Bank Home and prominent in many other associations.
John Herbert Cooke married Harriet Williams on 15 December 1896. They had one daughter Doris and lived at 174 Cross Road, Malvern.
He contested the single statewide seven-member Division of South Australia at the 1901 federal election as a Free Trade Party candidate.
