Robert Oke, H.M. (23 September 1794 – 18 October 1870) was the first chief inspector for the Newfoundland Lighthouse Service and served from at least 1848 to 1870. Oke installed the first light mechanism (from Bell Rock Lighthouse) at the Cape Bonavista Light in 1842, and installed the famous Isle of May light mechanism at the Cape Pine Light in 1850, which was later moved to Harbour Grace Island and finally to Cape Bonavista, where it can be viewed today.
Early life
Robert Oke was born 23 September 1794 in England to John Whitehead Oke (1751–1805) and his second wife, Edith Cogan (1766–1842) of Taunton, Somerset.
The Oke family were well established in Sherborne, England, residing there for at least three centuries, primarily in The Green (upper end of Cheap Street), at Barton Farm (Kitt Hill, aka Kithill), at Newland House (now "The Manor House" and current location of the Town Council ), along Westbury Street at Primsley Manor in the vicinity of Knapped Hall (Knappid Hall) and by 1630 they were also well-settled in near-by Sturminster Newton. Several Okes served as governors and wardens of the Sherborne School, masters and submasters of The Almshouse of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist (which is still in use), and subwardens of Foster's School a Bluecoat school.
Several Sherborne landmarks bore the family name: water grist mills on the River Yeo (South Somerset) in Westbury, known from the 16th century as Oke's Mills, and two others at the lower end of South Street from the 17th century (other times known as St Andrews Mills or Middle Mill); and, Oke's Mill Bridge, which prior to the turnpike trusts was the primary crossing of the River Yeo for the north–south route to Dorchester.
Oke's grandfather, also Robert Oke (1723–1788), was a Sherborne constable, maltster and innkeeper who helped organize the annual Pack Monday Fair. Also a coach-master, he drove the stagecoach, New Fly, on a section of the route between London and Exeter and became the principle carrier between Sherborne and Bristol in the mid-to-late 18th century. His primary place of business in Sherborne was the Half Moon Inn from which he operated a coach service and supplied wine to the church and distributed beer. He also leased tenements in The Church House (Half Moon Street) and, from circa 1750 until his death, leased what is now Sherborne's oldest existing pub, The George Hotel on upper Cheap Street (its courtyard stood in what is now George Street), next-door to the former Hospice of Saint Julian.
Oke's father, John, was a coach-master and a waggoner (transported goods in a horse-drawn cart). After moving to Bath, Somerset, he became a corn merchant and had difficulty paying tax on the portion of Durnford property he inherited in Sherborne while trying to support his family of 5 young children and first wife, Dinah. John resumed paying land tax in Sherborne during his second marriage, when Oke was 5 years old, the year he was baptized (7 January 1799) at Sherborne Abbey (The Abbey Church of St. Mary the Virgin). By July 1805, John was ill and died in October (after Oke's 11th birthday). He was laid to rest at Sherborne Abbey, as had preceding generations of Oke family.
Oke's half-brother, Edward Langdon Oke (1775–1840), a corn merchant, migrated to Southampton and operated a business on High Street. He was elected to the Southampton town council (common council), appointed consul at Southampton for the Kingdom of Hanover by Prince Regent George IV in 1818, and was active in establishing the Hampshire Advertiser newspaper (previously the "Herald").