John Cooke (d. 1784) was a resident of New Bern who served as a court clerk and as the secretary of the New Bern Committee of Safety, an early form of pro-independence government in the region. In 1777 he served as an attorney for the state government in New Bern District, in which position he dealt with several people that had been involved in the Gourd Patch Conspiracy. In 1778 he was documented as the proctor and advocate for the Court of Admiralty at Beaufort, a role he may have held the year prior as well. In 1782 he represented James Manly, an American Indian man, in his successful petition for freedom.