William Willets Cocks was a United States Representative

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 from New York. Born in Old Westbury

Old Westbury, New York

Old Westbury is a village in Nassau County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the 2010 United States Census, the village population was 4,671....

, Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

, he attended private schools and Swarthmore College

Swarthmore College

Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....

. He engaged in agricultural pursuits and was elected commissioner of highways of the Town of North Hempstead in 1894. He was reelected in 1896 and again in 1898, and served in the New York State Senate

New York State Senate

The New York State Senate is one of two houses in the New York State Legislature and has members each elected to two-year terms. There are no limits on the number of terms one may serve...

 in 1901 and 1902. He was a member of the New York State Assembly

New York State Assembly

The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...

 in 1904 and was a delegate to the Republican National Convention

Republican National Convention

The Republican National Convention is the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States. Convened by the Republican National Committee, the stated purpose of the convocation is to nominate an official candidate in an upcoming U.S...

 in 1908.

Cocks was elected as a Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 to the Fifty-ninth, Sixtieth, and Sixty-first Congresses, holding office from March 4, 1905 to March 3, 1911. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1910 to the Sixty-second Congress and again engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1914, Cocks' elder brother Frederick Cocks Hicks was elected to the House of Representatives.

William Cocks was a member of the board of managers of Swarthmore College and was president of the Friends Academy

Friends Academy

Friends Academy is a Quaker, coeducational, independent, college preparatory school serving students from nursery school through the twelfth grade, located in Locust Valley, New York, United States. The school was founded in 1876 by 78-year-old Gideon Frost for "The children of Friends and those...

 in Locust Valley

Locust Valley, New York

Locust Valley is a hamlet located in Nassau County, New York. Locust Valley is an unincorporated area of the Town of Oyster Bay...

. He was vice president of the Roslyn Savings Bank and was a director of the Bank of Westbury and the Bank of Hicksville. Cocks was elected mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

of the village of Old Westbury in 1924 and served until his death there in 1932; interment was in Friends Cemetery, Westbury.