At the age of 20 he came to South Africa where he was in Capetown for a short time. Later he was sent by the South African Baptist Union to open up a new cause in Graff Reinett. Here he met and married Miss Biggs in 1886. Shortly after he returned to Chudleigh. From Chudleigh Mr. Doke was called to the pastorship of the City Road Baptist Church Bristol, where, with the exception of a visit to Egypt, Palestine and India, he remained until 1894.
In 1894, Mr. Doke removed with his family to New Zealand. Here he was minister of the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church, for a period of 7 ½ years, returning to England in 1902.
Towards the end of 1903, Mr. Doke received a call to the Grahamstown Baptist Church and took up his work in South Africa again. After four years in Grahamstown, he came to the Rand as minister of this Church until his death. All his life, more especially since the death of his brother, Mr. Doke's ambition was for missionary work, but owing to his health and family circumstances, the way was not clear, until, just at the end of his life, it seemed open up. Together with his son, Clement, he decided
