Conservation of family history is not a luxury – it is an essential! The letters, diaries, scrapbooks and photographs of the past will be gone for ever if we don’t protect them now.

In the 1950s magnificent family homes were being bulldozed to make way for something newer and cheaper. By the 1970s it was realised that they should have been rescued. The Cobbold Family History Trust is the focus for the rescue of that part of our families’ heritage that is at risk.

No. We all use the history of yesterday to make sense of our today. Family history helps us make sense of today’s family life in an increasingly complex world.

1. We research families, record the findings and maintain a web-based interactive family tree. The tree is the skeleton on which we hang our families’ fortunes and misfortunes.

2. We acquire, maintain and preserve historical data and artefacts relating to family members and their lives. Most data is given to the Trust by family members and friends. Many artefacts (including books, papers and photographs) are given to the Trust by donors who are pleased to have found a safe home for treasured relics. Some items are purchased. The Trust is non-aggressive; it never seeks anything that the owner does not wish to give. However, if an item of importance is at risk of being lost, destroyed or fragmented the Trust will seek to secure it.

3. We communicate the progress of the project by means of our website and mount exhibitions from time to time whilst making access available to all bona fide students of the subject.

Hitherto, the running expenses have been provided almost entirely by Anthony Cobbold. Every penny of the money received (and much appreciated) from donors has been applied either to the fund which successfully saved the 33 original Richard Cobbold watercolours or to the trust’s savings fund. This latter fund, as it stood just in excess of £5000, the Charity Commission’s qualifying threshold, turned out to be crucial. However, as the family member concerned is not getting any younger the question of future, long term funding has to be addressed.

Anthony Cobbold intends to continue to provide funds sufficient to meet at least the bulk of the day to day running costs for as long as he is able.  The endowment fund has been grown to around £30,000 by means of the ‘Friends’ campaign.  We thank all who have subscribed most sincerely.

However this is still not sufficient for the for long term survival so family and friends must expect more fund raising activities in the future.  The Trust participates in the Gift Aid Scheme and adheres to the standards required by the Fund Raising Regulator and is always open to suggestions as to how funding could be improved.

The quick answer is ‘anyone’. The Trust’s website is deliberately not pass-word protected and the Trust is committed to helping any serious student of the topic progress his or her research. Indeed, the Trust has already contributed to a number of publications. By arrangement, and free of charge, access will be given to records held by the Trust but which do not appear on the website.

The generosity of Jaime W Cobbold (1925-2007) of California is a good example of the important role which can be played by the Trust. Jaime was an ardent collector of Cobboldiana all his life. He contacted the Trust, but initially with low expectations. In the event, at the conclusion of a visit by the Trust and after enthusiastic discussions, he made an immediate gift of all his Cobbold books and papers. At the same time he drew up a list of items which, subject to the agreement of his wife and 2 sons, should come to the Trust after his death.

At that time his wife, Elsa told the Trust that Jaime had been hugely relieved to have found a safe home for his treasured collection which would avoid it being broken up.

Sadly, Jaime left us a couple of years later and the Trust was contacted by his family to arrange shipping of the listed items. All are now safely in the Trust’s possession and our work is enthusiastically supported by Jaime’s generous family.

Gifts in kind, of appropriate items, are particularly appreciated.

• Felix Thornley Cobbold (1841-1909)

• Clement John Fromanteel Cobbold (1882-1961)

The Trust acknowledges with gratitude the contribution of these two family members. Without the benefit of computers they loyally recorded much of our earlier history and their work was invaluable as the basis on which our present much enlarged tree has been developed.