Category: cobbwebs-news-and-views

The trust has recently acquired a fine photograph of a young Lady Margaret Hermione Millicent Lytton (1905-2004) #491 on the family tree.  She was the first daughter and second child of the 2^nd Earl of Lytton, a former Viceroy of India.  She married the then Mr Cameron Cobbold (1904-1987) on 3^rd April 1930 in the 12^th century St Mary’s Church at Knebworth.  Three years later her older brother was killed in a flying accident at Hendon and as if that wasn’t tragedy enough her younger brother died at El Alamein in 1942.

Her wedding was recorded in

The Tatler on 9^th April 1930, a copy of which is now retained in the trust’s archive.  Cameron Cobbold went on to be Governor of the Bank of England from 1949 to 1961 and Lord Chamberlain from1963 to 1971.  He became the 1^st Baron Cobbold of Knebworth in 1960.

Baron Cobbold of Knebworth in 1960.

A Seamark Achievement

Edward #1010 on the family tree was born in Devon in 1994 and move with his parents to Melbourne, Australia as a very young child.  Now living in Diamond Creek he has justified early promise by winning an Undergraduate Sponsorship and an undergraduate entry position as a Marine Engineering Officer in the Royal Australian Navy.

A measure of his success is evidenced by the fact that only 19 such scholarships were awarded this year across all disciplines, the majority going to medics.  He is now a commissioned officer with the rank of Midshipman; has completed basic training and been sworn in.  He has commenced the 3 year course in Mechatronics Engineering at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and being a member of the armed forces has to apply for leave at the end of each term!

When he graduates he expects to be posted to manage the entirety of a ship’s mechanical systems except for weaponry.  Even more important will be his duties as leader of the on board engineering team.  A family history trust necessarily spends time reporting on careers successfully completed.  It is a pleasure on this occasion to be reporting on one promisingly commenced.

Oil Paintings in Public Ownership – Suffolk lists this painting as being by Cobbold H C, said to have been a worker at the mill.  It is shown as being at the Museum of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket.

Suffolk Painters website shows the same painting attributed to Hugh Charles Cobbold (1908-1966) #411 on the family tree.  As the picture is dated two years before Hugh was born either the date or the attribution is wrong.

Can anyone help please?

Christmas 2014

Thank you family members all over the world for your Christmas and New Year greetings which are very much appreciated.  Family history is quite a lonely furrow to plough so your continued interest is always welcome.

Thank you…

Christchurch, Tacket Street, Ipswich for a donation of £20 following a talk about the family and the trust’s work and thank you Christine Haines for family papers which are a welcome addition to the archive.

Books for Sale

We still have books for sale from this website.  Signed copies of Cobbold & Kin, Life Stories from an East Anglian Family are still available.

We have a small number of second hand copies of out-of-print books available on request.  Titles include The Cobbold Elliston Affair by Sandra Berry; Football Gentry by Brian Scovell and The Biography of a Victorian Village edited by Ronald Fletcher.

Book Sales help the trust with it’s work so please support us.

Rosemary Reardon writes:

“Just to say how much I enjoyed Cobbold & Kin.  With such a vast project I was astounded how Clive managed all the data into something so cohesive and readable.

I think my favourite family member was William Rust Cobbold.  This was down wholly to how Clive wrote about him such as recording that he “was not over blessed with humour or charm”.  I liked the description as to his demise as well!

For opposing reasons was also very taken with the biography of Felix Thornley Cobbold.  I was very interested in him becoming a Liberal and so going against the family political trait.  His philanthropy was quite outstanding, even extending to bequeathing of land to be used as allotments.

My favourite photograph was of Ralph and obviously he (Ralph) liked it too as used by him for the frontispiece of his book ‘Innermost Asia’!

Anyway I’ll leave off for now other than to thank you again for making it possible for me to read about the Cobbolds.  And of course please pass my congratulations on to Clive for achieving such a magnificent outcome to his project”.

If you don’t have a copy please BUY NOW and help the trust with its work.  Thank you.

The trust has acquired a used cheque dated 15th July 1919.

It is drawn on The Capital & Counties Bank, Limited with which has been incorporated Messrs Bacon, Cobbold & Co…..

It is payable to Messrs Cobbold, Sons & Menneer…..Solicitors….

Signed by John D Cobbold…..(1861-1929) #307 in the family tree….

For the Executors of Mrs A H Cobbold, deceased…that is Adela Harriette Cobbold

(née Dupuis) (1837-1917) #187 in the family tree. She was his mother.

The Politics of Travel and Exploration: with specific reference to Eastern or Chinese Turkestan, 1865-1908 is the title of the thesis submitted by Clive Hodges for his PhD, a signed copy of which he has kindly donated to the trust. It is a beautifully presented hardback volume the contents being thoroughly researched, referenced and indexed. The contribution from the trust’s Ralph Patteson Cobbold collection is acknowledged as is R P Cobbold’s book, also in the trust’s library, Innermost Asia. Our thanks to Clive who is working with the trust on another book following the success of his Cobbold & Kin, Life Stories from an East Anglian Family.

Talking of Cobbold & Kin the review expected in the December issue of SUFFOLK magazine has been delayed but it is featured as one of Catherine Larner’s eight choices of Christmas Gifts for book lovers.

Continuing to talk of Cobbold & Kin the editor of the Quarterly Journal of the Suffolk Family History Society has published a lengthy review which ends as follows:

‘The characters are carefully observed and well-drawn by the author who brings them to life in a most convincing and readable way.

This is a carefully researched and thoughtfully laid-out publication which is also an object lesson in how one’s own research should be written-up.

The 269 illustrated pages can be simply dipped into as and when time permits or may be used as a valuable work of reference – but I suspect that many will find it quite difficult to put down and as such, at this time of year it may make an attractive and much appreciated Christmas gift.

Cobbold & Kin is published locally in well-produced hardback format by Boydell and Brewer; PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 3DF under the ISBN 978 1 84383 954 5’

Cobbold & Kin is also available from this website; go to BOOKS FOR SALE.

The Cobbold Family History Trust’s wish for you our visitor is that you embrace a Christmas that is peaceful and joyful.

Our wish for your New Year is that it fulfils all your aspirations.

Our wish for ourselves is that you our visitor will seek ways of supporting the trust, for instance by donations and by buying our books, and ways of encouraging the trust, by sending us relevant information and artefacts. Thank you.

Visitors may remember that the trust along with a number of generous helpers participated in a ‘Tomb Savers’ weekend back in May this year.

We are pleased to report that with some further funding provided to the Parish, repairs have now been completed so the Cobbold family tomb is saved.

Thanks be to God and the good people of Woolpit that this work has been finished before winter.

Our Cross of remembrance for the 48 Cobbolds who died in two World Wars photographed at Westminster Abbey on Remembrance Day 2014