Category: cobbwebs-news-and-views

This fine portrait by Benjamin Wilson (1721-1788) said to be of John Cobbold (1746-1835) and his wife, Elizabeth Clarke presents us with two problems.

Firstly, where is it?  We would like to find out because we would like to do the decent thing and politely ask for permission to reproduce it.  In family history terms it is a very important picture.  We know it was offered for sale with provenance Nancy Lancaster, Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire, by Sothebys as lot 57 in London on 9^th November 1994 but it was unsold and returned to the consignor.  All enquiries since have drawn a blank.  If any visitor to our site is able to shed any light we would be delighted and if, by chance, the owner was to contact us we would be ecstatic!

Secondly, it seems unlikely that the wife portrayed is his second wife as he did not marry her, Elizabeth Clarke (née Knipe), until 1791, some three years after the artist died.  He had married firstly, Elizabeth Wilkinson (1753-1790) in 1773 so possibly the portrait was in celebration of that marriage.

Help!

Anthony Cobbold

Last month we claimed that a banknote we had purchased as being issued by Cobbold, Bacon, Rodwell, Dunningham & Co had actually been issued by Cricket, Bacon, Rodwell, Dunningham & Co and that the vendor had wrongly described it.

Here is the explanation:  The note was indeed issued by Cricket, Bacon, Rodwell, Dunningham & Co but they got into financial difficulty and Cobbold replaced Cricket and the latter’s name was blacked out but Cobbold’s name could not be inserted.

From our point of view this makes it even more interesting as it reflects the time immediately after Cobbolds joined that bank, but before the next printing.  Our apologies to the vendor, who luckily we did not name, and we reproduce here the note on which the blacking out is evident.

Anthony Cobbold

The Trust is delighted to have received as the gift of Nicholas Cobbold, one of its Patrons, this picture of 6 generations of John Cobbolds.  If the succession of family brewers were to be committed to memory by schoolboys the jingle would run ‘2 Toms, 7 Johns and a Pat.’  These are, of course:

Thomas 1680-1752
Thomas 1708-1767

John 1746-1835
John 1774-1866
John 1797-1882
John 1831-1875
John 1861-1929
John 1897-1944
and
John 1927-1983 and Patrick 1934-1994

9 generations and 266 years:  A good score by any standards!

Anthony Cobbold

I want to tell you the story of Sylvia Stoltz.  She lives in Australia, is 93 years old and my heading is a quote from her latest letter.

Actually, I only have space to tell you of a tiny fraction of her life – that part which involves our family history – so let me summarise the major part of her life by saying that during WWII she worked, governed by the Official Secrets Act, on a project in North Queensland researching the use and effectiveness of mustard gas in various weapon systems.  Although sworn to secrecy for only 30 years very little has been published about the research team’s top secret work except for one book which used a number of photographs from an album donated to the Australian War Memorial Archives by Sylvia herself.  Now, meaning over the last five years, she has been putting all her records, including re-scanned photographs, on to a CD as a permanent record.  From that letter I could sense the relief that the job is now completed and knowing her, it will have been a job not well, but perfectly, done.

Sylvia and I first corresponded in 1989 and she told me that she had visited Suffolk in 1984 looking for information about her great grandmother, Eliza Vale (1821-1902) who had worked for Robert Knipe Cobbold (1792-1859)(#100 in the tree) at The Rookery in Carlton.  Eliza’s daughter, Sarah Ann (born 1842), migrated to Australia in 1864 and married into the Stoltz family, Sylvia being her granddaughter.  I wasn’t any help to Sylvia but she has been a quite extraordinary supporter of the Trust’s activities helping, particularly, with information about many of the characters in The Gifts of Frank Cobbold as well as providing much of their background.  That help has been greatly appreciated.

Whilst over here in 1984 she confirmed that her family had lived in the village of Little Glemham and that one of her cousins had worked at Glemham Hall before it was owned by the Cobbolds and that another had worked in the garden and subsequently married one of the maids who arrived with the Cobbold family.  

She also learned that St Andrew’s Church in Little Glemham was in need of a new drape behind the font.  She immediately put up the money to provide it and later sent more money for an embroidered dedication panel.  In a manner of speaking the circle was completed by a service dedicating to Sarah Ann Stoltz the drape behind the font in which Sarah had, herself, been baptised in 1843.

Sarah Ann Stoltz (née Vale).  Born, Little Glemham, 1842; died, Benalla, Victoria, Australia, 1927. 

Copy: Anthony Cobbold, based on Sylvia’s letters (2013)
Photos:  Sylvia Stoltz (1984)

Fredrica Primrose Cobbold, CVWW (1901-1985) #383 on the tree, was always known affectionately in the family as Aunt Prim.  It was not only amongst her nearest and dearest that she was appreciated, for her chosen line of work endeared her to hundreds of thousands.

In January 1940 she joined the YMCA in Southampton and quickly rose to be responsible for 12 mobile canteens and a staff of 50 serving the needs of HM Forces in the Southampton / Winchester area.  She was there throughout much of the bombing and was dubbed a Southampton Heroine by the local paper for her devotion to what she saw as her duty to dispense tea and succour to the many who had lost everything except their lives.  The YMCA kitchen was destroyed by a direct hit one night but by dawn the following morning our heroine had borrowed two boilers and her normal service was resumed.  This was probably the occasion on which she went 3 days and three nights without a break.

November 1943 saw her posted to North Africa in support of the men fighting the Desert Campaign and she moved with the armies to serve in Naples and later in Rome and Perugia.  Her invaluable work and outstanding organisational ability was recognised by promotion to Assistant District Secretary, WMCA and by 1946 she was stationed in Vienna.  In February that year she returned home to Salthouse, some 20 miles from Norwich, for well earned leave but it was not long before she was back with the YMCA again, this time in Duisburg, Germany where she ran a club for the Black Watch in BAOR.

After two weeks home leave in 1948 she was off again to Greece where she ran the YMCA unit serving the Salonika Garrison.  In a poll, 9 out of 10 voted Miss Cobbold to be the garrison’s best-liked personality.  This was attributed to her quiet charm, persistent good work and genuine interest in ‘the boys.’  The report said her title was well deserved.  And so say all of us!

Anthony Cobbold

Our thanks go to Gill Gowing (#650 in the tree) for information relating to her great uncle, Capt. William Archie Arbuthnot Middleton (#6833) of the 2^nd Bn. Seaforth Highlanders who died at Ypres on 25^th April 1915 but is remembered on panel 38 of the Menin Gate.

Thanks also to Christine Brunsden for information relating to the Spooner family (#184/185) and the Fonnereau family (#125/126).

The Keep Military Museum which kindly provided information relating to Capt. John Compton Pyne (#2091), about whom we wrote last month has donated to us a copy of Jeremy Archer’s book, The Old West Country Regiments, from Plassey to the Somme which is exhaustively researched and contains a feast of fascinating description.

Congratulations to the team of archaeologists who have unearthed the ice house at Holywells.  The house was built in 1813/14 and John Cobbold (#56) and his wife, Elizabeth (#58) moved in just in time for Christmas 1814 which happened to be the year of Elizabeth’s 50^th birthday.  My guess is that the ice house was built at the same time as the house which was then known as Holy Wells.

Anthony Cobbold

John Compton Pyne (#2091) was a native of East Anglia being the second son of Rev. Edward M Dillman Pyne (1820-1901) (#2032 in the tree), the vicar of Nevendon near Rayleigh in Essex, and his wife Charlotte Sophia Chevallier (1821-1910), daughter of Rev. Dr. John Chevallier.  Hence he was closely related also to the Kitchener and Cobbold families.  A frequent childhood visitor to his grandparents’ home, Aspall Hall, he was sent to Uppingham (about 1869) where he was top of his year and passed first into Sandhurst by some 200 marks.

He was commissioned into the 54th Regiment on 30th January 1878 and promoted Lieutenant in 1881 in which year the 54th became the 2nd Bn. The Dorset Regiment.  As a subaltern of great promise, he was given a leave of absence to realise an ambition to undertake a three-month walk through the heart of Persia which he completed in 1884 carrying a skilfully played violin, leaving in his wake the vision of famous English troubadours.  In addition to his good ear he clearly had an equally good eye, for he was a clever draughtsman and a fine illustrative painter, many of the wonderful products of his pen and brush being in The Military Museum of Devon and Dorset in Dorchester.

Promoted Captain in 1885, he served in the Afghan War as Transport Officer on the Khyber Line of Communication and was present at the Battle of Candahar for which he received the Afghan Medal and clasp. He was at Staff College, 1889/90 and passed out near the top of his intake.  He was attached to the Egyptian Army Intelligence unit in 1892 and whilst in Khartoum was Aide de Camp to his cousin, Brigadier General Lord Kitchener.

Captain Pyne was defending the Ambigole Wells with a handful of men on 2^nd January 1893 when the Dervishes attacked and killed most of them.  Pyne was shot three times and sustained sword wounds.  It is said by his family that his head was cut off and stuck on a pole at the gates of Khartoum. He was buried with full military honours in the military cemetery at Wadi Halfa but it seems likely the cemetery was subsequently flooded by the Aswan dam.

When mourning his untimely death Kitchener wrote ‘Captain Pyne was one of the most valuable and excellent officers in the Egyptian Army, and there is no doubt that had he been spared his career would have been a brilliant one.’

Anthony Cobbold

2013

In wishing visitors to this site a Happy New Year we have chosen this picture of the Cliff Brewery in Ipswich because of its importance at the centre of the Trust’s objectives.  This building was at the heart of hundreds of people’s lives for over 250 years; people who were employees, friends and members of the Cobbold and related families.

On the back of the National Trust 2013 Handbook, referring to Quarry Bank Mill, we find “Not just buildings, but the stories of people’s lives could be lost for ever” Oh!  how we agree!

John Betjaman (1906-1984) tells us, “On the Death of a Friend” what lies in store for those we take for granted.  HAPPY NEW YEAR.

A Recent purchase

The Cox family had been bankers in Harwich, Essex since the 1770s when John Cobbold (1774-1860) (#77 in tree), already a successful brewer, entered a partnership with Anthony Cox in 1839 to form the Harwich Bank by Cox, Cobbold & Company which traded until 1893.  The Harwich Bank issued only £10 and £5 notes, of which The Cobbold Family History Trust (CFHT) has acquired un-issued examples of both probably printed between 1846 and 1887.

In Ipswich, Suffolk the Crickitt, Truelove, Kerridge, Duningham and Bacon families had also been bankers under a number of names since the 1780s in common with many other wealthy families who owned the 300 or so country or ‘provincial’ banks.  The banker’s aim was to confine his notes to the immediate locality, where they would be recognised and trusted, and hopefully remain in circulation for a long time.  Once outside the vicinity, the notes would gravitate to his London agent for redemption.  The CFHT also has a £1 note issued by Crickitt, Bacon, Duningham & Co just prior to the 1825 bank crisis, which was wrongly described by the vendor as being Cobbold, Bacon, Rodwell, Dunningham & Co.

The crisis saw the collapse of many private banks.  A major factor was the over-issuing of notes such that they could not be honoured if a number came in for payment together.  The collapse of one or two banks caused a run on the others and general panic set in.  The Ipswich Bank would have failed but for the injection of new capital by William Rodwell, John Cobbold (1774-1860) and his son, John Chevallier Cobbold (1797-1882) (#114) who formed Bacon, Cobbold, Rodwell, Duningham and Cobbold in 1826, the CFHT having an example of their £1 note No. 2033 issued 27^th January 1826.

It seems that Duningham withdrew in the 1840s and Rodwell in the 1870s but the bank was joined by Douglas Tollemache (also a Suffolk brewer) for a few years in 1885.  Cox Cobbold & Co from Harwich merged with the Ipswich Bank in 1893 and the new business, Bacon Cobbold and Co soldiered on until 1904 when it was taken over by Capital and Counties which was itself subsequently absorbed into Lloyds.  The last banknote in the CFHT purchase is a £5 note, No. J4499 issued 24^th October 1904 by Bacon Cobbold and Co signed by H. St. G. Cobbold (1871-1944) (#323) which is stamped to show that it was redeemed and subsequently cancelled by Capital & Counties Bank in Ipswich.

Herbert St George Cobbold seems to have been the last man standing in Cobbold banking terms.  His father, Ernest St George (1840-1895) (#199) had run the Woodbridge Branch of Bacon Cobbold and his uncle, Felix Thornley (1841-1909) (#201) had returned from his preferred academic life in Cambridge expressly to help out.  Herbert had been educated at Haileybury, was a director of a number of companies, married his first cousin, Evelyn Anna Cobbold (1873-1959) (#322) and purchased the Rookery Estate at Sproughton with some 48 acres.   After the take-over he became the local director and his cousin, Herbert Jervis-White-Jervis (1858-1934) (#1424) who had been working with him, joined the London Board of Capital and Counties.

Fires in Australia.  Please spare a thought for the many members of our families whose lives, livings and possessions are threatened by the current outbreak of bush fires in Australia.

Doreen and Brian Cobbold of Geeveston, Tasmania had their house destroyed by fire a few months ago.  They were left with nothing but the clothes they stood up in.

We wish them and all other friends and family, similarly threatened, a safe recovery.

1996 and all that.  A letter to the Daily Telegraph from Austin Shorney of East Grinstead seems just as relevant today as it was then.  “Sir – One time of rod the child took heed / And early learnt to write and read / Obeyed his teachers, knew his place / Took care he did not fall from grace. / But then they thought t’would cause no ill / To wrap some jam around the pill: / So changes came, and now By Damn / There is no pill, but only jam!”

Recent additions to the Trust archive have included Martin Wood’s book The Unknown Gertrude Jekyll(2006); an advertisement for the sale of The Remaining Contents of Holy Wells Mansion; a post card, Cobbold’s Point, Felixstowe by Mrs Holford-Smith of Felixstowe W.I. under snow, and another of Edward Cobbold’s Patent Applications (1843), this time for Supporting and Propelling Bodies on Water.