Category: cobbwebs-news-and-views

Frequent visitors to this site will know that a number of family members have received at least a part of their education at university colleges around the world.

Our picture this year is of Tree Court at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, photographed by the President of the College, Professor Yao Liang, where Johno Cobbold (#1009 in the tree) is currently reading Engineering.

We wish all our visitors whether family, kinsfolk or friends a very happy Christmas and a successful 2013.

Anthony Cobbold and the Trustees.

SETTLING THE BILL, The Memoirs of Bill Dougdale (Endeavour, London 2011) includes the story of how Paul Freyberg (#2079) came to meet the Pope.

‘The next excitement was a private audience with Pope Pius XII (Pacelli).  My fellow Grenadier Paul Freyberg had been captured at Anzio and, whilst being marched to captivity, had hurled himself from a bridge over a stream, and hid in a culvert underneath.  He was lucky as my old mucker, Anthony Courage, who was ahead of him in the column looked round and, seeing Paul gone, had made a run for it and was shot by the German escort.  Anyway Paul lay low and, walking by night, got into the Vatican City and was hidden by the British Ambassador’s butler in a cellar to priests’ houses.  He turned up, after the fall of Rome, looking like a cross between an opera singer and a gangster.  His mother, Lady Freyberg (#3175), married to Sir Bernard Freyberg, (#3174) the general commanding the New Zealand Corps, thought he ought to thank the Pope for his stay, so an audience was arranged.’

‘It was a private audience and so, after attending the public one (where we saw the Pope carried in on his sedilia by the Noble Guard of distinguished bearded Romans, in black tail coats and decorations, and snapped by hundreds of GIs shouting, “Aw, hold it Popey!”), we were escorted down the corridor to one of the private audience chambers, and awaited the arrival of the Pontiff.  There were about ten of these private audience chambers, each with a prie-dieu and a small altar and crucifix.  After about forty minutes, the door was thrown open and there stood the Pope; tall (over six foot), thin and wearing pancake-white makeup.  He spoke to Paul and Lady Freyberg in perfect English but, when they replied, it was clear he was not nearly so good at understanding what was said to him.  Anyway, the audience lasted for about ten minutes and then he beckoned us to our knees, blessed us, and proceeded on his way to the next audience.  Afterwards, Paul and Lady Freyberg took us off to the Orso restaurant where we celebrated the audience in fine style all afternoon.’

© 2012 The Cobbold Family History Trust
Excerpt © 2011 Sir William Dugdale

“Ipswich belongs to the Cobbolds” was an election taunt not unfamiliar in the third quarter of the 19^th Century to which I am glad to say the family always replied “No, the Cobbolds belong to Ipswich.”

I was reminded of this as it was quoted in a rather unusual book acquired by the trust recently.  Originally the book had been a club or society handbook listing members and rules but the owner, a Mr Elkington of Ipswich, had pasted galley proofs from the East Anglian Daily Times onto the pages to record what he called ‘Memoirs’ of J C Cobbold, T C Cobbold*, H G Bristo and, added as an afterthought, Frank Ransome.  How he had access to galley proofs, dated 7^th October 1882 is not known but perhaps he was an employee of the paper.  He certainly had a developed civic interest because the first 28 pages of his book record the death and subsequent funeral of the High Steward of the Borough, John Chevallier Cobbold (#114) who had also been Member of Parliament for Ipswich for 21 years.

The account is a full one, recounting in astonishing detail not only the lives  and business dealings of his father and grandfather, but also stories of the quite extraordinary electoral shenanigans which seem to have been common-place at that time.  The funeral itself was a huge affair; some 8 carriages carrying the chief mourners with a further two carrying domestic staff and, following on foot, large numbers of members representing, inter alia, The Shipwrecked Seaman’s Society, The Licensed Victuallers’ Association, The Independent Order of Oddfellows, The Ancient Order of Foresters, The Ipswich Waterworks Company, The Mechanics’ Institute and Gentlemen of the Learned Professions.  The Corporation of Harwich (headed by two Mace-Sergeants with veiled mace), The Corporation of Ipswich (headed by the Town Crier and two Mace-Sergeants with veiled mace) and 16 Clergy preceded the funeral car.  There followed some 21 private carriages and, again on foot, employees of Bacon, Cobbold and Co.’s Bank, Cliff Brewery and the timber-yard and farm.

Those who know Ipswich will readily appreciate the scale of this event when they learn that the procession started from Holy Wells, moved to St Mary-le-Tower and finished at the Cemetery where John Chevallier Cobbold was laid to rest in a solid  oak coffin fashioned by his own carpenters. 

With this book the Trust also acquired the text of two sermons preached in memory of the Borough’s recently deceased High Steward at the time of his funeral.  In sharp contrast to today’s practice the name of the departed gentleman was not mentioned once!
*Thomas Clement Cobbold (#191)

Anthony Cobbold
© 2012 The Cobbold Family History Trust

The trust is full of admiration for Peter Ernest Cobbold (born 1932) who married his Jamaican-born first wife, Joyce in Portsmouth in February 1957.  They had three sons, Stefan, Peter and Nicholas and the family emigrated from Jamaica to Canada in 1974.  All three sons are now married and Peter has ‘retired’ with Jan Shilletto to South Shore, Nova Scotia where she is at the centre of the arts community and where Peter is the Founder and President Emeritus of the Athenaeum Society of Nova Scotia.  The society, named after its British eponym, meets monthly so that its members can enjoy the huge reservoir of retired expert and professorial talent that lives nearby.  Typically presentations last 45-60 minutes and afterwards attendees have a chance to talk further with eminent speakers over coffee and cookies.  What a wonderfully civilised arrangement!

 Our picture shows Peter, on the right, with Richard (Dick) Temple Chevallier Cobbold (#111) from Ottawa who visited in 2009

ATHENAEUM SOCIETY OF NOVA SCOTIA          www.athenaeumns.org

© 2012 The Cobbold Family History Trust

This post card was bought cheaply by the trust recently, probably because the vendor did not know where the memorial was.  We knew instantly that it was in the Church  at Earls Barton, between Northampton and Wellingborough, where the Rev Robert Russell Cobbold (#232) was the Vicar from 1883 to 1903.  Two of his three sons were killed in WWI.  Robert Henry Wanklyn Cobbold (#375) who was born in 1892 and had been Head Boy at Marlborough and gone on to St John’s College, Cambridge joined The Rifle Brigade and was killed at Flanders in 1915.  His brother, Edgar Francis Wanklyn Cobbold (#378), born 1895 also went to Marlborough, was commissioned into the Cheshire Regiment and transferred into the Royal Flying Corps in its very early days.  Almost immediately after his arrival in France he was reported missing near Beauchamps in January 1916.

Their sister, Frederica Primrose Cobbold (#383) born 1901 and always known as Aunt Prim, was particularly close to her brother Edgar and his loss when she was just 15 may have contributed to her decision not to marry.  She gave service way beyond the normal in WWII but that will be the subject of another Cobbweb later.

The third Cobbold on the memorial poses something of a dilemma and any news to help us solve it will be very welcome.  The only H Cobbold shown on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Roll of Honour was born at Woolpit, Suffolk in about 1869, served with the Suffolk Regiment and The Rifle Brigade and was in the Royal Defence Corps at the time of his death on 7^th October 1919.  He is buried in the Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey and his wife Ada was living at 7 Wycliffe Rd, Battersea, London at that time.  If this is the Harry Cobbold recorded on the memorial, why is he featured at Earls Barton?  Could he have been Robert’s batman?  They were both in The Rifle Brigade but it’s a very long shot!

Anthony Cobbold
© 2012 The Cobbold Family History Trust

A while back we reported that the Trust had acquired the 1971 Tolly Cobbold trophy, in the form of a silver (hallmarked Edward Barnard & Sons Ltd, London, 1971) replica of the Bacchante figure after the original bronze statue by the American sculptor Frederick MacMonnies, mounted on a turned wooden base, set with a silver plaque.

He was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1900 and his exhibit was purchased by The Hon. Douglas Tollemache who shipped it back to London and, in 1920, registered it as his company’s trademark.  The image appeared on many beer bottle labels and was widely used for promotional purposes.

The Bacchantes were female devotees of Bacchus (Dionysus), the Graeco-Roman god of wine.  In Greek culture they were known for the wildness of their cult ceremonies, but by the eighteenth century, images of dancing Bacchantes were generally used for more decorative purposes.

In 1930s / 1940s American culture the name ‘Bacchante Girls’ was given to good looking, leggy hostesses with sheer skirts who served drinks and company to patrons of the sunken bar at the Biltmore Hotel in Providence, RI. 

The Frederick MacMonnies figure, which has a bunch of grapes in her right hand and a child who seems to be showing an unseemly and premature interest in those grapes in her left, underlines the frenzied behaviour recounted!  Perhaps those sources which credit Dionysus as the god of intoxication are right.

© 2012 The Cobbold Family History Trust

Back in 2011, before Plymouth College in South Devon, achieved Olympic fame through students Ruta Meilutyte (Gold) and Tom Daley (Bronze), Jonathan Shields, the Business Teacher was encouraging a small group of 17 year old student entrepreneurs to develop an idea which, in common with many of the best things in life, was ridiculously simple.

To help get people out of their comfortable cars and into the countryside the team, which started 30 strong but soon diminished to 6 or 8, decided to map and publish family-friendly walks which could be easily accessed from rural branch rail lines.  The team had noticed that branch lines were becoming increasingly popular and as some members had been participants in Plymouth College’s successful Ten Tors teams, trails became a natural choice, in both senses!

But this was a Young Enterprise Competition so having nailed their idea they had to form a company, Platform Limited; raise money by selling shares; produce a product; sell it and make a profit.  Feverish activity followed as they walked each trail, found (and no doubt sampled) each pub, mapped the routes and put it all onto computer in print-ready form.  Their first book, the Plymouth and South East Cornwall Edition (9 walks), which arrived at Waterstones and on Amazon earlier this year, cleverly promoted by endorsements from Michael Palin and Chris Tarrant, has already gone to a second edition.

The second book, another 9 walks, but this time with a blue cover is the Truro and West Cornwall Edition and it is understood that a third is on the way offering routes out of Exeter.  The team won successive rounds of the Young Enterprise Competition but that is far from the end of the story.  Profits from the business are being reinvested in a Community Interest Company, Rail Trails CIC, having Katie Davies-Gregory as Operations Manager and Harry Cobbold (# 1039 on the tree) as Managing Director, which is already actively renovating and refurbishing a very neglected Gunnislake Station in Cornwall.  Others will probably follow.

The team has been nominated and short listed to represent England in the competition for the Best Youth-led UK Social Enterprise Award. Judging takes place in London later this year and we wish them well.

© 2012 The Cobbold Family History Trust

Lady Evelyn Cobbold (1867-1963), eldest child of the Earl and Countess of Dunmore and sometime wife of John Dupuis Cobbold (1861-1929) wrote three books herself and has been the subject of a good many articles reporting mainly on her conversion to Islam and her completion of the Hajj at the age of 66.  She was a great sportswoman and chatelaine of the Glencarron Estate in Wester Ross which explains her liking for the fine Scottish tweed skirts for which she became well known.

That she was a lady of good taste has been confirmed just recently by Roberto Verboon who contacted the Trust from Holland to say that he had recently acquired a Rolls Royce, previously the property of Lady Evelyn.  He has generously sent us photographs of the car and given us a little of its history.

It is a 20/25 model having chassis number GHW33 and registration plate JJ 1492 fitted with a Thrupp & Maberly, D-back, enclosed drive, limousine body.  It was ordered in 1932 and delivered to Lady Evelyn at 24 Mount Row, roughly half way between Grosvenor and Berkeley Squares, on 5^th January 1933.  Her chauffeur, despite the strictest instructions to the contrary, tried to carry out some maintenance on the car whilst in Scotland and being unable to reassemble the components caused a Rolls Royce fitter to be despatched from London at great expense.  Needless to say, he lost his job!

Lady Evelyn only kept the car for about 4 years but it stayed in this country until 1976 when it was sold to Holland and used as a wedding car until its latest acquisition.  It has been re-upholstered and was black all over when first sold but that apart is in original condition and running well.

Our thanks to Roberto Verboon and our best wishes for his future enjoyment of the car.

Lady Evelyn is # 308 and John Dupuis Cobbold is # 307 on the family tree.

© 2012 The Cobbold Family History Trust

To Suffolk with Love, The Life of Felix Thornley Cobbold by Rosalind Thomas continues to sell steadily and is now being reprinted.  It can be ordered through ‘Books for Sale’ on this website and profits help the Trust.

At Lancing, earlier this term the Old Girls and Staff Hockey XI played the School XI.  The former was captained by Hannah Cobbold (# 897 in the tree) and the latter by her sister Esther Cobbold (#1155).  The school won a very tight game 4-3.

An Ipswich Town Football Club Christmas card, 1974-75, signed by John Cobbold (1927-1983)(# 575) has been taken into the Trust archive.

Ipswich, The changing face of the town by David Kindred, published just last year, contains over 300 of his fine photographs.  A copy has kindly been given to the Trust by Old Pond Publishing Ltd.  It includes a picture of ‘Draymen with their wagons and Suffolk Punch horses at Cobbold’s Brewery, Cliff Quay in February 1935.’

‘Lancer’ Finest Old Scotch Whisky.  Cobbold & Co Ltd., Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, proclaims a label sporting a fine young cavalry officer, recently added to the archive. 

The Trust recently acquired from America a copy of ‘The Seven Ages of Justerini’s’ (1749-1949).  This is a fascinating account of the first 200 years trading of Royal Warrant holders, Justerini and Brooks, suppliers of fine wines through 9 reigns.  The cover illustrates their first office, No. 2 the Colonnade in Pall Mall.  The book was published for their Bicentenary in 1949 but our copy is a 1957 reprint.  It is of particular interest to us because, inter alia, it records the arrival in 1930 of ‘Ralph Cobbold, the Eton and Cambridge cricketer and all-round sportsman, a member of the well-known East Anglian brewing and banking family, becoming a Director in 1936’

Pasted inside the front of the book is a letter, on Justerini & Brooks Ltd die-stamped letterhead bearing the royal coat of arms, signed by Ralph Cobbold addressed to Fitzwilliam Sargent III in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 
The letter explains that one, Cotty Pell, proposes to invest in wines on his behalf at Christmas each year and as he is presently only 8 years old vintage port has been selected (3 bottles of Graham 1955) as it lives longer and that these have been set aside in a special bin for the purpose.  The letter goes on to advise that a crust will be formed on the wine and that it will therefore require careful decanting to ensure that it is bright and clear to drink.

Our book was sent to Fitzwilliam Sargent III, not only to tell him the history of the firm but also to give him ’a very good idea of the England we have known and grown up with’ and to carry a Christmas Greeting and the hope that ‘I meet you one of these days’

If Fitzwilliam Sargent III is still alive he is 63 today.  We don’t know whether they ever met and we don’t know whether he enjoyed the port but it would be wonderful to find out!

Note:  Ralph played in the Eton XI in 1923, 24 and 25, being captain the final season and for Cambridge in 1927, and is #454 in the family tree.

© 2012 The Cobbold Family History Trust.