News

Those who have Chevallier blood in their veins may be interested to know that the family tree on this website now goes back 9 generations from Harriet Temple Chevallier (1775 – 1851) who married John Cobbold (1774 – 1860) in 1796. The sequence includes Jean Chevalier (1589 – 1676), the Jersey Chronicler. Further additions to this part of the tree are planned.

Descendents of Rev. Richard Cobbold (1797 – 1877) who married Mary Anne Waller (1801 – 1876) in 1822 will find that the family tree on this website now goes back 4 generations on the Waller side. Suggestions that Mary Anne was descended from the 17th C poet, Edmond Waller are at present without substantiation.

The Trust has been approached by the Gorbold, Cobbold and Corbould DNA Project. Their Y-46 DNA tests to date show some expected results and some unexpected. The Trust has put forward two Cobbold candidates for testing but their names will not be generally released until the data is better understood. DNA testing as a means of family history verification must be of interest.

Some while ago the Trust commissioned some research into the all too brief lives of those family members who made the ultimate sacrifice in WWI. The loss of many records during the blitz on London during WWII has made the task more difficult but the results are now available and are being incorporated into the archive. Given time the Trust will satisfy requests for information on the following:

• Albert Garnet Cobbold - The Royal Norfolk Regt.
• George Robert Cobbold - The Suffolk Regt.
• William Cobbold - The Suffolk Regt.
• Alfred Stephen Cobbold - The Suffolk Regt.
• Charles Augustus Cobbold - The Suffolk Regt.
• Charles Herbert Cobbold - The Suffolk Regt.
• Thomas William Cobbold - The Suffolk Regt.
• William George Cobbold - The Suffolk Regt.
• Robert James Cobbold - The Suffolk Regt.
• Claude Alfred Cobbold - The Suffolk Regt.
• Sidney Cobbold - The Suffolk Regt.
• James Edward Cobbold - The Suffolk Regt.
• Edgar Francis Wanklyn Cobbold - The Cheshire Regt. Later RFC
• Henry Cobbold - The Suffolk Regt.
• Charles Albert Cobbold - The Cambridgeshire Regt. Later MGC
• Rowland Townshend Cobbold - The Royal Field Artillery
• Charles Townsend Cobbold - The Royal Field Artillery
• George Cobbold - The Royal Field Artillery
• Frederick William Cobbold - The Royal Fusiliers
• Harry Cobbold - The Royal Fusiliers
• Percy Howard Cobbold - The Royal Fusiliers
• Gilbert Charles Cobbold - The London Regt. (Royal Fusiliers)
• Arthur Cobbold - The Rifle Brigade
• John Cobbold - The King’s Royal Rifle Corps
• Robert Henry Wanklyn Cobbold - The Royal FusiliersThe Rifle Brigade
• Sidney George Cobbold - The Royal FusiliersThe Rifle Brigade
• Charles Cobbold - The Royal Irish Rifles. Later RGA
• Frederick Cobbold - The East Surrey Regt.
• Roger Albert Cobbold - The Royal West Kent Regt. (MGC)
• Reginald Louis Cobbold - The Royal Sussex Regt.
• William Cobbold - The Somerset Light Infantry
• Arthur Elias Cobbold - The Army Service Corps
• Walter Frederick Cobbold - Australian 28th Infantry Bn.
• Edward Garland - The Wiltshire Regt.

Research into those who were lost in WWII will follow in due course.

The silhouettes of the 4 John Cobbolds generously donated to the Trust last year by Anne and Belinda Hasted have been adapted to form a greeting card as shown below. The cards (178 mm x 128 mm) are printed black on a light cream card and come with a matching envelope but are not individually wrapped. Visitors to the site who would like to buy some cards and thereby help the Trust with its work are invited to get in touch. The suggested price is not less than 75p per card but please add £1 for postage.

In last month’s news we recorded the deaths of three family members. Each of these now has an obituary or a eulogy in the biography section of their respective cards in the family tree.

A quick way to read them is to go to the family tree; click search and insert the relevant card number shown below; click on the name and then on the small blue i icon.

Even quicker: use the links below

Capt Peter Tatton-Brown, RN # 1943

Neil Campbell Gordon Boxer # 4008

Lady Hilaria Agnes Gibbs # 792

Felix Thornley Cobbold’s Centenary trail

Felix Thornley Cobbold’s Centenary trail at Christchurch Mansion, due to close in the middle of January has been extended to the end of the month. The Gallery Services Manager reports that it has proved very popular across all age groups and some of the coloured-in ‘portraits’ of Felix produced by visiting children have been brilliant. Although the Mansion was able to open throughout the cold weather, visitor numbers were somewhat reduced. The East Anglian Daily Times carried a photograph and a brief piece highlighting Felix’s legacy as recently as 4th January.

It is with great regret that the Trust records the following deaths of family members.

Capt Peter Duncan Tatton-Brown, RN, born 1921 died 1st November 2009 Peter’s mother was Alice Mary Cobbold (1879 – 1968)

Neil Campbell Gordon Boxer, born 1929 died 15th November 2009 Neil’s grandmother was Grace Mathilda Cobbold (1852 – 1946)

Lady Hilaria Agnes Gibbs, born 1908 died 19th November 2009 Hilaria was the youngest daughter of the 6th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe and mother in law of Anthony Cobbold

A BLUE PLAQUE

A BLUE PLAQUE for Felix Thornley Cobbold has come a little nearer. The Trust has been in communication with The Ipswich Society (of which the Trust is a member) for a while enquiring whether Felix might be an appropriate subject for a blue plaque. It is understood that the nomination was quickly agreed and debate is now centred on the plaque’s location. It cannot be sited on Christchurch Mansion for ‘conservation’ reasons so alternatives are under consideration. It would certainly be a fitting and permanent tribute to a generous benefactor. The Trust will keep you informed.

REMEMBRANCE DAY 2009

REMEMBRANCE DAY 2009 will see the Trust’s usual insertion in The Daily Telegraph (on 11th November) to recall with pride the 48 Cobbolds who gave their lives in two World Wars. (King & Country has the list). This year is especially poignant as it has seen the death of the country’s last three venerable survivors of World War 1. From left to right, Henry Allingham, Harry Patch and Bill Stone.

BOOKS FOR SALE

Please look at our “BOOKS FOR SALE”. Every purchase aids the work of the Trust. ‘A Picture History of Margaret Catchpole’ which includes all the Richard Cobbold Watercolours and ‘To Suffolk with Love, The Life of Felix Thornley Cobbold’ are both now available.

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to Isobel Montgomery Campbell, whose grandmother was Joan Lindley Cobbold (1890 – 1974), on her appointment as Editor of ‘Poems in the Waiting Room’. PitWR is the most extensive arts-in-health charity in the NHS which distributes over 40,000 poetry cards each quarter to inspire anxious waiting patients. In taking on the task Isobel said “My experience as a former clinician with a waiting room of my own will help my choice of poems, keeping patients informed and entertained with poems to make their wait somewhat shorter than it might well be”.

CHANGES TO THIS WEBSITE

In order to allow more time for the intricate task of expanding and updating the family tree, in future there will be less frequent contributions of Features, Gifts, Deposits and Cobblets. Some further changes to the website with the same objective are being considered.

FELIX THORNLEY COBBOLD CENTENARY

Invitations will be out shortly. If you want to attend but don’t have an invitation please contact Anthony Cobbold: anthonycobbold@tiscali.co.uk

PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA

Visitors will remember that the fascinating story of Lady Evelyn Cobbold (1867 – 1963) was republished recently with a substantial introduction by William Facey and Miranda Taylor who is Lady Evelyn’s great grand niece.

• Download our Pilgrimage to Mecca PDF Flyer

William Facey (who recently won the Rawabi Award for fostering cultural relations between Britain and Saudi Arabia) is to lecture on Lady Evelyn to the Royal Geographical Society on Monday 23rd February 2009 at 6.0pm in the big RGS lecture hall. Family, friends and all those interested are invited. The book continues to attract most favourable reviews, some of which are reproduced below.

Jan. 2009 Cobbold/Pilgrimage to Mecca Review excerpts

Reviews

“The volume … is much more than a reprint of the original work, for it includes, under the title ‘From Mayfair to Mecca: the Life of Lady Evelyn Cobbold’, a most interesting, readable and meticulously annotated introduction (80 pages). … Pilgrimage to Mecca is a vivid, fresh and charming account in diary form of the author’s experiences during her few weeks in the Hejaz.”

John Shipman, Asian Affairs, forthcoming 2009

“This reprint is presented in two parts. The first contains … an extensive biographical introduction by William Facey and Miranda Taylor. … We then enter the main autobiographical section. … This is an appealing book. Its broad framework is the journal of a sophisticated lady, who is drawn to the Muslim faith, and the subsequent physical and emotional journey of the hajj which she performed at the age of 65 in 1933. … For those interested in history, travel, biography and religion, this is an illuminating book.”

Mona Siddiqui, The Edinburgh Review 125, 2008

“One of the most fascinating of women travellers of the early 20th century. … Largely due to the determination of former Geographical editor Miranda Taylor, Lady Evelyn’s Pilgrimage to Mecca is now back in print after an absence of nearly three quarters of a century. It has been worth the wait, because Lady Evelyn writes exquisitely…. This new edition … with its lengthy biographical introduction and copious footnotes, will become required reading for anyone interested in the history of women travellers, early 20th-century travel in the Middle East, or simply Islamic affairs.”

Nick Smith, Geographical Magazine, November 2008

“More than a reprint of the original edition of Pilgrimage to Mecca (John Murray 1934), this publication is a well-considered and sophisticated repackaging of both author and text. … The detail of her story … will fascinate readers today … [and] this is where Facey and Taylor excel.”

Geoffrey Nash, ASTENE Bulletin 37, Autumn 2008

“This is an unusual and revealing book [recommended] for the positive insight that it gives into the beliefs and culture of Islamic society and … for the chance to learn about a remarkable Scottish woman traveller and the different worlds she inhabited.”

Elizabeth Sunderland, The Scots Magazine, November 2008

“London-based Arabian Publishing has rescued [Pilgrimage to Mecca] from relative obscurity through publication of a handsome new edition, which includes a lively and illuminating 80-page introduction, ‘From Mayfair to Makkah’, by William Facey and Miranda Taylor.”

Susannah Tarbush, Saudi Gazette, 9 October 2008