News

POEMS BY MRS ELIZABETH COBBOLD

This book, published by J Raw of Ipswich in 1825, the year after her death, is quite well known to family members. What may not be so well known is that there were two editions. They have become known as 1st and 2nd though they were probably published at the same time. Her son, Richard seems to have been the driving force behind the publication.

The 1st edition was offered as ‘small papers’ and measured 6½” x 4¼” and included a list of 148 subscribers but contained no frontispiece portraits or drawings. The 2nd edition measured 9½” x 6½”, (‘large papers’) included a dedication to John Cobbold as well as the drawings and two frontispiece portraits

Up to page 192 both editions are virtually the same, but there the 1st finishes whilst the 2nd goes on to 383, the pages devoted to drawings not being numbered. The drawings themselves are worthy of more research on which we will report upon completion.

The Trust has just received a first edition (which surfaced in California) and the Cobbolds on the subscription list are as follows:

Cobbold, John, Esq. Holy Wells, Ipswich
Cobbold, John, Jun. Esq. Cliff, 2 copies
Cobbold, Mrs. Cliff
Cobbold, R.K. Esq. Eye
Cobbold, Rev. Richard, Ipswich
Cobbold, Mr. J.C. ditto
Cobbold, Mr. Thomas, Cotton, Norfolk
Cobbold, Miss H. Ipswich
Cobbold, Mrs. Savage, ditto
Cobbold, Mrs. William, Colchester.

END OF TERM REPORT

Naturally we are too modest to blow our own trumpet but the figures for ‘unique visits’ to our website have grown rather impressively. During 5 months in 2007 we averaged 1346 visits per month. For the same 5 months in 2009 our average rose to 10,331, an increase of 7½ times!

Last month we were welcomed into the top 100 not-for-profit genealogy websites by myheritage.com the global genealogy and family history website, and now display a badge to prove it! We are commended for frequent updating, high quality content, for offering something a bit different and for being extremely well designed (thank you Richard Henderson)

We do get a number of favourable comments (only one person has told us our site was rubbish) and we do seek to continuously improve it. Our citation reads:

15 generations of Cobbolds and who they married. Four and a half thousand names on an interactive family tree. A quite extraordinary family born in Suffolk flourishes world-wide.

Regular visitors will be pleased to know that last month we also turned down offers of paid advertising for gambling and speed-dating!

Cobbold’s Tales - A Musical - is back by popular demand!

Sadly this news arrived too late for inclusion last month and the event is almost upon us. Last performed in 2003 the synopsis is: “In 1828 the Reverend Richard Cobbold and his wife arrive in Wortham. They are despondent to have to left their cultural life in Ipswich and the poverty-stricken villagers resent them. Cobbold turns to his painting and writing for comfort, using the village and its inhabitants as subject matter. As time goes on, he creates an extraordinary record that describes the many dramatic and poingnant events in which he plays a major part and tells how he finally wins his way into everyone’s heart”.

Felix Thornley Cobbold’s long awaited and well deserved Blue Plaque has now been fixed in a prominent position on the Reg Driver Centre in Christchurch Park. See Feature May 2010

TWO MORE BOOKS FOR SALE

We have added two more ‘Cobbold interest’ books to our ‘Books for Sale’ facility.

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.