Ralph Cobbold

British Army officer and writer

For the English cricketer, see Ralph Cobbold (cricketer).

Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Patteson Cobbold, later Ralph Patteson Sawle, DSO (10 February 1869 – 5 December 1965) was a British soldier and writer, who served in the 60th Rifles in India.

## Career

[edit]

Ralph Cobbold was born in Ipswich, the second son of the Ipswich MP John Patteson Cobbold.[1] He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps on 17 October 1888, and promoted to lieutenant on 1 October 1890.[2] He explored the Pamirs in 1897–1898. His report on Russian plans to occupy Chitral was an important episode in the Great Game between the Russian and British empires.[3][4][5][6][7] In his 1900 book about his travels through the Pamirs, Cobbold wrote " “My original object in visiting the Pamir region of Central Asia was that of a sportsman, and I had no idea of either troubling myself with inquiries into the social and political conditions of the people",[8] but in actuality Cobbold was an agent in the British government and was ordered to travel through the Pamirs.

He was appointed to the reserve in March 1899, but re-enlisted to serve in the Second Boer War which started later the same year. Leaving for South Africa in February 1900,[9] he was appointed a Deputy Assistant Adjutant General in South Africa on 19 July 1900. He later took part in British military operations in Somaliland, and in 1902 received the Second class of the Order of the Star of Ethiopia in recognition of services while attached to the Abyssinian Force which cooperated with the British Force.[10] He was received in audience by King Edward VII in January 1903, as the King wanted to know more about Ethiopia and these operations, then returned to Ethiopia for further service.[11]

## Family

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Cobbold's first marriage was to Minnie Diana Pitt, with whom he had a son, Ralph Hamilton Cobbold.[12] In 1929, he married Joan Rosemary Graves-Sawle, daughter of Rear-Admiral Sir Charles John Graves-Sawle and, in 1932, he changed his name to Ralph Patteson Sawle by royal licence.

## Works

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* Innermost Asia – Travels and Sport in the Pamirs, 1900

## References

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1. ^ 'Col Ralph Cobbold-Sawle', The Times, 8 December 1965.
2. ^ Hart's Army list, 1901
3. ^ Travel in Asia – An Interesting Record of the Impressions of an Alert Traveler, New York Times, May 26, 1900,
4. ^ Innermost Asia – Travels and Sport in the Pamirs, Ralph P Cobbold, 1900
5. ^ Clarmont Skrine and Pamela Nightingale, Macartney at Kashgar: New Light on British, Chinese and Russian Activities in Sinkiang, 1890–1918 (London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1973)
6. ^ Peter Hopkirk, The great game: on secret service in high Asia, Oxford University Press, 1991
7. ^ K. Warikoo, Himalayan Frontiers of India: Historical, Geo-Political and Strategic Perspectives, Taylor and Francis, 2009 ISBN 0-415-46839-6
8. ^ Innermost Asia – Travels and Sport in the Pamirs, Ralph P Cobbold, 1900. p. vii.
9. ^ "The War - embarkation of troops". The Times. No. 36066\. London. 15 February 1900. p. 4.
10. ^ "No. 27402". The London Gazette. 31 January 1902. p. 645.
11. ^ "Latest intelligence - The Somaliland Expedition". The Times. No. 36968\. London. 3 January 1903. p. 5.
12. ^ The Cobbold Family History Trust

## Further reading

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Clive Hodges: Cobbold & Kin: Life Stories from an East Anglian Family (Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 2014) ISBN 9781843839545

## External links

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* Ralph Patteson Cobbold Papers. Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.

* v
* t
* e

Cobbold family tree

| | | | | | | | | | | | Thomas Cobbold
brewer
(1680–1752)| | Mary Woodthorpe
(died 1758)|

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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Thomas Cobbold
(1708–1767)| | Sarah Cobbold
(1717–1777)|

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| | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | Isabella Garrett
(died 1777)| | William Cobbold
(1747–1795)| | | | Elizabeth Wilkinson
(1753–1790)| | John Cobbold
(1746–1835)| | Elizabeth Knipe
novelist and poet
(1765–1824)
| | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Mary Anne Trapnell
(1781–1810)| | Thomas Cobbold
(1772–1835)| | | | | Harriet Temple Chevallier
(1775–1851)| | John Wilkinson Cobbold
(1774–1860)| | Richard Cobbold
novelist and priest
(1797–1877)| | Mary Anne Waller
(1801–1876)|
| | | | |
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | Mary Anne Cobbold
(1806–1868)| | Francis Cobbold
priest
(1803–1844)| | | John Chevallier Cobbold
brewer, railway developer and politician
(1797–1882)| | Lucy Patteson
(1800–1879)| | Thomas Spencer Cobbold
scientist
(1828–1886)| | Edward Augustus Cobbold
priest
(1825–1900)| | Mathilda Caroline Smith
(1826–1923)|
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Charles Chevallier
priest and canon
(1823–1885)| | Isobella Frances Cobbold
(1834–1917)| | | | John Patteson Cobbold
politician
(1831–1875)| | Adela Harriette Dupuis
(1837–1917)| | | Nathanael Fromanteel Cobbold
(1839–1886)| | Caroline Ellen Boutell
(1843–1882)| | William Nevill "Nuts" Cobbold
footballer
(1863–1922)|
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| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | Maj. Ernest St George Cobbold
(1840–1895)| | Helen Emma Cazenove
(1842–1917)| | | Thomas Clement Cobbold
diplomat
(1833–1883)| | Felix Thornley Cobbold
barrister and politician
(1841–1909)| | | | | | |

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | John Barrington Chevallier
(1857–1940)| | | Isabel Amy Cobbold
(1869–1931)| | John Dupuis Cobbold
(1861–1929)| | Lady Evelyn Murray
later Zainab Cobbold
(1867–1963)| | Ralph Patteson Cobbold
British Army soldier and writer
(1869–1965)| | Clement John Cobbold
(1882–1961)| | Stella Willoughby Cameron
(1882–1918)|
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| | | | |
| | | | | | | Lady Blanche Katharine Cavendish
(1898–1987)| | John Murray Cobbold
(1897–1944)| | Pamela Cobbold
(1900–1932)| | Charles Jocelyn Hambro
merchant banker and intelligence officer
(1897–1963)| | Lady Margaret Hermione Lytton
(1905–2004)| | Cameron Fromanteel Cobbold,
1st Baron Cobbold
(1904–1987)|
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| | | | | | | John Cavendish Cobbold
businessman
(1927–1983)| | Patrick Mark Cobbold
businessman
(1934–1994)| | | | Charles Eric "Charlie" Hambro,
Baron Hambro
(1930–2002)| | | | | | David Antony Lytton Cobbold,
2nd Baron Cobbold
(1937–2022)| |
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Henry Fromanteel Lytton Cobbold,
3rd Baron Cobbold
(born 1962)| |

Notes

* Cobbold Family History Trust

Family tree of the Cobbold family
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