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John Dupuis Cobbold F/M [Cobbold-23] c Married Married Married: 1891-Apr-23 Evelyn Murray F/Mc | |||||||||||||||||
| John Murray (Ivan) Cobbold [CFT #448] Born: 1897-Jan-28 Died: 1944-Jun-18 |
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| b Holywells, Ipswich, Suffolk d Guard's Chapel, London John Murray (Ivan) was born at Holywells on 28th January 1897. His nurse nicknamed him 'Ivan the Terrible' and the name stuck. His mother spoke Russian and John in that language is 'Ivan' which may explain why it was allowed to stick. He was educated at Ipswich School and Eton where he won a place in the 1st cricket XI and was Keeper of Rackets and would have gone on to Trinity College, Cambridge but for the outbreak of war. He joined the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards on 3rd September 1915 and was in France as a Captain the following year. He sustained a gun-shot wound in 1917 and spent some recovery time back home before returning to fight in France. After the armistice he took up work in the family brewing business, becoming Chairman after his father's death in 1929. On 30th April 1919, in the Guards' Chapel in London he married Lady Blanche Katherine Cavendish, 2nd daughter of the 9th Duke of Devonshire. They had met in Canada whilst Blanche's father was Governor General. As well as having a wonderfully good eye for a ball Ivan was a great fisherman and deemed one of the best shots in the country. He was due to attend a shooting party at Sandringham with a friend, Sir Samuel Hill-Wood the Chairman of Arsenal Football Club but the shoot was cancelled and they went to Highbury instead. Ivan was impressed and came away determined that Ipswich Town should turn professional. On 1st May 1936 after much debate at a meeting in the Town Hall it was agreed; and the Club played 2 seasons in the Southern League before joining the Football League for the 1938/39 season. In 1942 Ivan, by then a Colonel, became liaison officer at the HQ of European Theatre of Operations for the Allied Expeditionary Force commanded by Dwight D Eisenhower and was working closely with General Bedell Smith, Eisenhower'a Chief of Staff. Ivan was both a longtime customer and a personal friend of Tom Purdey (gun maker) which made it possible for Purdey's long room to be used for planning the D-Day landings. Bidell Smith had been invited by Ivan to attend a special service in the Guards' Chapel on Sunday 18th June 1944 to give thanks for the success of the Normandy Landings but pressure of work prevented him doing so. The service was taken by the Bishop of Maidstone and a lesson had just been read by Lord Hay when the familiar droning of a V1 was heard; gradually it became a roar and suddenly the engine stopped and it exploded on the chapel; the roof and walls collapsed and buried the occupants under 10 foot of rubble. Ivan was one of over 100 who died. Lord Cranworth wrote the following tribute in The Times of 27th June 1944 "Ivan was a man of many talents, great abilities and infinite charm. Moreover he was a patriot with every fibre of his being. There was no one on his estate or in his business with whom he was not fully acquainted and with whose welfare he was not concerned. In his busy life he never neglected public work in his country and when he undertook a job one knew that it would be done and well done. Such was the life Ivan Cobbold lived, and his manner of living it brought him much esteem and hosts of friends. But there was another Ivan of which the world knew less. This was the man who went about quietly doing kindnesses to those in trouble, whether monetary or otherwise. His heart, his hand, and his pocket were ever ready with the one proviso. 'No one is to know'. He was a man of true generosity and intense loyalty and these characteristics will stand in the memory of his friends as a monument more enduring than brass". Help of Ipswich War Memorial is appreciated Anthony Cobbold 2020 |
1: 1920 Pamela Maud Cobboldc H/C 2: 1921 Jean Cobboldc H/C 3: 1927 John (Johnny) Cavendish Cobboldc 4: 1934 Patrick Mark Cobboldc | ||||||||||||||||
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