Not my ticket to the Coronation – that clearly got stuck in the post – but a beautiful papercut designed as a Valentine card by the remarkable Georgian polymath Elizabeth Cobbold (1767-1824), matriarch of the third of nine generations of Ipswich family brewers. The detail in the paperwork is extraordinary. It must have taken many hours to create. It is one of hundreds that now live at Knebworth House as part of the Cobbold Family History Trust, a charity that has assembled a unique collection of Cobbold family history and heirlooms as a resource for historians and genealogists. The collection moved to Knebworth House last year and, as it is catalogued, is revealing a treasure trove of stories of the other side of my father’s family.
The Lytton family have been in Knebworth since the 1400s. The Cobbold family only moved to Knebworth in the 1940s. Growing up in Knebworth House, I have been surrounded by Lytton family history, but know very little about my Cobbold ancestors. Because of the Cobbold Family History Trust, that balance is now being redressed. To reflect this I am giving a talk in Knebworth House on the Cobbold family on Thursday 6th July to benefit the Knebworth Twinning Association, of which my father was long term president. It is a good moment to reflect on the history of the Cobbold family, as this year marks the 300th anniversary of the Cobbold Brewery in Ipswich. Sadly Tolly Cobbold beer is no more, so I won’t be serving you Cobbold ales, but I do have tankard full of fascinating and fun Cobbold tales. Tickets – which I trust the KTA will be papercutting as elaborate as this one – are limited, so dispel any disappointment if you’ve not received a Coronation invite, and pick up the second best ticket of the summer.
Henry Lytton Cobbold
@HenryCobboldKH