Thursday 11 February 2016

1118 Felix Cobbold





Constituency : Stowmarket  1885-6, Ipswich 1906-09

Felix  won  the  new  seat  of  Stowmarket.

Felix  was  the  son  of  a  former  Conservative  MP  for  Ipswich. He  was  educated  at  Eton  and Cambridge  and  became  a  barrister. He  gave  up  practice  to  become  bursar  at  King's  College, Cambridge.  Five  years  later  he  was  persuaded  to  return  to  Suffolk  to  run  the  family  businesses  in  brewing  and  banking.  He  also  maintained  a  farm   at  Felixstowe    and  supported  independent  smallholdings  and  allotments.   Though  his  brothers  remained  Tories  Felix  was  a  radical  who  advocated  franchise  extension  though  not  to  women. He was  Mayor  of  Ipswich.

Felix  disagreed  with  Gladstone  over  Home  Rule  and  declined  to  defend  his  seat  in  1886  which  went  to  the  Tories. He  did  not  join  the  Liberal  Unionists  and  stood  for  Woodbridge  in  1900  as  a  declared  opponent  of  the  Boer  War.

In  1895  Felix  presented  Christchurch  Mansion  and  Gippeswyk  Park  to  the  town  of  Ipswich. In  1903  he  bought  a  stake  in  the  Bury  Free  Press.

In  1906  Felix  was  returned  for  Ipswich  with  a  huge  majority.

Felix's  maiden  speech  in  1906  called  for  a  reduction  in  the  garrison  at  Malta.  In  1907  he  was  rebuked  by  the  Speaker  for  talking  about  India  when  the  motion  in  question  specifically  excluded  India.

He  died  in  1909  aged  68. He  left  £20,000  in  his  will  to  Ipswich  for  the  purchase  of  artworks. He  also  endowed  an  Agricultural  Trust  to  further  improvements  in  practice  which  still  exists.


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