Ser geant Sydney Cobbold

Sergeant Sydney Cobbold (1887-1916)

Sydney George Cobbold had two very different royal connections – from becoming a gardener at the prestigious Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to serving in The Rifl e Brigade of His Majesty’s Forces during the First World War, where his promising life was cut short. Recent collaboration between the head of Kew’s First World War Centenary commemoration project (James), the Head of Education at Newquay Zoo (Mark) and one of Sydney’s living relatives (Sarah), has allowed this fascinating story to be pieced together and told for the fi rst time.

Sydney was a Suffolk lad, born to Anna and Maurice Cobbold on 12 September 1887 in the village of Woolpit, near Bury St. Edmunds. Even by 2007 Woolpit had a population of only 2,030 – yet it has a museum of its own, purportedly the smallest museum in Suffolk. Sydney had two brothers and fi ve sisters (England & Wales Births 1837-2006, General Register Offi ce). Alec Maurice Cobbold, Sydney’s younger brother, also served his country (in the Machine Gun Corps) and survived the war.

Sydney began his gardening career at the tender age of 13, as a gardener’s assistant in the employ of Dr O.R.M. Wood, the local GP in Woolpit, whilst still living at home with his parents. By December 1905 (aged 18), he was working for Coningsby Charles Sibthorp at Sudbrooke Holme in Lincolnshire (a stately home which was demolished in the 1920s and the land subsequently built upon). Sarah Cobbold, a living relative of Sydney, still has a postcard of ‘Chelmsford Shire Hall’ from Gus Phillips, husband of Sydney’s sister Alice Eliza, which was addressed to Sydney at Sudbrooke Holme on 20 December 1905.

Sydney applied for a position at Kew in January 1908, receiving glowing references from his past employers, who commented that he was “very keen and attentive to his duties” and “a most respectable young man in every way”. Sydney arrived at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, on 23 March, and was photographed with the rest of the gardening team in his year of entry. He quickly demonstrated his strong work ethic and acute attention to detail. Sydney’s studious attitude paid off as he passed the fi ve courses he undertook at Kew, gaining the fourth highest score in the 1909 Economic Botany course, taught By Mr J.M. Hillier of Kew’s Museum, as reported in J. Kew Guild 2(17): 460 (1909). In total, 16 certifi cates were awarded that year.

Looking back at Sydney’s time at Kew, his peers remarked: “we remember him as a quiet unassuming young man, thorough in his work, and a keen student in the lecture-room. Much of his spare time was devoted to British Botany, his collection being commended for the number of widely differing species and neatness in mounting” (J. Kew Guild 3(24): 370, 1917). With his formal training complete, and from the leading botanical institution in the country, Sydney was in the best position he could be to work in the grandest gardens of Britain. Leaving Kew in March 1910, he took up a position at the Earl of Ellesmere’s residence in Worsley, near Manchester. The 1911 census described him rather romantically as a ‘journeyman gardener’, who was boarding with other gardeners in the Bothy at Worsley Hall Gardens under foreman Arthur Edward Upjohn. Sydney quickly progressed to foreman at Moorfi eld, Glossop, and then at Capesthorne Hall, Cheshire, before thoughts of the war in Europe dominated his mind.

He was keen to contribute to the war effort, so he left his job as foreman at Capesthorne Hall, and enlisted in His Majesty’s Forces on 9 June 1915, joining the 8th Battalion of the Rifl e Brigade (service number S/12906). A letter dated 18 June was received by the Kew Guild, in which Sydney informed his old friends that he had enlisted. Again he wrote on 9 November, stating: “We have completed our training and shall be on the move very soon. I am eager to do my little bit in the fi ring-line somewhere abroad. I will write and let you have some of my experiences when I get out”.

He then headed for France, arriving in the ‘theatre of war’ on 18 December 1915. By 19 August 1916 Sydney was Acting Sergeant, promoted temporarily due to loss of leadership (there had been a sergeant killed on 17 August). By 28 August, he was again listed as Corporal, being offi cially promoted to Sergeant in a permanent capacity shortly afterwards (British Army Service Records 1914-1920). During August and September Sydney marched from Dernancourt to Mametz to Delville Wood (or ‘Devil’s Wood’ as it quickly became known), and back to camps at Dernancourt, Laleu and Fricourt for short rest periods. On 12 September his battalion took over the line to the east of Delville Wood, relieving 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers. A day later Sydney’s C.O. of ‘A’ Company, Captain Backus, was wounded in the face during shelling of their trenches in front of Pilsen Lane.

Friday 15 September was an especially tough day. The 8th Rifl e Brigade and 8th King’s Royal Rifl e Corps were to lead an advance at the opening to the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. Sydney’s battalion moved forward under a barrage at 06:20, suffering casualties from their own gas shells and then heavy casualties from enemy fi re once they were beyond the fi rst 150 yards. Facing hails of bullets from German held trenches called ‘Pint Trench’ and ‘Tea Support’ by the British, the long lines of rifl emen advanced, yet somehow Sydney survived this horrendous run and they successfully captured Pint Trench. The Casualty List for that day is strikingly long and “a great shortage of stretchers and bearers” is noted

Sergeant Sydney Cobbold (Photo from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew).

in the War Diary of 8th Rifl e Brigade held at the National Archives (WO 95/1895/1).

Sadly, following Sydney’s naively excitable letters of 1915, and oblivious to the carnage of the Delville Wood area which had followed, the next the Kew Guild knew, 11 months later, was that the worst had happened: he had been killed. His C.O. (by this point Captain K.S.M. Gladstone) duly wrote to Sydney’s mother (who shared the contents of that letter with the Kew Guild for publication in their obituary article). It read: “Your son, Sergeant Cobbold, was killed in action yesterday morning, October 3. Death was instantaneous, and I am thankful to say that he suffered no pain. Your son was one of the very best soldiers and men in my company. He had done splendidly in the recent heavy fi ghting, knew no fear, and was liked by all. He was buried the same afternoon by the Chaplain, about two miles behind the trenches”. Maurice, Sydney’s father, was quick to write to the Director of his son’s other former crown employer – Kew. This poignant letter dated 12 October 1916 is held within Sydney’s staff fi le in RBG Kew’s Archives.

On 29 September, Sydney’s battalion had moved into support of actions at Rivière (10km south-west of Arras), which was only 1200 yards from the Germans. The entry for 3 October 1916 in the War Diary states: “Relieve 8th Btn KRRC in F3 sector. Only 9 Offi cers & 326 O.R. to take over the whole sector! A & D Coys in front line, B & C in support. Trenches excellent. 2 Sgts, 4 Rifl emen killed, 12 O.R. wounded, by one shell during relief.” The Casualties List for the month confi rms that Sydney and his comrades were in A Company. Bad luck – that was all it had been in the end. Having repeatedly survived going ‘over the top’ on the Somme, which had swallowed so many, Sydney had been killed by a lone shell during a relief effort at Rivière. A draft of 10 more O.R.s arrived to replace the fallen...

Sydney’s age at his time of death has been erroneously reported as 28 years. In fact, he passed away just over a month after his 29th birthday. He was laid to rest in Grave Reference II. B. 7, Le Fermont Military Cemetery, Rivière, France (http://www.cwgc. or g/find-war-dead/casualty/36174/COBBOLD,%20 SYDNEY%20GEORGE). This is a relatively small front line cemetery with 80 graves, which was begun by the 55th (W est Lancashire) Division in March 1916. Ten of the men buried there were from the Rifl e Brigade. Sydney’s entry on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) documentation lists his inscription from his father Maurice as “His Country Called. He Answered” and his headstone has been photographed as part of The War Graves Photographic Project (http://twgpp.org/ information.php?id=3954510).

The CWGC data sets show that on the same day that Ser geant Cobbold was killed, four other soldiers of the 8th Rifl e Brigade were killed and buried in the same row of Le Fermont cemetery alongside him: Rifl emen L.J. Farr, William G. Kittle, and Benjamin Gordon, as well as fellow Sergeant John R. Aspden. Thus, Cobbold lies among his comrades. The remains of a fourth Rifl eman, S. Grundy, were not found (listed in the aforementioned Casualties List as “missing believed k[illed]”) and so he has no formal grave.

Sydney is remembered on the Woolpit War Memorial as well as on the Bronze Plaque within the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Finally, in 1919, his name appeared in the Roll of Honour under the heading ‘Old Kewites’, with an asterisk aside his entry indicating that he had been killed whilst on service (J. Kew Guild 3(26): 453, 1919). Sarah retains the bronze Death Plaque which was given to the family.

There were fi ve articles in the Journal of the Kew Guild between 1909 and 1919 in which Sydney was mentioned...and now another, 100 years on (Wearn & Norris, in press, J. Kew Guild). This article is a product of Kew’s First World War Centenary project, entitled ‘Kew Gardens at War’, led by the fi rst author. Last year, Kew’s commemorative exhibition Plants, People and the Products of War: a Centenary Tribute exhibition featured Sydney on a ‘wall of honour’.

Please also see Kew’s Library, Art & Archives blog about the memorial at Kew (http://www.kew.org/discover/blogs/ library-art-and-ar chives/floreat-kew-remembrancefallen) and the commemorative blog about the lost gar deners of Kew (https://worldwarzoogardener1939. wor dpress.com/2013/07/19/such-is-the-price-ofempire-the-lost-gardeners-of-kew-in-the-first-worldwar/).