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Name: COBB, Robert Stanley

Birth Date: 11 Mar 1890 Pontypridd

Death Date: 3 Apr 1959 Ploughley, Oxon.

First Date: 1922

Profession: Architect

Area: Box 103, Mombasa, 1925 Box 198, Mombasa, 1930 Box 58, Nairobi, 1919 Architect, partner with Archie Renaldie, Mumias

Married: In Chipping Norton 12 Feb 1935 Phyllis Janet Stansfield b. 18 Nov 1904 Bermondsey. d. Long Crendon 25 Nov 1987

Children: Ruth (1936); John Stansfield Cobb (26 June 1938 Nairobi-9 Feb 1989 Moseley, Birmingham)

Book Reference: KAD, Red 25, Red 31, Hut, Macmillan, Red 22

War Service: Royal West Kent Regt

School: Dulwich College, ARIBA

General Information:

After WW1 he obrtained a position in the Colonial icce and was posted to Kiambu
Macmillan - 1930 - Partner in Hurle Bath, Cobb & Archer, Chartered Architects and Quantity Surveyors, Mombasa
Gazette 14/1/1920 - Appointed Asst. District Commissioner, Kyambu wef 15/12/1919
Gazette 24/12/1919 - Arrived on 1st Appointment - Asst. District Commissioner - 8/12/1919
Gazette - Voters List 1936 - Robert Stanley Cobb, Masara, Lower Kabete Rd., Nbi
Gazette 24 Mar 1920 - deputy presiding officer Tigoni Court House, Capt. R.S. Cobb
The Cobbs of Kent (web)  Robert began studying Architecture as early as 1907 as an apprentice in London.  Following graduation from Dulwich College, he immigrated to Argentina.  There he worked as an architectural assistant in Buenos Aires from 1911-1914, when he returned to England for military service. During the First World War he served as a Captain in the Royal West Kent Regiment, and participated in the Gallipoli and Palestine campaigns before being sent to France.  During service he was severely wounded, and was awarded the Military Cross for his actions on the Somme in 1917. Following the war he obtained a position in the Colonial Office and posted to Kiambu in the Central Province of Kenya.  In 1924, he was made an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects.  In 1930, he was made a full member. During the Second World War he attained the rank of Major while serving with the Occupied Territories Administration in Asmara.  The end of the war found him in England; but he returned to Kenya with his family in 1945 to continue his professional career in architecture.  He designed a number of the larger post-war buildings in East Africa. Partly for health reasons and to continue the education of his children, he returned to England in 1951; and retired the following year.  The last seven years of his life were spent in or near Oxford.  He became a member of the Parish Council of Kidlington and was elected to the Urban District Council.  He died April 3, 1959.

Obituary; The Builder; April 10, 1959 “The death has occurred of Mr. Robert Stanley Cobb, MC, FRIBA, founder of the firm of Cobb, Archer, and Scammell, architects, of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kampala, Aden, and Dar-es-Salaam.  Among the buildings he designed in East Africa are Government House, Mombasa, and the Town Hall and Barclays Bank in Nairobi.  Mr. Cobb served with the British Administration in Eritrea as Director of Transport and Assistant Director of Public Works.  He returned to this country in 1951 and made his home in Oxford, moving later to Kidlington.  He is survived by a widow and two children.”

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