The Cobbe family is an Irish landed family. The family has a notable history,[1] and has produced several prominent Irish politicians, clergymen, writers, activists and soldiers, such as writer and social reformer Frances Power Cobbe, and General Alexander Cobbe VC. Archbishop Charles Cobbe, Primate of Ireland who also served as viceregal chaplain to his cousin Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, moved from Winchester and established the Newbridge Estate outside Dublin in 1736.[2] This remained the family home until 1985, after being acquired by Fingal County Council in a unique arrangement with the family, who continue to maintain it as a family home.
The son of Archbishop Charles Cobbe was Thomas Cobbe MP (1733–1815), who was predeceased by the grandson, Charles Cobbe MP (1756–1798). The great-grandson of Archbishop Cobbe was Charles Cobbe (1781–1857) who is notable mainly as having kept extensive diaries chronicling the life of a rural landlord and his tenants. He served briefly in India under Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington.[3] The diarist Charles Cobbe's younger brother, Thomas Alexander Cobbe, married the Nuzeer Begum, daughter of Aziz Khan of Kashmir, part of the Indian nobility, and traded indigo to Britain in addition to work in the East India Company.
Recently, the family has come to attention as being the possessors of the Cobbe portrait, claimed to be the sole remaining portrait of William Shakespeare painted from life, which has provoked considerable scholastic discussion.[4]