#150, Rowland Townshend COBBOLD

Rowland was educated in Eye and at Dedham Grammar School (where he much later became a Governor) before going up to Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge in 1838 where, following the speciality of the college he read Medicine. His medical training continued at St. George's Hospital in London where he became MRCS in 1844 and LSA in 1845.

His first practice was in St. Albans from 1846 - the year he got married - until 1853, where he was Honorary Surgeon to St. Albans General Hospital. It was at about this time that he was presented with a copy of A Treatise on the Formation of Kidney Stones by Dr John Green Crosse* inscribed 'To Rowland Townshend Cobbold in token of esteem for his acquirements conjoined with the most steady and amicable Deportment'. Dr Crosse who worked in the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital was celebrated at that time for his work in the field of kidney stones and was awarded the Jacksonian prize by the Royal College of Surgeons for this particular treatise.

Rowland's first five children were all born during his time in St. Albans but about 1853 the family moved to Bredfield near Woodbridge in Suffolk but only stayed there for a while because in 1855 they are living in Trimley where two more children are born.

On the assumption that the homes in Bredfield and Trimley had been rented he was able not only to buy their next home in Dedham but to knock it down and build anew. Dedham Lodge was purchased in 1860 and rebuilt in subsequent years during which time they lived in Yew Tree Cottage. Dedham Lodge is now a luxury hotel in the stable of Milsoms.

Rowland became a Governor of Dedham Grammar School, made famous on account of one of its former pupils, John Constable who counted amongst his friends Elizabeth Cobbold of Ipswich.  Probate 28/1/1896.  Census records show Dedham for 1861, 71, 81 and 91.

*This book, entitled 'A Treatise on the Formation, Constituents and Extraction of the Urinary Calculus; being the essay for which the Jacksonian Prize for the year 1833 was awarded by the Royal College of Surgeons in London' by CROSSE, John Green FRCS FRS (1790-1850), published by John Churchill, London 1835, was offered for sale in 2023 by Jeff Webber Rare Books in Montreux, Switzerland for £1,030.06; sadly beyond our reach!  It was subsequently purchased at a discount in 2024