Edward Cobb

Who was Edward Cobb?

Edward Charles Cobb was an English Conservative Party politician. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Preston at a by-election in 1936, and held the seat until he stood down at the 1945 general election.

Cobb was the third son of George Arthur Cobb of Lively Island in the Falkland Islands. Educated at St Pauls School and at Royal Military College Sandhurst, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Northamptonshire Regiment in 1911. He served in the Cameroons Expeditionary Force and during the First World War in the British Expeditionary Force 1914-16. He was awarded the DSO in 1916 and retired from the army in 1924. He married Gladys Ryder, daughter of H. J. King of Poles in Hertfordshire. A member of the London County Council 1925-34, he was chairman of the Education Committee 1932-34. He also served as a Justice of the Peace for Sussex.

As an MP, Cobb served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Harold Balfour 1938-39, then to Oliver Stanley 1939-40 and to Leo Amery 1940-41. After nine years as MP for Preston, he relocated in 1945 and unsuccessfully contested the Eton and Slough division of Buckinghamshire. He was again defeated in Eton and Slough in February 1950.