Alan Ridge Cobcroft (died 5 September 1955) was a Western Samoan planter and politician.

Biography

Cobcroft was the son of parents from the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

suburb of Summer Hill.Samoan elections
''

Pacific Islands Monthly ''Pacific Islands Monthly'', commonly referred to as "PIM", was a magazine founded in 1930 in Sydney by New Zealand born journalist R.W. Robson. Background ''Pacific Islands Monthly'' was started in Sydney in 1930. The first issue ran in August ...

'', December 1932, pp38–39 He attended

Sydney Grammar School Sydney Grammar School (SGS, colloquially known as Grammar) is an independent, non-denominational day school for boys, located in Sydney, Australia. Incorporated in 1854 by an Act of Parliament and opened in 1857, the school claims to offer "c ...

and represented the school in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, rowing and running. He also played for Newtown in the Sydney Rugby Premiership as a full-back. After leaving school, he moved to Fiji in 1907 to work on the sugar plantations of C.S.R. He moved to Western Samoa in 1911 to manage Papaseea Plantations, and became manager of the Mulifanua Coconut Plantation during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. After a brief stint working in the

Territory of New Guinea The Territory of New Guinea was an Australian-administered League of Nations and then United Nations trust territory on the island of New Guinea from 1914 until 1975. In 1949, the Territory and the Territory of Papua were established in an adm ...

, he returned to Western Samoa and established his own cocoa plantation. He became President of the Planters Association and Vice President of Apia Turf Club. Cobcroft contested the

1932 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1932. Asia * 1932 Japanese general election Europe * 1932 Irish general election * 1932 Swedish general election * 1932 Estonian parliamentary election * 1932 French legislative election * 1932 Belgian ...

to the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

with the support of the Chamber of Commerce and the Planters' Association. He was elected alongside his brother-in-law Irving Carruthers. He unexpectedly lost his seat in the 1935 elections, receiving the fewest votes of the four candidates running for the two seats. The following year he was amongst the founders of the United Progressive Party, becoming its first chairman. He died on 5 September 1955 in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

at the age of 70.Deaths of islands people
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', September 1955, p141

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cobcroft, Alan Politicians from Sydney People educated at Sydney Grammar School Australian emigrants to Samoa 20th-century Samoan businesspeople Members of the Legislative Council of Samoa 1955 deaths