Freeman Cobb (10 October 1830 – 24 May 1878)
/ref> was an American, born in

Brewster, Massachusetts Brewster is a New England town, town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod. The population of Brewster was 10,318 at the 2020 census. Initially settled in 1659, the Town of Brewster ...

, who established the

Cobb & Co Cobb & Co was the name used by several independent Australian coach businesses. The first company to use 'Cobb & Co' was established in 1853 by American Freeman Cobb and his partners. The name grew to great prominence in the late 19th century, ...

stagecoach company in 1853, with partners John Murray Peck, James Scanlon and John B. Lamber. The company was based in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and used

Concord coach The Concord coach was an American horse-drawn coach, often used as stagecoaches, mailcoaches, and hotel coaches. The term was first used for the coaches built by coach-builder J. Stephen Abbot and wheelwright Lewis Downing of the Abbot-Downing C ...

es, imported from America, to provide services to and from the Victorian goldfields.

Early life

Cobb was born on 10 October 1803 in

. He was the son of Hannah (née Crosby) and Freeman Cobb senior. Cobb was educated in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. At the age of 16 he joined Witherell, Stow & Wood, a

dry goods Dry goods is a historic term describing the type of product line a store carries, which differs by region. The term comes from the textile trade, and the shops appear to have spread with the mercantile trade across the British Empire (and Common ...

firm, with whom he worked for three years. In 1849, he joined Adams & Company, an express delivery firm, and was employed on the company's

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

lines in California and Central America.

Australia

In 1853, following the

Victorian gold rush The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia, approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony and an influx of population growth and financial capi ...

, Cobb was sent to

to set up a branch of Adams & Company. In partnership with several other Americans, he instead established his own carrying firm,

, using two

es which he had brought with him from the United States. Although he only lived in Australia for three years, "his name has passed into the Australian language as a synonym for a coach" and he was known for "his enterprise in introducing the latest American methods and equipment into the coaching industry of Victoria when the gold rushes had created a vast demand for passenger transport"

South Africa

In 1871, Cobb took his family to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

to establish a Cobb & Co Ltd stagecoach service with Charles Cole, who had operated Cobb & Co coaches in New Zealand and Japan. The new company started operating between

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

and the new diamond fields at

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

. Cobb died at

in 1878.

Personal life

In 1858, Cobb married his cousin Annette Cobb, with whom he had one son and one daughter. He suffered a bout of

rheumatic fever Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammation#Disorders, inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a Streptococcal pharyngitis, streptococcal throat infection. Si ...

as a young man which left him "permanently lame".

In popular culture

Cobb was the model for "Chris Cobb", lead character of the Australian TV series '' Whiplash'', which premiered on Channel Seven on 18 February 1961, and starred

Peter Graves Peter Graves (born Peter Duesler Aurness; March 18, 1926 – March 14, 2010) was an American actor who portrayed Jim Phelps in the television series ''Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series), Mission: Impossible'' from 1967 to 1973 and in its reviv ...

as Cobb.

References

1830 births 1878 deaths American emigrants People from the Colony of Victoria American transportation businesspeople 19th-century Australian businesspeople 19th-century American businesspeople {{Australia-business-bio-stub