Edgar Francis Wanklyn Cobbold
1895-1916. Cheshire Regiment. Royal Flying Corps.
Edgar Francis Wanklyn Cobbold was born in Earls Barton, Northamptonshire. He played for Manchester FC as a forward during the last few months of peacetime rugby.
In 1914 he joined the Cheshire Regiment as a Lieutenant, and the following year joined the Royal Flying Corps to participate in the burgeoning war in the air. Soon after arriving in France, on the 12th January 1916, Cobbold was flying over Beaucamps, carrying out artillery observation with Canadian Lt Charles Valentine Geary Field. Their plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire. It dived and burst into flames. Cobbold and Field were both killed in the crash.
Cobbold is now buried at Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez, France, Grave XVI. A. 16.
SOURCES
The Cobbold Family History Trust
Great War Forums
World Rugby Museum