Freeman Cobb (10 October 1830 – 24 May 1878)[1] was an American, born inBrewster, Massachusetts, who established theCobb & Co stagecoach company in 1853, with partnersJohn Murray Peck, James Scanlon andJohn B. Lamber. The company was based inMelbourne,Victoria,Australia, and usedConcord coaches, imported from America, to provide services to and from the Victorian goldfields.
Cobb was born on 10 October 1803 inBrewster, Massachusetts. He was the son of Hannah (née Crosby) and Freeman Cobb senior.[1]
Cobb was educated inBoston. At the age of 16 he joined Witherell, Stow & Wood, adry goods firm, with whom he worked for three years. In 1849, he joinedAdams & Company, an express delivery firm, and was employed on the company'scoach lines in California and Central America.[1]
In 1853, following theVictorian gold rush, Cobb was sent toMelbourne to set up a branch of Adams & Company. In partnership with several other Americans, he instead established his own carrying firm,Cobb & Co, using twoConcord coaches 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"[1]
In 1871, Cobb took his family toSouth Africa 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 betweenPort Elizabeth and the new diamond fields atKimberley. Cobb died atPort Elizabeth in 1878.[1]
In 1858, Cobb married his cousin Annette Cobb, with whom he had one son and one daughter. He suffered a bout ofrheumatic fever as a young man which left him "permanently lame".[1]
Cobb was the model for "Chris Cobb", lead character of the Australian TV seriesWhiplash, which premiered onChannel Seven on 18 February 1961, and starredPeter Graves as Cobb.[2]
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