Directory of Early Photographers in Suffolk - Studio Notes - William Cobb Leaves Ipswich

[Transcript of a notice found by David Gobbitt in The Ipswich Journal, 26th December 1868]

VALEDICTORY. – We are always sorry to see a fellow townsman leave Ipswich, and our regret is, of course, greatly enhanced when the gentleman happens to be one who by skill, or enterprise, or energy has added anything to our stock of knowledge or elevated the position of the town in relation to any one of the arts. We have many men who have made Ipswich somewhat famous for photography, and to no one are we more indebted for whatever eminence we have attained in that art than to Mr. William Cobb, whose residence and studio has for many years formed a prominent feature at the entrance to the town at the junction of the London and Norwich Roads, and whose photographs, especially those of landscapes, are to be found in every cultivated home in the county. Mr Cobb was for many years assistant to the late Mr. R. D. Alexander, who had for some time a private photographic studio, and he was remarkable for the excellence he attained in the production of landscape sketches and little trifles illustrating familiar incidents of domestic life. His portraits are also remarkable for the correctness of their accessory arrangements, clearness, and faithfulness. As a townsman, Mr. Cobb was always ready to assist any public institution in getting up a soirée, and he was the first to illustrate to an Ipswich public the method of taking portraits or exhibiting pictures by the magnesium light. Mr. Cobb is now leaving the town for London, where he enters upon another business, as the action of the chemicals employed in photography has so seriously impaired his health that he has been obliged to abandon pursuit of the art entirely. We are sure that the best wishes of his townsmen will attend him in his new sphere.

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