General Sir Alexander Stanhope Cobbe (6 June 1870 – 29 June 1931) was a senior British Indian Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Early life
Alexander Stanhope Cobbe was born on 5 June 1870 in Nainital, Bengal Presidency, British India, the third child and second son of Lieutenant General Sir Alexander Hugh Cobbe and Emily Barbara Cobbe, née Jones. Alexander had two sisters and four brothers; of the latter two became lieutenant colonels in the British Army and one a captain in the Royal Navy. In 1881, he was a pupil at Eagle House School, Wimbledon. He went on to Wellington College and then followed his elder brother Henry Hercules Cobbe to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from where he passed out in September 1889. At the age of 19 he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the South Wales Borderers.
Military career
The highlights of Cobbe's military career can be tracked by the regular records of his promotions and deeds published in the London Gazette. In March 1892, he was promoted to lieutenant, as well as being awarded the Ashanti Medal with clasp "Kumassi".
Somaliland Campaign
In January 1902, Cobbe was granted the local rank of lieutenant colonel and appointed Commandant of the 1st (Central Africa) Battalion, King's African Rifles, and in this post, he deployed with his men to British Somaliland (now Somaliland) to take part in the Somaliland campaign or the "Mad Mullah War". had recommenced raiding and a second expedition, including Cobbe and his men, was mounted against him. On 6 October, while marching through dense bush at Erigo, the British force was ambushed and then rushed by the Dervishes. Although the north face of the square was pierced and a Maxim gun lost, the Yao Company of the Central Africa Battalion recovered the situation. The Diiriye Guure force lost some 700 men and retreated. The British force was not able to continue the pursuit, and returned to Berbera. The Maxim lost during the battle was recovered in the last campaign against Diiriye Guure in 1920, and stands in the Malawi Army's "Cobbe Barracks" in Zomba, Malawi.
Victoria Cross
It was at Erigo (or Erego) during this campaign that Cobbe was awarded his Victoria Cross.
Further campaigning
Still in British Somaliland in 1903, Cobbe was commanding a flying column ahead of the main body moving against Diiriye Guure. He had orders to secure the water supply at Wardair. Having established a zariba (a camp fortified with a thorn hedge) near Gumburu, he had cause to send forward a company of men under Lieutenant Colonel Plunkett to secure the return of a small scouting party. The company was overwhelmed by a large Dervish force and Plunkett, all his British and Indian soldiers, and most of the Central African soldiers with him were killed. It was a major disaster. Cobbe testified that he had given Plunkett strict instructions not to engage the main body of the enemy and explicitly stated that Plunkett had disobeyed his orders. Cobbe was at the final major battle of the war, Jidballi, on 10 January 1904, but seems to have attracted no mention in despatches. The Somali campaign added two clasps to his Africa General Service Medal: "Somaliland 1902–04" and "Jidballi".
As a further reward for his services, in September 1904, Cobbe was "noted for consideration of the Brevet rank of Lieutenant-Colonel on attaining the rank of Major" and in December 1907, immediately after having been promoted to the substantive rank of major, he was duly further promoted to brevet lieutenant colonel. In 1911, he was awarded the King George V's Coronation Medal.
First World War
thumb|Lieutenant General Sir Alexander Cobbe in Iraq, late 1917
Cobbe's Grade I staff posting in India lasted until June 1914 and three months later he was in France. In February 1915 Cobbe was appointed a Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster General with the temporary rank of brigadier general. In a despatch of 14 January 1915 Field Marshal Sir John French, commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, mentioned Colonel Cobbe for gallant and distinguished service in the field. A similar mention was published in June 1915 and was soon followed by the appointment of Cobbe as a Companion of the Order of the Bath. In July he succeeded Brigadier General Robert Whigham as brigadier general, general staff of Lieutenant General Sir Hubert Gough's I Corps. In November he was promoted from major to lieutenant colonel in the British Indian Army. In the following month, Cobbe was yet again mentioned in Field Marshal French's despatches for gallant and distinguished service in the field, this time in a list which also included his brother, Lieutenant Colonel H. H. Cobbe, DSO, 13th Lancers.
In February 1916, Cobbe handed over his staff job in France and in March was posted back to India as Director of Staff Duties and Military Training at Army Headquarters, the appointment specifically stating that it was a reward for "Distinguished Service in the Field". Within two months Cobbe was promoted to temporary lieutenant general, and in March 1917, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.
By this time Cobbe was in Mesopotamia (now Iraq), where he would spend the rest of the war and stay until late 1919. As the commander of III Indian Corps, and was appointed Military Secretary to the India Office in 1920.