Michael Cobb PhD FRICS (10 September 1916 – 23 June 2010) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer, cartographer, and railway historian who in 2003 published the monumental work ''The Railways of Great Britain: A Historical Atlas'', which set out to map and record every railway station and line in existence in Britain between 1807 and 1994. In 2008, Cobb became the oldest person ever to be awarded a PhD from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

, for his atlas.

Life

Cobb was born in 1916 at

Harrow Weald Harrow Weald is a suburban district in Greater London, England. Located about north of Harrow, Harrow Weald is formed from a leafy 1930s suburban development along with ancient woodland of Harrow Weald Common. It forms part of the London Boro ...

and attended Harrow School and read Mechanical Sciences at Magdalene College, Cambridge. On taking his degree in 1938, Cobb joined the Royal Engineers and in 1940 participated in the Battle of France and the Dunkirk evacuation. For the rest of the war, Cobb served with an airborne commando force, but he was never deployed in combat, his troopship being sunk in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

en route to the

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in 1944. After the war he served in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

before becoming superintendent of the

Royal School of Military Survey Royal School of Military Survey (DCI RSMS) is a joint services survey training facility associated with the Corps of Royal Engineers (RE) but attached to the United Kingdom Defence Intelligence and Security Centre (DISC). History The Royal Sc ...

. He retired in 1965 as a colonel and spent some years as a professional cartographer before becoming fully retired in 1971. Cobb had been a lifelong railway enthusiast, and in 1978 he set about creating the most detailed study of the history and geography of British railways ever attempted. For 18 years he researched and wrote his atlas, completing it in 1996 and getting it published in 2003. The book went through two editions, and with the support of Magdalene College, Cobb submitted his research for a PhD and was accepted, receiving his doctorate in 2008. A third edition was published in 2015. His work has been highly praised, the head of Cambridge's geography faculty describing it as "a remarkable piece of scholarship . . . It's not just of interest to the enthusiast, but a vital tool for anyone seriously interested in the economy, geography and history of Great Britain. There's nothing like it." Cobb died on 23 June 2010, survived by three sons.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cobb, Michael 1916 births People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge 2010 deaths British Army personnel of World War II Royal Engineers officers English historians Rail transport writers English surveyors Railway historians