John Storer Cobb

John Storer Cobb

John Storer Cobb

John Storer Cobb was one of the founders of the Theosophical Society. He was sometimes addressed as "Dr. Cobb" due to his Doctor of Laws degree.

Personal life and career

John Storer Cobb was born around 1838 as the son of John Saxilby Cobb and his wife Harriet in Strood, Kent, England. On July 5, 1862, he married Annette Smith at Holy Trinity, Lambeth, London.

Cobb studied law in both England and the United States. He first attended King's College London, then his LL.D. degree was conferred by Columbia College in New York in 1875.

Theosophical Society activities

Mr. Cobb was among the group who were present for the founding of the Theosophical Society in New York on September 7, 1875. He served as the first Recording Secretary from October 30, 1875 to 1877, and then Treasurer from 1877-1879.

Henry Steel Olcott wrote that Cobb was involved in the formation of the British Theosophical Society in London, later called the London Lodge, on June 27, 1878: "This, our first Branch, was finally organised on June 27, by Dr. J. Storer Cobb, LL.D., Treasurer of the T. S., whose visit to London at the time was availed of to make him my official agent for this purpose."

After this work, Cobb's relationships with Col. Olcott and Helena Petrovna Blavatsky declined:

On his return at the end of August 1878, he stayed with Colonel Olcott and H.P.B. for almost a month before leaving — a departure that, as Colonel Olcott says left “the house peaceful and happy.” This sojourn seems to have marred his relations with H.P.B., and after her departure for India in December 1878 Cobb’s name is heard no more in Theosophical circles.

Theosophical historian Josephine Ransom had little to say of him:

He was sent as Presidential Agent, by the Council in New York, to assist in the foundation of the British Theosophical Society of the Arya Samaj of Aryavarta, 1878. He lost interest and disappeared.

Work in support of cremation

Mr. Cobb was president of the New England Cremation Society. He wrote books and articles advocating cremation, and made an address to the society that was widely quoted:

An address to the New England Cremation Society by its president, Mr. John Storer Cobb, has been printed in pamphlet form, with the title The Torch and the Tomb. Mr. Cobb cites many instances in which the decomposition of buried bodies has caused disease by polluting water-supplies, by contaminating the air that passes over cemeteries, or by allowing the escape of bacteria into the overlying soil in cases of deaths from infectious disease. He also shows the lack of foundation for the current objections to cremation, and quotes the enthusiastic approval of this process expressed by a clergyman who prejudice had been completely removed by witnessing the incineration of a friend's remains. The society was organized in January, 1891, and Dr. W. H. Wescott, P. O. box 2,436, Boston, is its general secretary.

Writings and editorial work

Dr. Cobb was the co-editor with Henry Willard Austin of a socialist journal, The Nationalist, 1889-1891. He also edited New Era, a publication for Reformed Jews, He also wrote articles for periodicals, and wrote or translated several books.

Cremation

• A Quartercentury of Cremation in North America: Being a Report of Progress in the United States and Canada for the Last Quarter of the Nineteenth Century; to which Have Been Added, as an Afterthought, a Few Words about the Advance in Europe During the Same Period. Boston: Knight and Millet, 1901. 189 pages. Available from Google Books and Hathitrust.
• New Views of Reincarnation and Karma. Boston: The New England Cremation Society, 1891.
• The Torch and the Tomb. Boston: The New England Cremation Society, 1891. Pamphlet.

Other works

• Anna Steiniger, a Biographical Sketch: In Which Is Contained a Suggestion of the Clark-Steiniger System of Pianoforte Playing. 1886. Available at Hathitrust. Translated into Italian. Spanish, Afrikaans, and other languages.
• On the Derivatives of Mesityle. 1867.

Translations from German

Cobb translated several works from the German language. Many of his versions of Goethe's poetry have been included in anthologies.

• Poetical works of J.W. von Goethe. Boston, F.A. Niccolls & Company, 1902. Two volumes. Available at Hathitrust and Internet Archive.
• The Nibelungenlied. Boston: Small, Maynard & Co., 1906. Mary Cobb, editor. Available from Internet Archive.
• Reynard the Fox: An Early Apologue of Renown. Boston: Damrell & Upman, 1899. This is a translation from the German by Cobb of a work by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Additional resources

• Deveney, John Patrick, "D.E. de Lara, John Storer Cobb, and The New Era" Theosophical History 15 no.4 (October, 2011): 27-33.
• Herndon, Richard. Men of progress, one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston: New England Magazine, 1896. 1027 pages. Includes an article about John Storer Cobb.
• Transactions of the New England Cremation Society. Boston: T.W.P. Ripley, 1893. Available at Google Books.
• "The Nationalist (United States)" at Wikipedia.