ABSTRACT
Richard and Catherine Cobden had eight children, but only five of them were to survive to adulthood. The family were particularly traumatised by the loss of Dick Cobden, who died at school in Germany, and by Richard Cobden's premature death at the age of 60 in 1865. It was Jane who was particularly active in maintaining her father's legacy. Her support for the Irish land reformers led Thomas Bayley Potter to write to her claiming that 'You are true to the living and just instincts of your father. You know your father's heart better than John Bright does'. Both Richard and Kate Cobden were authoritative in shaping the political views and activism of their daughters, who provided a fitting legacy to Cobden's memory in the new environment of the late nineteenth century. Cobden, like many active politicians in this period, relied on his wife to manage his political, electoral and business affairs during his absences in London and abroad.
