Walter Willson Cobbett | |
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| Born | 11 July 1847 Blackheath, England |
| Died | 22 January 1937 (aged 89) London, England |
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| Spouse | Ada Florence (née Sells) |
Walter Willson Cobbett CBE (11 July 1847 – 22 January 1937) was an English businessman, amateur violinist and an influential patron of British chamber music from the decade before World War I until his death in 1937. He was an innovative and astute businessman with an enthusiasm for the composition and performance of chamber music. Cobbett's business successes enabled him to focus on his musical interests from about 1905.
Cobbett sponsored a series of competitions for the composition of new chamber music works by British composers and endowed the Cobbett Medal for services to chamber music. He devised and encouraged the adaption of a short musical form called a 'phantasy'. He compiled and edited the two-volume Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music, published in 1929, a comprehensive review of the musical genre.