Douglas Rupert Cogswell was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England in 1894 and was the son of the architect Arthur Edward Cogswell (1858-1934). He was articled to his father and George Rake (1829-1883) at their practice, Rake & Cogswell, in Portsmouth. He then worked in the office of Parry, Blake & Parry. In the early 1920s he formed a partnership with his father and brother, Victor Gordon Cogswell (1891–1969), as A. E. Cogswell & Sons in Portsmouth. The two sons continued the practice with the title unchanged following the death of their father in 1934. Douglas Rupert Cogswell died in Portsmouth, Hampshire on 18 May 1979
Architectural projects by A. E. Cogswell & Sons: two churches and church alterations and restorations, St. Mark's and All Saints', 1914-15; seven public elementary schools In Portsmouth, 1880-1912; extensive alterations and additions at the Workhouse Infirmary, 1908; Portsmouth Asylum and Portsmouth Hospital, 1921-22; numerous residences; thirty-seven new public houses in Portsmouth ; over 300 alterations to licensed premises; and much brewery work, 1885- 1923. Two new cinemas, 1920-23; Carnegie Library, Portsmouth; Southdown Garage, Portsmouth; and Wilts and Dorset Garage, Salisbury. New Pumping Station, Havant, for Portsmouth Waterworks Co., 1924-25.
Nash, Andy. A. E. Cogswell: architect within a Victorian city. Portsmouth: Portsmouth Polytechnic, 1975
Who’s Who in Architecture 1923. Edited by Frederick Chatterton.London: The Architectural Press, 1923
Who’s Who in Architecture 1926. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: The Architectural Press, 1926