JOHN PECK & SON, 7 NELSON SQUARE, SOUTHWARK S.W1
A World War II Green Leather Cloth Governmental Despatch Box C1940, the chamfered lid stamped with the insignia of King George VI and the title 'GOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE ON VALUATION FOR RATES' with the name below of the user, NEVILLE HOBSON ESQ M.C.J.P*. The brass swing handle is placed at the rear of the box for easy transport. The lock is stamped BRAMAH LONDON and is in good working order. The paper lined interior is stamped with the maker's name & address and bears a label typed with the following instructions: THIS BOX IS THE PROPRTY OF H.M. GOVERNMENT AND SHOULD BE RETURNED TO THE SECRETARY OF THE RATES (indistinct) COMMITTEE ON COMPLETION OF THE SERVICE FOR WHICH IT IS ISSUED'
Weight 2.9 kg
Dimensions 46.5 x 31 x 15.5 cm
*Neville Hobson was born on the 13th of April 1886, the third child of Charles William and Louisa Elizabeth (nee Brigham) Hobson.one of seven children.
He was educated at Beverley Grammar School and later at Bridlington Grammar School. In 1904 he passed the Intermediate exam of the Incorporated Law Society whilst articled to Dr. Aske of Woodhouse, Aske and Ferens of Hull.
In 1908 he was invited to head a branch of the Church Lad’s Brigade (C.L.B) in Beverley. He was still actively involved with the C.L.B right up until his death and received much praise and recognition, with the Brigade regularly reported on in the local press.
He was an avid and varied sportsman. He was the captain of Beverley Town Football Club and a lawn tennis and table tennis champion. He played bridge and chess, cricket and bowls, excelling in all of them.
Throughout his life Neville Hobson was an intricate part of the workings of local government with his expertise being recognised nationally. He was throughout his life a member of many boards and committees. He was the Clerk of the County Council, was given the Freedom of Beverley in 1958 and, in 1966, made Mayor of Beverley, despite not being a councillor. He was a member of the National Advisory Council on Physical Fitness for England and Wales and in 1937 was sworn in as a magistrate and in the same year was installed as a diocesan lay reader by the Archbishop of York, Dr. Temple. In 1938 he was appointed, by the Minister of Health, to serve on the Departmental Committee to consider unfairness regarding allegations made about the application of rates and valuations. Later that year the Minister of Health appointed him a member of the Railway Assessment Authority, to evaluate the undertakings of main line companies and the London Passenger Transport Board, for rating purposes. In 1940 he was made a member of the Royal Sanitary Inspectors Examination Joint Board and was a member of the Executive Council of Rural District Councils’ Association, which he would go on to be made vice-chairman and eventually chairman of. He was a member of the Royal Sanitary Institute and the vice-president on the Beverley Branch of the British Legion. During the Second World War he was the Food Executive Officer and was appointed chairman of the Beverley Retail Milk Delivery Scheme.
In later years he was to advise locally and nationally on road maintenance and the business of setting and collecting rates, even writing a paper on how to evacuate the civil population in 1939.
When war broke out in Europe in August 1914, Neville Hobson joined the 5th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment as private 1880 the very same month under Colonel Sir Mark Sykes, along with twelve other C.L.B members, after a request from Captain Pearce of the Beverley Territorials, leaving the Reverend F.W. Piggot, assistant chaplain, in charge of the C.L.B.
By November 1914 Neville was a Sergeant Major and being commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant attached to the King’s Rifle Regiment. Two years later, in June 1916 he was made a Captain and transferred to the 2/19th Battalion of the London Regiment and went to France just before the Battle of the Somme. After France he saw service in the Balkans, Egypt and Palestine, where he was promoted to the staff of the 60th Division.
During General Allenby’s campaign in Palestine Neville acted as Forward Reconnaissance Officer, being one of the first to enter the Holy City of Jerusalem, crossing the Jordan with the leading battalion. He was later mentioned in dispatches and awarded the Military Cross, along with both the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
After the war, on the 4th of February 1919 he married Sarah Kathleen “Kate” Darneley, second daughter of Mr and Mrs E.M. Darneley of Hull, at St Stephen’s Church in Hull. Together they had three children; Paul in 1921, Janice in 1922 and, in 1924, Christopher Neville, known as “Kit”.
Neville Hobson became a prolific writer, publishing eight books including legal references and inspirational pieces, some of which are still available today. He travelled the country giving lantern lectures on his war years and talks on local government.
Neville’s wife, Kate, passed away in 1965 and such was the respect in the town for Neville “MR. Beverley” Hobson that, when he himself passed away at the Nuffield Nursing Home in Hull on the 2nd of July 1975 at the age of 89, the flags of Beverley Minster and St Mary’s church, where he had been an active member all of his long life, were flown at half mast for the whole of the week. The Beverley Guardian gave over most of it’s front page to his obituary the following week and the entire back page was filled with tributes to this remarkable man.
