Orders, Decorations and Medals

A Great War M.C. group of four awarded to 2nd Lieutenant J. A. Hobson, 19th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, attached Machine Gun Corps, killed in action in December 1917

Military Cross, G.V.R.; 1914-15 Star (7577 Pte., R.Fus.); British War and Victory Medals (2.Lieut.) together with original post card photograph of the recipient, extremely fine (4) £400-450

M.C. London Gazette 17 December 1917, citation London Gazette 23 April 1918: ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when in command of a battery. When his machine guns were silenced by an intense barrage, they were first dismounted and placed under cover in a deep trench and the men withdrawn to shelter. When the supports were observed to be withdrawing, and it was decided to establish a strong point of defence, he at once dashed back to his battery position through a most intense barrage, and succeeded in bringing back one gun intact.’

John Alfred Hobson attested for the Public Schools Brigade, 19th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, at Bolton on 18 May 1915. He went to France on 14 November 1915 and was appointed unpaid Lance-Corporal in the field in March 1916, before returning to England to join No. 5 Officer Cadet Battalion at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant on 25 September 1916 and attached to the Machine Gun Corps, serving again in France with 175th Company M.G.C., attached to the 178th Notts & Derby Brigade. He was killed in action on 2 December 1917 and is buried in Ribecourt Cemetery, France.