John Hobson (politician)

Sir John Gardiner Sumner Hobson, OBE, TD, PC, QC (18 April 1912 – 4 December 1967) was a British Conservative Party politician.


Sir John Hobson

OBE TD PC QC
Attorney General for England and Wales
In office
16 July 1962  16 October 1964
Prime MinisterHarold Macmillan
Sir Alec Douglas-Home
Preceded bySir Reginald Manningham-Buller
Succeeded bySir Elwyn Jones
Solicitor General for England and Wales
In office
8 February 1962  19 July 1962
Prime MinisterHarold Macmillan
Preceded bySir Jocelyn Simon
Succeeded bySir Peter Rawlinson
Member of Parliament
for Warwick and Leamington
In office
7 March 1957  4 December 1967
Preceded bySir Anthony Eden
Succeeded byDudley Smith
Personal details
Born
John Gardiner Sumner Hobson

18 April 1912
Melton Mowbray
Died4 December 1967
CitizenshipBritish
Political partyConservative
EducationHarrow
Alma materBrasenose College, Oxford

Life and career

Hobson was born in Melton Mowbray, the son of an officer in the 12th Royal Lancers. Hobson was educated at Harrow and Brasenose College, Oxford, graduating with a second-class degree in History in 1934. Hobson was called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1938. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1957, and was Recorder of Northampton from 1958 to 1962. During World War II he served with the Northamptonshire Yeomanry, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel. For his military service, he was appointed OBE and mentioned in dispatches.[1]

He was first elected to the House of Commons at a 1957 by-election in the Warwick and Leamington constituency, caused by the resignation due to ill-health of the Conservative MP and former Prime Minister, Anthony Eden. He held the seat at the next three general elections. In 1959 Hobson represented suspected serial-killer Dr John Bodkin Adams in his failed attempt to be reinstated as a doctor.[2]

He was appointed Solicitor General in 1962, receiving the customary knighthood, and serving in that post for five months before taking over as Attorney General until the Conservatives lost the 1964 general election. In 1962 he led the prosecution of the spy John Vassall. He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1963.

He approved the “sordid deal” whereby Anthony Blunt was given immunity from prosecution [3]

He died in 1967, aged 55, of an undiagnosed brain tumour.

References

  1. Fletcher-Cooke, Charles. "Hobson, Sir John Gardiner Sumner (1912–1967)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33910. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. Furneaux, Robert, Famous Criminal Cases VI, 1960 Pages 24-25
  3. Historian who brought Anthony Blunt to book The Times 4-July-2020
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Anthony Eden
Member of Parliament for Warwick and Leamington
19571967
Succeeded by
Dudley Smith
Legal offices
Preceded by
Jocelyn Simon
Solicitor General for England and Wales
February 1962–July 1962
Succeeded by
Peter Rawlinson
Preceded by
Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller
Attorney General for England and Wales
1962–1964
Succeeded by
Sir Elwyn Jones


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