John Hobson (politician)

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

Life and career

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 and became a Queen's Counsel in 1957. During World War II he served with the British Army, 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, 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 died in 1967, aged 55.

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

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Hobson