The Rt Hon Sir John Gardiner Sumner Hobson OBE TD QC PC MP

  General Notes:

Educated Harrow where he was Head of School, and a Governor of the school from 1962. In 1931 went to Brasenose College, Oxford to read History. On coming down he worked for a year with Imperial Tobacco Company in Liverpool as a trainee.

Afterwards he was elected to an entrance scholarship to the Inner Temple. He passed his exams after two years instead of the usual three and in most of them he gained Distinction. He was called to the Bar in 1938. At the outbreak of war he joined the Northamptonshire Yeomanry, and was with the British Expeditionary Force in France in 1940, returning home from Dunkirk. In 1942 he went with the First Army to North Africa.

From 1943 to 45 he served with HQ 21st Army Group reaching the rank of Lieutenenant Colonel and being mentioned in dispatches. On return to civilian life, he and Beryl moved to Cogenhoe, a village south of Northampton. He returned to the bar specialising in common law and criminal proceedings. He was Chairman of the Board of both Rutland and Bedford Quarter Sessions and was Recorder of Northampton. He took silk in 1957, the year in which he entered Parliament. He was selected to fight a by-election at Warwick and Leamington following the resignation of Sir Anthony Eden after Suez. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Lord Alport, the then Minister of State for Commonwealth Relations.

At the age of 49, he became Solicitor General. In 1961 he surprised the Conservative Party Conference at Brighton with some terse remarks about hanging, finishing with the words 'if you want to go back to that pre-Christian, condemned doctrine, by all means do so'. He became Attorney-General in Macmillan's sweeping Government changes of July 1962 and held the office until the Government fell in 1964. He was one of the five Ministers who vetted John Profumo's personal statement to the House denying any impropriety in his relationship with Christine Keeler. He prosecuted Vassal who was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment after pleading guilty to four charges under the Official Secrets Act. After this trial, he played a major part as Attorney General in the Radcliffe Tribunal which was set up as a result of the Vassal affair, and which led to the imprisonment of two journalists for refusing to name
sources of information.

The Enharo case the following year drew him into the unprecedented position of being 'reported for professional misconduct' to the Inner Temple by a fellow-bencher, Reginald Paget, Labour MP for Northampton. The Master found that complaints were unfounded but it was a long and worrying wait until the Masters' statement was given. In Opposition he identified himself with 'home office' affairs, and during his parliamentary career was secretary of the Home Affairs Committee of Conservative backbenchers, a member of the Royal Commission on the Police, a member of the Executive Committee of Justice and a member of the Home Secretary's Advisory Committee on the Treatment of Offenders.

He was a capable speaker at the dispatch box, rarely dramatic or compelling, almost always serious in manner and cautious, carefully choosing his words and arguments in a way that invariably commanded attention and respect. He was a lean, firm, clear and unpretentious advocate.

His industry as principle legal advisor to Edward Heath was prodigious. Hardly a Bill did not go directly or indirectly through his hands for legal analysis. It was said that no Conservative had sought his legal advice in the political field in vain. Much of what he he had to tell Parliament, he know, would be boring, but he did it in a half humerous, half deprecatory manner which endeared him to the house, according to the Telegraph Parliamentary Sketch writer.

His understanding of the complex art of the parliamentary draughtsman was the result of years of assiduous study of law and parliamentary procedure and practice. Those who knew him personally recognised that his somewhat stringent manner concealed a warm friendly nature and a lively sense of humour. His loyalty to his friends and his ideals were profound and unmistakeable. One of his ideals was the reform of the law but his suspicion of idealistic enthusiasm led him to discipline his own. None the less many of the reforming measures put through by the Conservative Administration in the field of law reform during his term as Attorney General went through with his guidance and support.

He never faltered in his faith in the excellence of British justice and never tired in trying to discover ways of improving the law and its procedures. He was devoted to the Bar, believed in its future as a seperate branch of the legal profession and enjoyed, as often as the pressures of his work allowed, what Stanley Baldwin called "the pleasures of the Temple".

He had been chairman of both Rutland and Bedfordshire Quarter sessions and Recorder of Northampton, For six years after the war he was a member of the General Council of the Bar.

He loved country life and hunted regularly with the Heythrop. He and Betsy Muir shared Tulliemet, one of Ian Atholl's shooting lodges where he supplied the wine while Betsy and Beryl took care of domestic matters. Hungarian 'Bull's Blood' was one of his favourites for the young. Even while on holiday he still spent long hours at his red boxes and even sometimes had to go South in the middle of August. He enjoyed gardens and gardening but I only really remember him in 'hands on mode' attending to the strawberries! Even in the house he was not exactly domesticated. When we moved from Cogenhoe to Hereford Square in London the only interest he took in the move was to personally take charge of the port. This he drove in his car ensuring the bottles remained the same way up until carefully installed in their new cellar. Unfortunately a cleaner decided while he was in Scotland that they were very dusty, took them out and gave them a good clean. Beryl never dared tell him what had happened. In Who's Who he listed his Recreations as Field sports, fine arts and Happy Families!

John married Lady Beryl Marjorie Johnson, daughter of (Arthur)Stuart Johnson and Marjorie Settle, on 9 Dec 1939 in Chester Cathedral.³ (Lady Beryl Marjorie Johnson was born on 24 Jul 1919,³ died on 17 May 2004 in Cheltenham Hospital, Gloucestershire ³ and was buried in Wappenham, Towcester, Northants.)