Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Second Lieutenant R. H. Hobern, Devonshire Regiment, late Gloucestershire Regiment, who served post-Armistice with the Graves Registration Unit

British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. R. H. Hobern.) better than good very fine (2) £80-£100

Roland Henry Hobern was born in Clapton, London, on 24 August 1898. Educated at Bournemouth School, his Officer Service Papers note that he witnessed initial home service at Lance Corporal in the 3rd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, before being appointed to a commission with the 3rd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment, in June 1918. Posted to France, he was attached on 26 November 1919 to the 86th Labour Group at Caudry, near Cambrai, and spent approximately six months serving with “B” Company of the Graves Registration Unit.

During the war, burial parties were perceived as essential for the maintenance of morale. With macabre humour, the Corps burial officers gained nicknames from the troops such as ‘the body snatcher’ and ‘cold meat specialist’. Post-Armistice, Hobern and his men were likely heavily engaged in identifying remains from the battlefields and liaising with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission; quite a responsibility for a young man barely 20 years of age.

Upon returning to England, Hobern took employment as passenger clerk for the Canadian Pacific Railway Company and spent the next 40 years working in various roles, including cruise director in the West Indies and Mediterranean. Recorded in the 1939 Census of England as a shipping clerk stationed at Southampton and living at 21 Morris Road, Hobern served as an A.R.P Warden at All Saint’s Ward No. 9, Post 3, and was present throughout the Southampton Blitz. This included two devastating daytime raids on 24 and 26 September 1940, which targeted the Supermarine works and killed 110 people. Another on 6 November 1940 targeted the City’s Civic Centre, killing 35 people including 15 children in an art lesson. Further attacks led to the destruction of All Saint’s, Holyrood and St. Mary’s churches, with the A.R.P. wardens heavily engaged in digging civilians from the rubble. Contemporary accounts relating to Southampton at this time note that the firestorm could be seen from as far away as Cherbourg.