Passchendaele 29 October 1917. Frank Hurley.
Australian War Memorial A.N. E01220
Second Lieutenant Reginald George Hobbs
11th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps
Killed in Action
Date of Birth: 1883
Place of Birth: Shaldon, Devon
Date of Death: 20th September 1917 in Langemark, Belgium, aged 33
Buried: Cement House Cemetry, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal
2nd Lieutenant Reginald (Reg) George Hobbs age 33. Born in Shaldon in 1883, only son of Harry and Mary Hobbs, Teignmouth.
In 1891 was living with his parents and sister in Daimond’s Lane.
By 1901 he was with his family in Belgrade Terrace, Teignmouth and was listed as a pupil teacher. In 1911 Reg was an assistant master in Epping, Essex, he was single.
Enlisting with the London Regiment, Queen’s Westminster Rifles as a private, service number 4353, he served in France landing there on 8 January 1916.
Cap Badge of the King's Royal Rifle Corps. Courtesey of C.R. Coutman
He was later gazetted 2nd Lieutenant with King’s Royal Rifle Corps on 20 June 1917 and returned to France on 17 July.
Reg was serving with 11th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps, when he was killed in action at the Battle of Menin Road Bridge on 20 September 1917. Buried in Cement House Cemetery, Belgium. Remembered on Seafront Memorial and St. Michael’s Church Memorial, Teignmouth.
Grave inscription reads: “I will ransom them from the grave and redeem them from death”.
Fell at Langemark, in the Great War, September 21st 1917, Aged 33 years
“Mr and Mrs H Hobbs, 2 Belgrave Terrace received notification of death of their only son 2nd Lt. R Hobbs who was killed on 21st September. He was at Exeter Road School and after training at St Luke's College, Exeter, was appointed assistant master at Sittingbourne, then Epping and Westcliff. Reginald joined in June 1915, served with Queen's Westminster Rifles for one year in France, and was granted a commission in King's Royal Rifle Corps. He left for France on 17 July 1917. He died from a shellburst according to a letter from his commanding officer.” Teignmouth Post - 28 September
When Reginald died on the 20 September 1917, the 11th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps was fighting in The Third Battle of Ypres.
Reginald G Hobbs commemorative certificate
Download the commemorative certificate
The Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele)
This was one of the bloodiest campaigns fought on the Western Front.
It was made up of a series of battles and attacks between 31 July to 10 November 1917.
It started to rain heavily during the afternoon of the first day of the battle.
The rain then continued, quickly turning the war-torn landscape into a quagmire, thousands of men and animals drowned in the mud.
I died in hell, They called it Passchendaele.
Soldier poet Siegfried Sassoon
Hundreds of thousands of men died on both sides.
The bodies of more than 35,000 men from the battle were never found, they were lost in the mud.
