{"id":527,"date":"2014-11-05T16:34:21","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T16:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plattwarmemorial.org\/?page_id=527"},"modified":"2024-10-03T11:25:48","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T11:25:48","slug":"walter-frederick-hoblyn-1893-1915","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/world-war-one\/walter-frederick-hoblyn-1893-1915\/","title":{"rendered":"Walter Frederick Hoblyn (1893 &#8211; 1915)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-1 fusion-sep-none fusion-title-text fusion-title-size-three\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:31px;margin-left:0px;\"><h3 class=\"title-heading-left fusion-responsive-typography-calculated\" style=\"margin:0;--fontSize:24;line-height:1.5;\">Lt Walter Frederick Hoblyn (1893 &#8211; 1915)<\/h3><\/div><span class=\" fusion-imageframe imageframe-dropshadow imageframe-1 hover-type-zoomin\" style=\"-webkit-box-shadow: 3px 3px 7px rgba(0,0,0,0.3);box-shadow: 3px 3px 7px rgba(0,0,0,0.3);margin-right:25px;float:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/walter_frederick_hoblyn.jpg\" class=\"fusion-lightbox\" data-rel=\"iLightbox[7de8ef0fe5e2549c61e]\" data-title=\"Walter Frederick Hoblyn (1893 &#8211; 1915)\" title=\"Walter Frederick Hoblyn (1893 &#8211; 1915)\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"204\" height=\"300\" src=\"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/walter_frederick_hoblyn-204x300.jpg\" alt class=\"img-responsive wp-image-531\" srcset=\"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/walter_frederick_hoblyn-204x300.jpg 204w, http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/walter_frederick_hoblyn-640x939.jpg 640w, http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/walter_frederick_hoblyn.jpg 681w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 204px) 100vw, 204px\" \/><\/a><\/span><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Walter Frederick Hoblyn was the youngest son of Charles Dennis Hoblyn, a London Stockbroker, and his wife, Lizzie Emily Taylor. He was born on 7 March 1893 in Paddington, London and educated at Lambrook School in Bracknell before attending Marlborough College between 1906 and 1911.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">When war with Germany broke out in the summer of 1914, Walter worked as a railway official on Ecuador&#8217;s Guayaquil and Quito Railway. He made immediate plans to return to the UK, disembarking from the\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">SS Trent<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0in London on 23 December. Before the war, his family had taken up residence in Warren Wood, Wrotham Heath &#8211; an address Walter gave when <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">he<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> visited the <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Dukes<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Road recruiting office in London a week after his arrival. He joined the 2\/28th Battalion, The London Regiment (Artists Rifles) and <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">was sent<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> for training at the Richmond Park Camp in Roehampton.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">3087 Pte. W. F. Hoblyn quickly rose to the rank of lance sergeant and, as a previous member of the OTC (Officer Training Corps) at Marlborough, was among those selected for an officer commission during the early summer of 1915. He was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant on 30 June and reported for duty in Windsor with No.2 Company, 4th Battalion Coldstream Guards (Pioneers) <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">which<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> had been re-designated from a reserve battalion. As such, their new role would have been in the construction of field works, the maintenance and repair of\u00a0roads and approaches to the immediate front, and assisting the Royal Engineers; however, <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">they could also be called<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> upon to fight when required.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">On 15 August, after several more weeks of training, the Pioneers marched out of camp and entrained for Southampton, where they embarked on board the\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">La Marguerite<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and sailed for France. On arrival in Le Havre, the battalion numbered 1,027 men and travelled by train to join the Guards Division, which had been forming southwest of St. Omer at Lumbres. Walter&#8217;s company detrained on the 18th and billeted at Wavrans, where they began a further period of field training<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, the<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> main thrust\u00a0consisted of four hours of digging trenches in either the morning or afternoon, interspersed with\u00a0long route marches.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Two weeks later, during the afternoon of 1 September, the battalion marched to the village of Cl\u00e9ty (south of St. Omer), where they immediately began constructing a line of new trenches, working\u00a0up to eight hours a day over three weeks. On 23 September, they were attached to the 2nd Guards Brigade and began making their way towards Loos, where they <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">were tasked<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> with <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">providing support for<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> the Guards Division in an impending attack.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The first part of the march from Cl\u00e9ty to Cottes took about seven hours, with the men afforded a day&#8217;s rest before heading off the following morning towards the village of Haillicourt, southeast of B\u00e9thune. The battalion\u00a0arrived at Haillicourt at\u00a01:15 am on the 26th and <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">was assigned<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> to the 3rd Guards Brigade; however, it was not long before they were\u00a0on the move again and marched for a further six hours to Noyelles-les-Vermelles. Walter\u00a0had been on the road\u00a0for over 48 hours when he\u00a0eventually reached\u00a0the\u00a0front lines and arrived just as\u00a0three brigades of Guardsmen advanced on an objective east of Loos known as Hill 70. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">With no time to rest, the Coldstream quickly\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">found themselves rebuilding trenches and reinforcing<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> fortifications.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> On the 27th, <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Walter&#8217;s company was sent<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> after dark to assist the 3rd Brigade in consolidating their position on the hill. Two days later, the Pioneers\u00a0took over the reserve trenches east of Vermelles and were relieved by the Northamptons the following day, with 1, 2 and 3 Companies selected to remain behind for several hours and strengthen the defences for the incoming Division.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">During the night of the 30th, while out repairing the wire with his platoon near Vermelles Water Tower, Walter was spotted by the Germans and shot in the spine. He <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">was evacuated<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> to No.18 Casualty Clearing Station near Lapugnoy, where he died of his wounds at 7:15 pm on 1 October.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Walter <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">is buried<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> in the Lapugnoy Military Cemetery and, in addition to being commemorated on the Platt War Memorial, is also remembered on the Marlborough College Roll of Honour.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Photograph of Walter Hoblyn courtesy of Richard Hoblyn.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":53,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-527","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8859,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/527\/revisions\/8859"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}