Ralph Hobday

Ralph Hobday OBE (September 1899 – October 1975) was a British architect who worked for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.[1]

The Brookwood Memorial, built in 1958 and designed by Ralph Hobday

Career

Hobday joined the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in 1944, became Senior Architect in 1956, and retired from the Commission in 1975.[1]

Works

His works include:

Cemeteries

• Ambon War Cemetery on Ambon Island, Indonesia[2][3]
• Jakara War Cemetery in Menteng Pulo, Jakarta, Indonesia[4][5]
• Shelters and entrance gates at Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery, Hoy, Orkney, Scotland[1]

Memorials

• The Brookwood Memorial in Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey, England. Unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II in 1958,[6][7] it commemorates 3,428 Commonwealth men and women who died during the Second World War and have no known grave.[8][9]
• A war memorial in the form of an obelisk, which was placed in 1961 by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission opposite the World War II war graves plot at Willesden Jewish Cemetery in London.[10] The first national Jewish war memorial in the UK, it is Grade II listed.[11][12]

Hobday was appointed Officer in the Order of the British Empire in the 1959 Birthday Honours.[13]

References

1. "Hobday, Ralph". CWGC Archive Catalogue. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
2. "Ambon War Cemetery and Ambon Memorial". World War Two Cemeteries. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
3. "Ambon War Cemetery". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
4. "Jakarta War Cemetery". World War Two Cemeteries. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
5. "Jakarta War Cemetery". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
6. "Brookwood memorial to the missing". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
7. "On Her Majesty The Queen's 93rd birthday we look back at when she attended the unveiling of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Brookwood 1939–1945 Memorial in October 1958. Seen here accompanied by Mr Ralph Hobday, the memorial's architect". Commonwealth War Graves Commission on Facebook. 21 April 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
8. "Brookwood 1939–1945 memorial". Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
9. "1939-45 Memorial to the Missing". War Memorials Online. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
10. "Willesden Jewish Cemetery". Cemetery details. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
11. Historic England. "War Memorial, Willesden Jewish Cemetery (1449842)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
12. "Willesden Jewish Cemetery Cenotaph". War Memorials Online. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
13. UK list: "No. 41727". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 June 1959. p. 3710.