Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

General Service 1962-2007, 2 clasps, South Arabia, Northern Ireland, unofficial retaining rod between clasps (Capt. R. C. Hobbs. Glosters.) edge bruise, toned, nearly extremely fine, first clasp rare to unit £300-400

Richard Christopher Hobbs was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Gloucestershire Regiment on 18 December 1959, and was promoted Lieutenant on 18 December 1961, and Captain on 18 December 1965. Having undertaken a foreign language course in Aden, he served on attachment during the operations in South Arabia on attachment to the Federal Regular Army (the successor force to the Aden Protectorate Levies) from 1965-67, before returning to his parent unit in 1967. After two years spent as a General Staff Officer, 51 Brigade Headquarters, Hong Kong, from 1969-71, he returned to the 1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, and served as Commanding Officer of ‘B’ Company in Northern Ireland from October 1971, being promoted Major on 4 July 1972.

Hobbs’ tour in Northern Ireland was tough. Arriving four months after the introduction of Internment, and four days after the massacre at McGurk’s Bar in Belfast, the Regiment took up positions around the Lower Falls District in Belfast, and settled into the routine of soldiering in Northern Ireland: the detection and arrest of suspects; the seizure of hidden caches of arms and explosives; and dealing with shootings, armed robberies, explosions, and false alarms on a daily basis. The I.R.A. bombing of the Balmoral Furnishing Company in Belfast on 10 December 1971 resulted in 19 injured and 4 killed, and one Gloucestershire Regiment soldier described the aftermath, ‘It was just like the blitz all over again. It was absolutely horrifying.’
On 30 January 1972, following the events of ‘Bloody Sunday’ in Londonderry, the tempo of violence dramatically increased, and at the end of March the situation had deteriorated to the extent that Direct Rule was imposed from Westminster. The Glosters tour of Belfast came to an end on 12 April 1972- during their tour they had arrested and detained 107 suspects, captured 57 weapons and 6000 rounds of ammunition, and 125 pounds of explosives.

In the summer of 1972 Hobbs moved with the Battalion to Minden. He subsequently held various staff and administration jobs in Germany, before retiring on 2 April 1977.

Sold with a group photographic image of “B” Company, 1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment in West Belfast, 1972, featuring the recipient.