Harrogate Herald - 7th April 1943

Mr Jack Hobkinson, of Summerbridge, a native of Starbeck and a veteran of the South African and Great Wars, has passed away in his 75th year.

It was in 1892 that Mr Hobkinson joined the regular Army, when he transferred from a volunteer regiment to the King's Royal Rifles. He served in Gibraltar, Malta and South Africa before he was discharged and placed on the reserve in 1899, having completed his seven years service. At the outbreak of the South African war he was recalled to active service and served with the 3rd Battalion of the Rifle Corps until he was taken prisoner by the Boers at Natal. Mr Hobkinson was awarded the Queen's medal with five bars and the King Edward VII medal with two bars. He was discharged once more at the close of the campaign, but rejoined the Army at the outbreak of the Great War, and served with the West Yorks Regiment. From 1915 to the end of the war he fought in France and was discharged in 1919.

Mr Hobkinson was a member of the South African War Veterans' Association and the Lower Nidderdale branch of the British Legion.