Sir James Hobart, also known as James Hoberd and James Hubbard, (1436 – 24 February 1517) of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

became a member of

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

during

Edward IV of England Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

's reign and was appointed attorney-general and knighted during the reign of Henry VII.

Career

Hobart became a member of Lincoln's Inn during Edward IV's reign. He performed some legal services for John Mowbray, duke of Norfolk and is likely the James Hoberd who went to parliament in 1467 and 1478, representing

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

. Hobart was elected

Lent reader A reader in one of the Inns of Court in London was originally a senior barrister of the Inn who was elected to deliver a lecture or series of lectures on a particular legal topic. Two readers (known as Lent and Autumn Readers) would be elected annu ...

at his inn in 1479. Henry VII appointed him attorney-general on 1 November 1486. He then became a member of the

privy council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. Hobart was one of the men appointed to seize

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

for Henry VII and take possessions of the king and other townspeople. Hobart assumed several responsibilities in 1487. He was made

commissioner of array A commission of array was a commission given by English sovereigns to officers or gentry in a given territory to muster and array the inhabitants and to see them in a condition for war, or to put soldiers of a country in a condition for military ...

for Norfolk in April. Hobart, and others, were appointed to oversee the fisheries on the east coast. He also supervised the repair of the harbour in

Yarmouth Yarmouth may refer to: Places Canada *Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia **Yarmouth, Nova Scotia **Municipality of the District of Yarmouth **Yarmouth (provincial electoral district) **Yarmouth (electoral district) * Yarmouth Township, Ontario *New ...

. He served on two commissions in 1489. One for

gaol delivery The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...

for Ipswich and Norwich and the other for peace and

oyer and terminer In English law, oyer and terminer (; a partial translation of the Anglo-French ''oyer et terminer'', which literally means "to hear and to determine") was one of the commissions by which a judge of assize sat. Apart from its Law French name, the ...

for Suffolk. Hobart was appointed to try a suit at York, when he is styled serjeant, in August 1501. He was knighted on 18 February 1502–3 by Henry, prince of Wales. Hobart left the attorney general office in 1507 following a controversy involving writs of ''

praemunire In English history, ''praemunire'' or ''praemunire facias'' () refers to a 14th-century law that prohibited the assertion or maintenance of papal jurisdiction, or any other foreign jurisdiction or claim of supremacy in England, against the suprema ...

facias''.

Personal life

James was the youngest son of Thomas Hobart of Leyham in Norfolk. Hobart married three times. John Lyhert's sister, Margery, was his first wife. The second was Dorothy Glemham. Margery or Margaret Naunton, the daughter of Peter Naunton of Letheringham, Suffolk and the relict of John Doreward, Esq. (d.1495) was his third wife. She died in 1517. His daughter Catherine (by which wife is not known) married Thomas Curzon (d. after 1610) of

Beck Hall Beck Hall, Bec Hall or Bek Hall is a grade II listed 18th-century farmhouse in Billingford, Breckland, Norfolk, England. It is believed to be on the site of a former "hospital" or "hospice" (i.e. a hostel) adjacent to the Chapel of St Paul. The h ...

Manor in Norfolk.''The Visitation of Norfolk 1563 & 1613'' edited by Walter Rye, London 1891, p.91. Hobart lived at his home,

Hales Hall Hales Hall is a notable English country house in Loddon, Norfolk, largely dating from the 15th century. It was once the seat of the Hobart family, including Sir James Hobart, who became attorney general to King Henry VII in 1485. History T ...

in Norfolk. He was a good friend of John Paston and is often mentioned in the

Paston Letters The ''Paston Letters'' is a collection of correspondence between members of the Paston family of Norfolk gentry and others connected with them in England between the years 1422 and 1509. The collection also includes state papers and other impor ...

. Hobart's chest-tomb is located in the nave of the

Norwich Cathedral Norwich Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Norwich, Norfolk, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. It is the cathedral church for the Church of England Diocese of Norwich and is one of the Norwich 12 heritage sites. The cathedral ...

. His great-grandson was Sir Henry Hobart, the chief justice.

Holy Trinity Church

Hobart erected "at his sole expense" the Holy Trinity Church at

Loddon Loddon may refer to: *Loddon, Norfolk in England, UK *Shire of Loddon in Victoria, Australia (since 1995) **Bridgewater On Loddon, Victoria in Australia *River Loddon, flows into the River Thames near Reading *Loddon River, flows north from south of ...

in 1490. A stained glass artwork, removed from the east window of the church and preserved as a painting, shows Hobart and Lady Margaret Hobart in prayer. A caption in Latin beneath them reads, ''Orate pro aia Jaci Hobart, milit. & attornati dmi regis, qui Hanc ecclesiam a primis fundamentis condidit in tribus annis cum suis propriis bonis, anno regis Henrici septimit undecimo.'' Roughly, it translates as "Pray for James Hobart, soldier and attorney general to the King, who contributed to the foundations of the Church in the eleventh year of King Henry VII."

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hobart, James 1436 births Members of Lincoln's Inn Attorneys General for England and Wales Hobart family 16th-century English lawyers 16th-century deaths 15th-century English lawyers People from Loddon