John Herbert Babington, (6 February 1911 – 25 March 1992) was a British teacher and Royal Navy officer who was awarded the

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has been ...

for "great gallantry and undaunted devotion to duty" in defusing bombs during World War II.

George Cross

Following a '' Luftwaffe'' air raid on the Royal Navy shore establishment at Chatham Dockyard (HMS ''Pembroke'') Babington defused a bomb which had fallen that was fitted with an anti-withdrawal device. Babington was attached to in London.

Citation

Notice of Babington's George Cross appeared in the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

'' on 27 December 1940.

Later war career

He was later appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire for gallantry in 1944.

Postwar career

Babington became the Headmaster at the Royal Hospital School and the Ashlyns School, Berkhamsted, the first co-educational bilateral school in Hertfordshire. He was headmaster of Diss Grammar School in Norfolk, England, from 1947 to 1951.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Babington, John Herbert Officers of the Order of the British Empire British recipients of the George Cross Royal Navy recipients of the George Cross Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II People educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys Schoolteachers from Suffolk 1992 deaths Bomb disposal personnel 1911 births Heads of schools in England British expatriates in China