Peter Wallace Hobbs (3 May 1916 - 11 April 2008) was an English engineer and businessman who, with William Russell, founded the now global electrical appliance company

Russell Hobbs Russell Hobbs is a British manufacturer of Home appliance, household appliances. Formed in 1952 by William Russell and Peter Hobbs (engineer), Peter Hobbs, it became the primary kettle maker in the United Kingdom marketplace in the 1960s. Subj ...

, made famous for their design and introduction of the iconic electric kettle in the late 1950s.

Early life

Peter Hobbs was born in Langton,

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...

and attended The Skinners' School. As a young man he enjoyed amateur drama, appearing in school productions, and

Christopher Fry Christopher Fry (18 December 1907 – 30 June 2005) was an English poet and playwright. He is best known for his verse dramas, especially '' The Lady's Not for Burning'', which made him a major force in theatre in the 1940s and 1950s. Biograp ...

's Tunbridge Wells Repertory Players. After leaving school he joined his father working for the Weald Electricity Supply Company.

Military service

A year after the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he joined the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

and trained in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, and was commissioned as an officer in the Queen Victoria's Own Madras Sappers and Miners. In the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

he joined Paiforce (Persia and Iraq Force) where he was an adjutant to the commander of the Royal Engineers in the 6th Indian Division. After attending the Staff College at

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

Baluchistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region of de ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

he was appointed Brigade Major at

Sialkot Sialkot (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of the Sialkot District and the List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 12th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined ...

in the

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

. Returning to Britain he commanded a field

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

at the Royal School of Military Engineering then in

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Within the boundaries of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...

in the

North Riding of Yorkshire The North Riding of Yorkshire was a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point was at Mickle Fell at . From the Restoration it was used as a lieutenancy area, having b ...

, with rank of

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Career

Morphy Richards

Following demobilisation Peter became the Managing Director of

Morphy Richards Morphy Richards is a British brand of electrical appliances headquartered in Swinton, in South Yorkshire, England. Its products were formerly made at its historic home of Mexborough, and in other facilities across the United Kingdom. However, ...

division in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. However, due to poor trading conditions he was forced to return to Britain. He took a job as managing director of a different company, where he oversaw what he believed to be a breakthrough innovation, a new kind of electric

coffee percolator A coffee percolator is a type of pot used for the brewing of coffee by continually cycling the boiling or nearly boiling brew through the grounds (coffee), grounds using gravity until the required strength is reached. The grounds are held in a ...

. When the board of the company decided against putting this new design into production, Peter and his co-innovator, Bill Russell, decided to go into business on their own.

Russell Hobbs

Peter Hobbs and Bill Russell opened their new business in Croydon in October 1952, and later the same year launched the world's first electric coffee percolator, dubbed the CP1. This invention was soon followed by their launch of the K1 electric kettle in 1955. It was the first electric kettle with an automatic shutoff. The K1 was soon superseded by the K2, which had a more attractive appearance. Both versions were expensive, but were built to last. The first K2 Kettles sold for £7, at a time when the average weekly wage was £14, but they became popular as wedding gifts. Russell Hobbs has reports of K2s still operational after 30 years, and, although they are now extremely rare, collectors will pay up to £200 for a K2 in mint condition. The CP1 coffee percolator and K1 kettle are displayed in the

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, Industry (manufacturing), industry and Outline of industrial ...

South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...

. In 1963 the company was bought by

Tube Investments TI Group plc (formerly "Tube Investments") was a holding company for specialised engineering companies. It was based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire and was listed on the London Stock Exchange, at one point being a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. ...

, and by the mid-1970s Russell Hobbs was the world leader in sales of automatic kettles. The Russell Hobbs Company is now owned by Spectrum Brands, with its products available in over 40 countries. After selling the business Peter Hobbs was director of Valor Stoves, and later ran a restaurant called Manley's, in Storrington, West Sussex.

Personal life

He married Daphne Drummond in 1966, his wife for 30 years until her death in 1996. They had a son. Throughout his life Hobbs enjoyed racing yachts with Don Morphy of

and was a long-standing member of the

Royal Ocean Racing Club The Royal Ocean Racing Club is a club in London with a further clubhouse and office in Cowes, Isle of Wight. It was established in 1925 as the Ocean Racing Club, as a result of a race to the Fastnet Rock from Cowes, finishing in Plymouth. It re ...

. Hobbs and his family moved to Xlendi,

Gozo Gozo ( ), known in classical antiquity, antiquity as Gaulos, is an island in the Malta#The Maltese archipelago, Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After the Malta Island, island of Malta ...

, Malta after retirement. In 1983 the family moved to

Corrèze Corrèze (; ) is a département in France, named after the river Corrèze which runs through it. Although its prefecture is Tulle, its most populated city is Brive-la-Gaillarde. Corrèze is located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, on the bo ...

Southern France Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...

References

External links

''Times'' obituary May 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobbs, Peter 1916 births 2008 deaths People from Langton Green British Indian Army officers Royal Engineers soldiers People educated at The Skinners' School 20th-century English engineers Military personnel from Kent British Army personnel of World War II Indian Army personnel of World War II