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by | Mar 19, 2018 | Nelumbo

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Sir Arthur Noel Mobbs KCVO OBE (1878–1959) was the founder of Slough Estates, one of the United Kingdom's largest property businesses.[1][2]

Career

Brought up in Northampton, Mobbs was educated at Bedford Modern School.[3] Together with his brother, Herbert, he founded the Pytchley Autocar Company in 1903 to sell private vehicles: the business was later bought by Mercantile Credit.[4] Another of Noel's brothers, Edgar, was a well-known Rugby player and Captain of the England team in 1910.[5]

In 1920, Noel Mobbs and Sir Percival Perry acquired Slough Depot, a vehicle park where thousands of disused military vehicles had been abandoned.[4] They sold the vehicles and converted the factories and let them out for industrial use, so establishing the Slough Trading Estate.[4]

Mobbs was also keen to establish sporting and social facilities for the people of Slough and in 1928 he bought Stoke Park Golf Club for £30,000 and reformed it.[6] He also established the Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens which are open to the public[7] as well as the Slough Community Centre which opened in 1936.[6]

Mobbs had financed the R Malcolm & Co aircraft component company and in 1943 took control with himself as managing director and Marcel Lobelle as chief designer. Lobelle became a director and the company was renamed ML Aviation after their initials.[8]

He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1948.[9]

Mobbs was an avid bridge player[4] and in 1950, he chaired the British Bridge League.[10] He died in Bournemouth in 1959.[4]

Family

Memorial stone in Stoke Poges Garden of Remembrance, Buckinghamshire

He married Frances.[4] His grandson was Nigel Mobbs, a more recent chairman of Slough Estates.[11]

References

  1. ^ Obituary in The Times, Sir Noel Mobbs, November 27, 1959. p. 17
  2. ^ "Mobbs, Sir (Arthur) Noel, (8 June 1880–25 Nov. 1959)". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U240859. ISBN 978-0-19-954089-1.
  3. ^ Underwood, Andrew (1981). Bedford Modern School of the black & red. ISBN 9780950760803. OCLC 16558393.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Stoke Park Club" (PDF). Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  5. ^ Obituary: Sir Nigel Mobbs Daily Telegraph, 22 October 2005
  6. ^ a b "Slough 1900-1945". slough.info. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  7. ^ Buckinghamshire Literary Map BBC
  8. ^ "ML Aviation". Postcards from Slough. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  9. ^ "No. 38311". The London Gazette. 10 June 1948. p. 3369.
  10. ^ The Great Bridge Scandal By Alan Truscott Page (x) Master Point Press, 2004, ISBN 978-1-894154-67-3
  11. ^ Obituary: Sir Nigel Mobbs Archived 2011-06-16 at the Wayback Machine The Independent, 1 November 2005


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