Noel Mobbs

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

Sir Noel Mobbs KCVO OBE
Sir Noel Mobbs KCVO OBE
Born1878
Northampton, England
Died1959
EducationBedford Modern School
Known forFounder of Slough Estates

Career

Brought up in Northampton, Mobbs was educated at Bedford Modern School.[1] 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.[2] Another of Noel's brothers, Edgar, was a well-known Rugby player and Captain of the England team in 1910.[3]

In 1920, Noel Mobbs and Sir Percival Perry acquired Slough Depot, a vehicle park where thousands of disused military vehicles had been abandoned.[2] First they sold the vehicles and then they converted the factories and let them out for industrial use, so establishing the Slough Trading Estate.[2]

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.[4] He also established the Stoke Poges Garden which is open to the public[5] as well as the Slough Community Centre which opened in 1936.[4]

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.[6]

He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1948.[7]

Mobbs was an avid bridge player[2] and in 1950, he chaired the British Bridge League.[8] He died in Bournemouth in 1959.[2]

Family
Memorial stone in Stoke Poges Garden of Remembrance, Buckinghamshire

He married Frances.[2] His grandson was Nigel Mobbs, a more recent Chairman of Slough Estates.[9]

References
  1. "Bedford Modern School of the Black And Red" by Andrew Underwood, 1981
  2. "Stoke Park Club" (PDF). Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  3. Obituary: Sir Nigel Mobbs Daily Telegraph, 22 October 2005
  4. "Slough 1900-1945". slough.info. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  5. Buckinghamshire Literary Map BBC
  6. "ML Aviation". Postcards from Slough. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  7. "No. 38311". The London Gazette. 10 June 1948. p. 3369.
  8. The Great Bridge Scandal By Alan Truscott Page (x) Master Point Press, 2004, ISBN 978-1-894154-67-3
  9. Obituary: Sir Nigel Mobbs Archived 2011-06-16 at the Wayback Machine The Independent, 1 November 2005
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