A biography of Lieutenant-General Vernon Ashton Hobart, president of Royal United Services Institute, is presented. He was born in 1890 in Frankston, Victoria, into a distinguished military family and educated at Melbourne Church of England Grammar School before becoming an apprentice engineer. He transferred to the Royal Australian Engineers, Per ma - nent Military Forces, as a lieutenant in 1911 and became Commander Royal Engineers, Franks Force, in September-October.