The family were tailors and the location of their business premises in the north-east quadrant of Cathedral Square gave the area the name of Hobbs' corner.

Fred Hobbs commissioned a new building of permanent materials for the site, which became known as Cathedral Chambers and which stood there from the mid-1880s to the 1970s.

The locality changed name to Broadway corner, based on the popular café that occupied the first floor; this name is no longer in use in Christchurch.

[3] The family with four children emigrated to New Zealand on the Caroline Agnes, and arrived in Lyttelton on 17 August 1855.

[12] Whilst his father had come out to New Zealand to do manual labour, the demand for clothing was so great that he soon went back to his old trade.

[3] They leased the top floor of a building in the north-east quadrant of Cathedral Square, with a frontage to Colombo Street.

[23] Indeed, Hobbs invited suburban and local bodies to a conference in 1875 to tackle the issue in a comprehensive manner.

[28][29] Hobbs was the only candidate nominated, so the returning officer, Edward Bishop, declared him elected unopposed on 17 December 1875.

This was regretted by one of the local newspapers, The Star, as they regarded him as having "discharged his duties with a thoroughness and zeal which will not be readily equalled by his successor.

[34] Gapes won the election,[35] and was sworn in as mayor at the next Christchurch City Council meeting on 2 January 1877.

Despite having the support of the influential John Ollivier[37] and The Star newspaper,[38] Kiver had a significant majority with 751 votes to 393.

[40] In an editorial, The Star described him thus:[41] We admire the blunt, outspoken honesty of purpose which Mr Hobbs possesses in an eminent degree.

[46] His son Frederick Hobbs made an international career and worked with and then for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.