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He was born on 5th September 1893 at Broadstone in Dorset and was the son of William Henry Hibberd, a farmer, and Mary Catherine Edney.  Stuart was educated at Wimborne Grammar School and Weymouth College. He went up to St. John’s College Cambridge with an Open Scholarship in Natural Sciences and in 1913 was elected to a tenor Choral Studentship. He cut short his studies to join Kitchener’s army in September 1914 and later was awarded his B.A. in 1917, becoming M.A. in 1937. He served as second lieutenant in the 7th and 5th  Dorsetshire Regiments and with the Indian Army in the 46th Punjabis, attaining the rank of Captain, and became Adjutant of the 2/25th Punjabis.  He was at Gallipoli and in Mesopotamia and Waziristan. He retired from the army when his regiment disbanded in 1922.  He married Alice Mary Chichester on 31 July 1923; she was from a Devon family, the daughter of Lieut-Col. Gerard Chichester of the North Staffs. Regiment, and was a first cousin of Sir Francis Chichester. 

After his demob Stuart was accepted by the D’Oyly Carte Company after a voice trial but decided to join the BBC in November 1924 as an assistant announcer at Number 2 Savoy Hill, the then home of the BBC, next to the Savoy Hotel. As well as acting as continuity for the programmes he also read news bulletins which always started with “This is London calling, 2 LO calling”. He became chief announcer and retained that post for 25 years, broadcasting news of many important Royal and wartime events. From 1949 he became the presenter of “The Silver Lining” a programme for housebound and disabled listeners, and he presented the programme until it folded in 1964. 

Stuart retired from announcing in 1951. In the previous year he had been author of a reminiscence about his BBC years entitled “This is London”. He describes how in the early days announcers were expected to wear evening dress and he observed: “Personally, I have always thought it only right and proper that announcers should wear evening dress on duty. After all, announcing is a serious, if new, profession, and the wearing of evening dress is an act of courtesy to the artists, many of whom will almost certainly be similarly dressed if they are taking part in a programme from 8 p.m. onwards. There are, of course, certain disadvantages. It is not ideal kit in which to read the News - I myself hate having anything tight round my neck when broadcasting - and I remember that more than once the engineers said that my shirt-front creaked during the reading of the bulletin.“ 

Stuart Hibberd eventually moved to Budleigh Salterton and lived at 2 Westfield Road (which subsequently became a nursing home and has since been re-developed into three dwellings). He was an active gardener, and president of the Budleigh Salterton Choral Society. He had been awarded an M.B.E in 1935, and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and also a member of the Royal Society of St. George. He was President of the Devonshire Association in 1970. 

He died on 1st November 1983 in St. Cecilia’s Nursing Home in Budleigh Salterton. His wife had pre-deceased him in 1977. They had no children. 

Compiled and researched © Dr R Lendon, 2008 

References

1. The archives of St. John’s College Cambridge (who I thank for their help).

2. “Who’s Who” and “Who was Who”.

3. “This is London” A.S. Hibberd (1950).

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