18 Facts About Ned Dobbs

Arthur Newman Vickery Dobbs was a New Zealand public servant.

Ned Dobbs was a squadron leader in the RNZAF during the Second World War.

Ned Dobbs was Director-General of Education from 1971 to 1975, and chaired the committee responsible for integration of private schools into the state education system.

Ned Dobbs settled a libel case against the Minister of Education, the Student Teachers' Association and the Student Press Ltd after an article in the student teachers' magazine reported derogatory remarks attributed to the Minister.

Ned Dobbs's parents were Fanny Elizabeth and Arthur Harold Dobbs.

Ned Dobbs attended Christchurch Boys' High School and completed a Bachelor of Commerce in 1937 followed by a Masters in Commerce in 1939, both at Canterbury University College.

Ned Dobbs held positions in the Labour Department and the State Services Commission.

Ned Dobbs was the administrative Assistant Commissioner of Police, before being appointed as Army Secretary in 1957.

Ned Dobbs was appointed as Assistant Director-General of Education in 1965, although this was not his first appointment in education as he had been seconded to the department as an administrative assistant in 1946 during the department's reorganisation.

Ned Dobbs was appointed Director-General of Education in 1971, succeeding Keith Sheen.

Robin Williams, vice-chancellor of the University of Otago, was originally named as Sheen's successor, but Ned Dobbs won the position on appeal.

Ned Dobbs was replaced as Director-General in July 1975 by Bill Renwick, despite an attempt by the Educational Institute to invalidate the appointment.

Ned Dobbs had been extremely right-wing and an impediment to progress.

Ned Dobbs took a libel case for NZ$20,000 against the Minister of Education, Phillip Amos, the Student Teachers' Association, and the Student Press Ltd which had printed the paper.

Ned Dobbs married Gwendoline Rakura Stephens on 3 June 1943 at the Durham Street Methodist Church in Christchurch.

Ned Dobbs died 15 October 1988 in Lower Hutt, at the age of 73, survived by his wife.

Ned Dobbs was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 1976.

In 1994 Ned Dobbs's wife left a memorial scholarship, the ANV Ned Dobbs Memorial Scholarship, to be awarded annually to a Year 13 student from Christchurch Boys' High School who is going on to university study, with preference to those studying economics.