Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobart (1885-19 February 1957) was a British military engineer and commander of the 79th Armoured Division during the World War II, and was responsible for many of the specialised armoured vehicles 'Hobart's Funnies' that took part in the invasion of Normandy.

In his youth Hobart studied history, painting, literature and church architecture. In 1904 he graduated from the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich and was commissioned with the Royal Engineers. First he was sent to India but during World War I, he was first sent to France and then to Iraq.

In the early 1920's Hobart was transferred to the Royal Tank Corps. He was greatly influenced by the writings of B. H. Liddell Hart on armoured warfare. He also gained nickname "Hobo". In 1934 he became Brigadier of the first permanent armoured brigade in Britain. He still he had to fight for resources for his command because theBritish Army was still dominated by cavalry officers. When he was sent to form an armoured unit in Egypt in 1938, a local general resisted his efforts. He did his best to form the 2nd Armoured Brigade, later nicknamed the Desert Rats during the following war.

After the outbreak of the World War II in 1939, Sir Archibald Wavell dismissed Hobart into retirement, based on hostile War Office information due to his "unconventional" ideas about armoured warfare. Hobart joined the Home Guard as a corporal. Liddell Hart criticized the decision to Wavell and wrote an article in the Sunday Pictorial newspaper. Winston Churchill was notified and he had Hobart re-enlisted into army as Major General. Hobart was assigned to train the 11th Armoured Division, intended for North Africa. His opponents tried to have him dismissed again on medical grounds but Churchill rebuffed them.

The Dieppe raid in 1942 had demonstrated the inability of tanks and infantry to cope with fortified obstacles in an amphibious landing. There would be a requirement for specialist vehicles to aid any landing when it came for the Aliies to invade Europe.

In March 1943 General Alan Brooke assigned Hobart to form a unit handling of specialized armour. Hobart was reputedly suspicious at first and conferred with Liddell Hart before he accepted. The unit was named the 79th (Experimental) Armoured Division Royal Engineers. Unit insignia was a black bull's head with flaring nostrils superimposed over a yellow triangle; this was carried proudly on every vehicle. Later in the same year Hobart was knighted. His brother-in-law Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery informed Eisenhower of his needs to build unusual tank designs.

Under Hobart's leadership, the 79th assembled units of modified tank designs that were collectively nicknamed "Hobart's Funnies". These were used in the Normandy Invasion and were credited with helping the allies get ashore. The vehicles of the 79th had been offered to all of the forces taking part in the landings of Overlord, but the American forces declined and their only specialist vehicle was the amphibious Sherman DD.

The vehicles of the 79th did not deploy as units together but were attached to other units. By the end of the war the 79th had almost 7000 vehicles.

The 79th Armoured Division was disbanded on August 20 1945. After the war Hobart received the American Legion of Merit and retired again.