often or for how long he was
able to be home with his young family, or whether they traveled with him when
he was in charge of managing the agencies in Calcutta and Manila.

In some ways, the traveling
demands of such HSBC work were not dissimilar from the military absences that
his mother-in-law had experienced when she was the wife of a military man. At
least both mother and daughter had the support of significant numbers of
friends and family nearby as they raised their children in the British community
in Bombay.

The career heartbreak of George’s life was that no sooner
had he reached his professional pinnacle
than he was decked by the onset of a severe and chronic illness. He had been
appointed Chief Manager on January 1, 1889, succeeding the wildly popular
Thomas Jackson. By March 27th1890, he was so ill that he had to be
granted emergency sick leave. There was some hope that he would recover, but
four months later, he needed an additional twelve months off work. A year after
this, it was clear that his health was such that he could never return to his
post in Hong Kong. In spite of this, he was appointed to the HSBC London Committee,
a post that he served in until the time of his death in 1901. In 1899, a letter
from A.M.Reith to Charles Addis said that Noble
was very shaky and “an interview with him is rather painful”.

George was only forty-four years old when he was sidelined by
whatever this serious illness was. It had to have come as a shock. His wife, who
was only aged thirty-two, had