Hall was a yachtsman, and on the outbreak of the First World War used his vessel in patrol work in the Solent and English Channel while the British Expeditionary Force was being moved to the continent.[1] Later in the war he was president of the British Water Ambulance Fund and assisted the evacuation of injured soldiers via the River Seine.[1] When the organisation was taken over by the War Office he received a commission as lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve.[1] By the end of the war he had moved to High Explosives Department of the Ministry of Munitions, with the rank of captain in the Royal Engineers.[1] He was created a baronet in 1919, and sold Burton Park in the same year.[1]
In January 1922 he was involved in a motor accident in central London. He required surgery and never fully recovered his health, standing down from parliament that year. He died at his London home in the following year aged 56. He was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery.[1]
Sir Douglas Bernard Hall was one of 10 children of Bernard Hall, who had been Mayor of Liverpool in 1879. His sister was Margaret Bernadine Hall (1863–1910), an artist who painted Fantine which is in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. It was Sir Douglas Bernard Hall who presented the picture to the gallery in 1911.
Coat of arms of Sir Douglas Hall, 1st Baronet
Crest
A talbot's head erased Sable ears Argent gorged with a chaplet Or garnished with roses Gules between two cross crosslets fitchee Gold.
