Hobson remained a member of the IRB, but, like the Volunteers' chief-of-staff Eoin MacNeill, he was kept unaware of the plans for the Rising. Though he could detect underground preparations, he had no certain evidence. He was later informed that volunteers had received orders for the Rising, timed for Easter Sunday, and he subsequently alerted MacNeill about what the IRB had planned. MacNeill issued a countermanding order, which served to delay the Rising by a day, and kept most of the Volunteers from participating. Hobson was kidnapped by Séamus O'Doherty on the orders of the organisers of the rising to stop him from spreading news of MacNeill's order, and held at gunpoint at O'Doherty's house in Phibsborough until the Rising was well underway. After the Rising, Hobson went to Eoin MacNeil's home of Woodtown Park to avoid arrest, an action which hurt his future political prospects and led to rumours that he was a traitor to the Volunteers and the IRB.