The son of John Henry and Caroline Sophia Bostock, Hugh was born on 20 June 1886 in Saint Lucia in the West Indies. In 1901, he was at St George’s College School in Windsor. On 25 April 1905, Hugh started probationary work with the London and North West Railway at Wolverhampton Station. At some point, he transferred to Euston Station, in London, where he worked as an outdoor assistant for the outdoor goods department. By 1911, Hugh’s father had died, and he was boarding together with his mother and sister Mary Adeline in the home of Pandora Finn in Toxteth Park, Liverpool.

When war broke out, Hugh wanted “to serve with those whom he knew in Wolverhampton”, so he enlisted as a Second Lieutenant with the 6th Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment. He was killed in action on 12 June 1915. This was reported in the Midland Counties Express on 26 June 1915, along with this photograph, taken from a group photograph of the railwaymen on a day’s outing. He is buried at St Quentin Cabaret Military Cemetery in Belgium.