Web - OMRS - Lloyd Broderick 2006 - Hugh Lodge spent his early years in India but like many other children of colonial families was sent 'home' for schooling. At the time of the 1901 census he was a student at Ovingdean Hall School in Sussex, and from Sept 1904 to Dec 1909 was educated at Marlborough College. Lodge did well at Marlborough being a prefect in his last term, coming fourth in the Army Class in his last 2 terms and winning the Royal Humane Society medal for swimming and diving. In 1910 Hugh Lodge became a Gentleman Cadet at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. …….. Royal Artillery ……  

On 10 June 1914, while out hunting, he suffered the first of two serious riding accidents that were to cast a pall over his service. Lodge was unconscious for 10 days and 'very incoherent for some time after'. He was subsequently treated for neurasthenia (that is, nervous debility or exhaustion) and morbid depression and was in hospital for 6 months. ……..... [lots more on military career and winning of medals] ……………

On 6 April 1929 at the Aldershot Steeplechase, Hugh Lodge and his horse fell, and Major Lodge was hit by his horse's head. He fractured his pelvis and was severely concussed. He remained in hospital for 6 weeks and was then placed on sick pay for 3 months. He was finally passed fit for active service in August but his health deteriorated. He was placed under medical observation in early April 1930 for 'NYD' (altered mental state) and was placed on the half pay list (and later the retired list) on account of ill health with effect from 7 June 1930. He was aged just 38.

Following his involuntary retirement Hugh Lodge went to Kenya, where his parents were trying to establish a mixed dairy farm, Rivelyn, near Naivasha, north west of Nairobi. By his own account, 'finding employment at that time of economic crisis was impossible', and by early 1932 Lodge joined a gold rush at Kakamega, north-west of Naivasha. Like most of the miners, Lodge may have found enough gold to keep him going, but not enough to make his fortune. Hugh Lodge worked as a gold miner, off and on, until the Second World War. He constantly complained of headaches and lack of concentration. Successive Medical Boards found him to be suffering from mental health problems ('erratic, untidy, absent minded, lacks concentration and his memory is bad', 'concentration halting and erratic', 'mental attitude definitely abnormal'), however this made little difference to his pension. Shortage of funds was a constant concern. ……… [returned to England in Dec 1940] ……… [served in india in WW2] ………  

By early 1945 Hugh Lodge was back in England, seeking an early discharge on compassionate grounds. His elderly parents were having trouble running the farm and his father's health was failing. He formally ceased to be employed on 23 May 1945 and was granted the honorary rank of Lieut.-Col.. On his return, the care of his elderly parents and the development of the farm 'occupied every moment' of Hugh Lodge's time.

Gazette 18 Nov 1952 probate