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Auction: 24002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 192

A Great War C.M.G. group of seven to Lieutenant Colonel E. V. Hugo, Indian Medical Service, Medical Officer at the famous Defence of Chakdara Fort

The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, Companion's (C.M.G.) neck Badge, in silver-gilt and enamel, converted from a breast Badge; India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Waziristan 1894-5 (Surgn Lieut E. V. Hugo. I.M.S.); India General Service 1895-1908, 3 clasps, Relief of Chitral 1895, Malakand 1897, Punjab Frontier 1897-98 (Surgn Captn E. V. Hugo I.M.S. 31st Bl Infy.), '31st' re-engraved; 1914-15 Star (Lt. Col. E. V. Hugo, I.M.S.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Col. E. V. Hugo.); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919 (Lt. Col. E. V. Hugo, I.M.S.), the campaign medals mounted as worn, this last officially re-named, very fine or better (7)

C.M.G. London Gazette 4 June 1917:

'For services rendered in connection with military operations in the field in Mesopotamia.'

M.I.D. London Gazette 11 January 1898, 15 August 1917 & 12 January 1920. The Despatch of Major-General Sir Bindon Blood, K.C.B. for Malakand:

'...I regret to find that in my report, "Despatches, Malakand Field Force, " No. 3 of 20th August, 1897, I omitted to include the name of Surgeon Captain E.V. Hugo, Indian Medical Service, amongst those of the officers recommended to the favourable consideration of His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief for their services during the recent defence of Chakdara Fort. I now have great pleasure in stating that Surgeon Captain E. V. Hugo served with distinction throughout the defence and in recommending him for favourable consideration accordingly.'

Edward Victor Hugo was born on 5 January 1865 at 6 Popes Road, Cork, the son of James Henry Hugo and his wife Marianne. His father was a revenue officer. He qualified as a medical doctor with the degree of M.B. Honours from the University of London in 1892, a licence to practise medicine from the Royal College of Physicians in 1889, a Diploma in Surgery from the Royal College of Surgeons in 1889 and a licence to practise surgery. In January 1892 he applied for employment as a Surgeon in the Indian Medical Service. He was duly commissioned as a Surgeon-Lieutenant on 27 July 1892. He first saw active service in the winter of 1894-95 when the Mahsuds attacked the Waziristan Delimitation Commission.

In 1893, Sir Mortimer Durand conducted negotiations with the Emir of Afghanistan to demarcate the boundary between British India and Afghanistan in the area south of the Khyber Pass. As a result, the Emir ceded control of the area known as Waziristan to the British, the international boundary became known as the Durand line.

In 1894 a commission consisting of political officers and a survey party was set up to demarcate the boundary on the ground. It was protected by a force in brigade strength, styled the Waziristan Delimitation Escort, consisting of a squadron of Punjab Cavalry, a mountain battery, and three Indian battalions (1st Gurkhas, 3rd Sikhs and 20th Punjab Infantry). On 25 October 1894 ,the Escort established a large camp on a stony plain near Wana in South Waziristan. The camp site had many points of weakness, in particular a number of nullahs which offered a concealed method of approach to the camp for any enterprising tribesman.

On the night of 2-3 November 1894, all was quiet until 0530hrs when three shots rang out. This was immediately followed by wild yells and the beating of drums as 800-1000 Mahsud tribesmen rushed the camp. Afterwards it was found that the tribesmen had crept up the two large ravines to the west of the camp and rushed pickets numbered 9 and 10, one of which had fired the three warning shots. The attack was so swift that, before the Gurkhas could turn out of their tents, the leading men of the enemy had climbed over the defences and penetrated to the middle of the camp running down the main street brandishing swords. The Gurkhas rallied, stopped the main rush from passing down the centre of the camp in hand to hand fighting, and formed a square. The Sikhs and Punjabis went to reinforce them, clearing a way through the camp with their bayonets. The enemy made two further attacks on the perimeter of the camp but, with the help of star shell, the infantry fired some effective volleys. The dim light of dawn then appeared and the tribesmen retreated, harried by the cavalry. Losses to the camp at Wana amounted to 45 killed and 75 wounded; the enemy also succeeded in carrying off a large number of rifles and 2,600 rupees in cash.

When the Mahsuds failed to make reparation for this attack, the following month the Government assembled the Waziristan Field Force, commanded by General Lockhart. It consisted of three brigades; the 1st, consisting of the Escort force, advanced from Wana to Kaniguram, the 2nd from Jandola to Makin and the 3rd from Bannu to Razmak. During the later part of December most Mahsud valleys were overrun, and Waziristan traversed from one end to another. There was little opposition, but snow had fallen and there was 16 degrees of frost. The Mahsuds finally accepted terms at the end of January 1895, and the work of the boundary commission continued.

Chitral was a mountainous state lying to the northwest of British India, on the border with Afghanistan. Nominally subject to Kashmir, it was in practice autonomous and had been ruled for many years by Aman-ul-Mulk, the Mehtar. His death in 1892 led to a series of coups and murders amongst members of his family. One of those who sought to exploit the situation by installing his own candidate was Umra Khan, a Pathan chief who controlled Dir and Bajaur, the territories to the south of Chitral.

A British Political Officer, Surgeon Major Robertson, was at Chitral investigating the situation when Umra Khan and his allies suddenly advanced with 3000 Pathans. Robertson retreated to the fort at Chitral, together with his escort of 400 troops. The siege of Chitral began on 3 March 1895 and lasted for 47 days. When news of this reached the outside world, a small force set out from Gilgit; it consisted of about 500 men, mostly from the 32nd Sikh Pioneers, commanded by Colonel Kelly. It had to cross 220 miles of mountainous country, including the 12,000 foot Shandur Pass.

The main relief force was a division under the command of General Sir Robert Low, which assembled at Peshawar. It also had to face formidable geographical barriers, including two major rivers and the 10,200 foot Lowari Pass. In addition, it had to combat the militant tribes of Dir and Bajaur.

Although Hugo's Medal is named to the 31st Punjabis, this regiment did not serve in the campaign; Hugo evidently served with one of the several field hospitals.

Low's three Brigades and Divisional Cavalry, Artillery and Engineers left Nowshera on 1 April and were soon in action. A force estimated at up to 25,000 tribesmen assembled at the Malakand Pass, but were put to flight when columns of Guides, Sikhs and Gordon Highlanders scaled the steep spurs leading to the pass. The tribesmen suffered casualties estimated at 1,500-2,000; the British lost 70 killed and wounded.

The British next crossed the Swat and Panjkora Rivers, fighting further battles with the tribesmen. When news arrived that the Chitral garrison was particularly hard-pressed a column of 500 lightly armed men was sent on ahead, scaling the difficult Lowari Pass which was still deep under snow. Before they reached Chitral, however, further news arrived that the besieged fort had already been relieved by Kelly's column from Gilgit.

At the conclusion of the campaign a garrison of Indian troops was left at Chitral. The road north from Peshawar was improved so that supplies and reliefs could reach it, and small forts were established at Chakdara and the Malakand to protect the road. These developments were much resented by the tribes of Swat, Dir and the Bajaur, and contributed to the great uprising of 1897.

In 1897, Surgeon Captain E.V. Hugo was serving as Medical Officer of the 31st Regiment of Bengal Infantry. This regiment had been raised in Ferozepore in 1857 as "Bloomfield's Sikhs" and was designated the 31st Bengal Foot in 1861. In July 1897 the regiment formed part of the garrison at Malakand. Hugo was assisted by his younger brother, Surgeon Lieutenant James Henry Hugo (born 1870), who also served with the 31st Bengal Infantry. It was no doubt agreeable for E.V. Hugo to serve together with his brother but one presumes that having two doctors with the same name in the same regiment was the source of considerable confusion.

The Malakand position consisted of a small fort, guarding the Malakand Pass; from the pass, the road ran down to a Crater, where were located the camps of the 45th Sikhs, the Engineer Park and the Commissariat stores. On high ground on the opposite side of the Malakand Post was the South camp, held of the 24th Punjabis. At the Crater, the road forked; one branch ran north-west to the North Camp, some 1,300 yards away, the camp of the 31st Punjabis, a cavalry squadron, the 11th Bengal Lancers and No. 8 Mountain Battery. Lieut. Surgeon James Hugo was attached to the troops at this location.

The other branch of the road ran north-east to Chakdara and then Chitral. Chakdara, 10 miles north of the Malakand, was the site of the suspension bridge over the Swat River. To guard the bridge there was a small fort, garrisoned by just over 200 men - the small force consisting of the following:

20 sabres, 11th Bengal Lancers,
180 rifles, 45th (Rattray's) Sikhs,
2 British telegraphists,
1 Hospital Halvidar,
1 Provost Naik (24th Punjab Infantry),
1 Jemadar (Dir Levies),
4 British officers - Lieuts. Rattray and Wheatley (45th Sikhs), Lieut. Minchkin, (Political Agent) and Surgeon Captain E.V. Hugo.

On the afternoon of 26 July 1897, officers from both the Malakand and Chakdara posts attended a polo match at Khar, a village approximately half way between the two. The villagers were friendly but, as the native grooms attended to the ponies, they were warned to leave quickly as a massive attack was imminent. A local religious leader, the Mulla Mastan or "Mad Mullah", had assembled a great number of tribesmen from Swat and nearby areas to attack the two posts. Just as the polo match finished, Lieut. Rattray received a letter from two Sowars sent to him by Lieut. Wheatley that a great number of Pathans with flags were advancing on the Chakdara Fort. At 0945hrs, Lt. Rattray (commanding), who had dashed back to Chakdara, sent a telegram to Malakand to report that huge numbers of tribesmen were advancing on his post; the telegraph wire was then cut. Just as the officers at Malakand were discussing this news, a bugle sounded "General Alarm" and the Malakand camp came under fire.

One group of the 45th Sikhs, under Lt. Colonel McRae, advanced to block a gorge to the north of the pass, and held off a large group of tribesmen who repeatedly attempted to attack the camp from that direction. To the north of the Crater camp, masses of swordsmen succeeded in over-running the bazaar and serai, and seized the Quarter-Guard, in which all the reserve ammunition was held. In desperate close-quarter fighting, the British eventually recaptured it, but found that the enemy had removed all the ammunition.

The intense fighting continued all night and into the daylight hours of 27 July, where the north camp was evacuated and the survivors moved to Malakand South. Fighting continued all day. At 8.30 a.m., the Guides Cavalry completed their 37 mile journey from Mardan and marched into Malakand Camp. Other regiments, mobilised by the Government of India, were moving to assist in the relief of the Malakand garrison. The Guides infantry of 260 men, commanded by Lieutenant Elliot-Lockhart, arrived at Malakand at 1930hrs, having marched from Mardan at 0200hrs, the march being 32 miles and completed in blistering heat.

At dawn on 27 July, in spite of the vigorous attacks being made against the Malakand post, a small force consisting of 40 sowars of the 11th Bengal Lancers under Captain Wright, with Captain Baker of the 2nd Bombay Grenadiers, set out to reinforce the Fort at Chakdara. The daylight hours of 28 July saw continuous fire from the Pashtun sharpshooters established in the hills surrounding Malakand South. Intense fighting continued all day, but the small garrison continued to beat off overwhelming attacks. As darkness fell, The Story of the Malakand Field Force by Winston Churchill takes up the story:

'Lieut. Ford was dangerously wounded in the shoulder. The bullet had cut an artery and Ford was bleeding to death, but Surgeon-Lt. James Hugo went to the assistance of a Lieut. The fire was too hot to allow lights to be used. There was no cover of any sort. Nevertheless, the Surgeon struck a match at the peril of his life and examined the wound. The match went out amid a splutter of bullets, which kicked up the dust around, but by it's uncertain light, he saw the nature of the injury. The officer had already fainted from loss of blood. The Doctor seized the artery and as no other ligature was forthcoming, he remained under fire for three hours holding the man's life between his finger and thumb. When at length it seemed that the enemy had broken into the Camp, her picked up the still unconscious officer in his arms, and, without relaxing his hold, bore him to a place of safety. His arm was for many hours paralysed with cramp from the effects of the exertion of compressing the artery. I think there arec few, whatever may be their views or interests, who will not applaud this splendid act of devotion. The profession of medicine and surgery, must always rank as the most noble that men can adopt. The spectacle of a Doctor in action amongst soldiers, in equal danger and with equal courage, saving life where all others are taking it, is one which must always seem glorious, whether mto God or man. It is impossible to imagine any situation from which a human being might better leave this world, and embark on the hazards of the Unknown.'

At around 0400hrs the enemy fire slackened and, taking their dead and wounded, they withdrew. Attacks on the Malakand post continued over the following four nights. Despite heavy casualties, the tribesmen seemed undeterred and their ferocity rose to a crescendo, when the Mad Mullah himself participated in the attack. The garrison held out, however, and on 31 July, two infantry Battalions marched in and the siege was over. 20 officers had been killed or wounded; 154 N.C.O.s and men were casualties.

The Chakdara post came under attack on the night of the 26th at about the same time as Malakand. Heavy fire was opened on the fort from the nearby hills as tribesmen with swords made massed charges from the west, the northeast, the east side, and finally on the south. At around 0400hrs the tribesmen melted away into the darkness but their colleagues in the hills maintained a desultory but harassing sniper fire into the fort throughout the day.

A problem for the defenders was that their signallers were located in a blockhouse about 500 yards away, and every day food and water had to be taken to them under fire. The signallers particularly distinguished themselves by their gallantry in operating the heliograph which required them to expose themselves under heavy fire.

The arrival of the reinforcements from Malakand on 27 July was timely, for soon afterwards the enemy launched a massed daylight attack from the north and east. Whilst Captain Wright became the senior officer present, he left the routine operations to Lt. Rattray, whilst Captain Baker immediately began work on improving the physical defences of the Fort. This attack was beaten off with heavy loss to the attackers. The attacks resumed at 2300hrs that night; the Maxim and the 9 pounder guns had been carefully laid to cover the most likely approaches, and inflicted many casualties. There was a lull when it seemed that the Pathans had had enough, then they surged out of the darkness with scaling ladders and stormed the northeast corner. When this attack was repulsed, they finally withdrew into the darkness.

When dawn came it was observed that during the night stone sangars had been thrown up all round the fort some 200 yards away; they were empty, but at 1730hrs on 28 July a large number of the enemy occupied them and then, at a given signal, rushed for the walls with their ladders and thick bundles of packed grass, which they threw across the wire entanglements. Some reached the foot of the walls before being killed but, after three nights' fighting, not one had yet entered the fort.

On the afternoon and evening of 29 July, the enemy concentrated on the detached signal tower, trying to burn it down with grass bundles. In this they were unsuccessful, and suffered such heavy casualties that they were unable to carry off all their dead during the night, as was their usual practice - the next day, some 50 bodies were found at the foot of the tower.

Firing continued all the next day of 30 July, followed by renewed assaults in the evening. Despite the heavy losses they had suffered the enemy's numbers were increasing, as more and more tribesmen arrived from distant hills. Casualties amongst the defenders were light but the garrison was under immense strain from the constant watchfulness and lack of rest, and the evidence of the huge odds against them, all aggravated by the intense heat.
On 31 July, the enemy launched a massive assault on the east side; this too failed, but they succeeded in capturing the civil hospital, a small stone building between the fort and the signal tower, which they then manned with riflemen who were able to bring a close fire on the fort. Alarmed by the cautious manner in which the tribesmen were pushing forward under cover of entrenchments in place of their earlier frenzied recklessness, on 1 August the fort sent a simple, desperate message to the Malakand post; "Help us".

With the relief of the Malakand Fort, the tribesmen realised that this was the last chance to capture Chakdara, and at day break on 2 August, the firing intensified from all directions. Then a great mass of men, estimates ranged from 8,000 to 14,000, bore down upon the fort in the greatest onslaught yet seen. Despite the numbers, the covering fire, the ladders and grass bundles, the defenders held them off. The situation was desperate for two hours, but then riders were seen approaching at speed, and soon the Bengal Lancers and Guides Cavalry were clattering over the bridge. The tribesmen were always fearful of cavalry; a sudden panic spread in their ranks, and everywhere they made off for the hills.

Michael Barthorp writes in The Frontier Ablaze:

'The defence of Chakdura by six British officers and 240 Indian soldiers against up to 14,000 Pathan tribesmen must rank with that other, yet far more famous Victorian military epic, the defence of Rorke 's Drift ... Certainly its defenders fought from behind stone walls, with a gun and two Maxims, rather than mealie bags and biscuit boxes. On the other hand, their assailants had far more firearms and were much better shots than the Zulus. Furthermore, Chakdara had to hold out for ten times as long as Rorke's Drift before relief and, at least towards the end, was outnumbered by certainly twice the numbers facing B Company, 2/24 Foot ... Then again, the officers at Rorke 's Drift were supported by their own countrymen whereas those at Chakdara relied upon men of a different race and religion.'

None of the officers at Chakdara were awarded the Victoria Cross, and at that time Indians were not eligible, but two were awarded the D.S.O. and seven received the Order of Merit. The remaining officers, including Surgeon Captain Hugo, were mentioned in despatches.

This was not the end of the campaign for the 31st Punjabis. The Regiment was allocated to the Malakand Field Force, commanded by General Sir Bindon Blood, which then set out to pacify the Swat Valley area. On 17 August, the cavalry located a force of about 5000 hostile tribesmen at Landakai, some eight miles from Chakdara, at a place known as "the Gate of Swat". While the mountain artillery bombarded the enemy sangars, the 31st and other units scaled the hills on the enemy's left and then attacked down a spur. Taken by surprise and with their escape route threatened, the enemy broke. This battle was notable for an incident in which three cavalry officers were awarded V.C.s for going to the rescue of two comrades under heavy fire.

The Field Force was able to advance a further 15 miles up the river to Mingaora, where the tribesmen of Swat came in to submit. Blood next intended to move southeast to deal with the Bunerwals, but he then received new orders, to cross the Panjkora River and advance into the Bajaur region to the west.

The 1st Brigade, to which the 31st Punjabi Regiment was attached, guarded the lines of communications whilst the other two brigades advanced westwards. On the night of 14 September, the camp of the 3rd Brigade came under attack from the Mamunds. Two days later the 2nd Brigade invaded the Mamund Valley to punish them but suffered heavy casualties during the withdrawal.

On 30 September, the 31st Punjabis took part in an attack against the fortified villages of Agrar and Gat, in the northwest corner of the Mamund territory, only five miles from the Afghan border. Half a mile apart and mutually supporting, they stood on the lower slopes of steep hills with their flanks guarded by spurs covered in large rocks "the strongest position of any yet seen". The brigade's advance could not be concealed and tribal drums could be heard beating urgently in the still air as Mamunds massed round their standards on the spurs and cliffs behind the village, while others were seen hurrying through the thick scrub and boulders to outflank any advance.

The 31st, on the right of the advance, were held up by very heavy fire from some huge boulders to their front and on the right. When gunfire failed to shift the riflemen, the Punjabis rose to charge. As they did so their Commanding Officer, Lt. Col. O'Bryen, fell mortally wounded. His men, said to be devoted to him, then cleared the boulders with a bayonet charge but came under renewed fire from further back around Gat. Enemy resistance proved more tenacious than expected and the Brigade had to retreat with casualties of 12 dead and 49 wounded. Despite this success, the Mamunds suffered heavily in the campaign and by late October they made their submission. Blood then turned back to the Bunerwals, who had played a leading role in the attacks on Malakand and Chakdara.

Blood's force, now designated the Buner Field Force, waited through December while the necessary supplies and transport were assembled. The Bunerwals' mountainous territory could be approached by three passes, the main advance was made via the Tanga Pass. The 1st Brigade marched out of camp on 7 January 1898 and, after a bombardment of the enemy positions on the crest of the pass, they began their assault at midday with the 31st Punjabis in the centre. A soldier from the Highland Light Infantry described the attack on the pass:

'The enemy's standards were fluttering in the breeze far above us and the shells from the batteries flew screaming over our heads. The pass from the bottom does not look so steep as it really is. Before we had gone far, however, we found we were in for an exceedingly stiff climb. Soon we began to enter the fire zone, it being not only frontal but also from the left ... the farther we advanced upward the hotter the fire became, and the enemy now began to let loose immense boulders which came thundering down the hillside ... scrambling up the last few yards, we all advanced together ... a few minutes later we had all reached the crest of the pass, raising a cheer as we saw the enemy fast disappearing down the opposite slope.'

The force then traversed the whole of Buner in two columns, meeting no further resistance, only submissions, then withdraw via the Ambela Pass, scene of hard fighting in 1863. Surgeon Captain Hugo was awarded two more claps to his India General Service Medal for his participation in this campaign.

With the suppression of the great Frontier uprising, Hugo returned to the routines of peace-time soldiering and made good professional progress. He was promoted to the rank of Major on 27 July 1904 and admitted as a Fellow at the Royal College of Surgeons in 1906. He was appointed Professor of Surgery at King Edward's Medical College, Lahore and a Member of the Medical Board, India Office. In 1909, Hugo married Helen Frances, daughter of E. Newton of Peterborough and was later promoted to Surgeon Lieutenant-Colonel on 27 July 1912.

On the outbreak of the Great War, the Indian Government offered the British two infantry divisions and two cavalry divisions. The Lahore and Meerut divisions disembarked at Marseilles in mid-October, practised for a day or two with the Lee Enfield rifle, which was new to them, then entrained for the front. The first Battalions were in the front line at Ypres on 21 October 1914. Hugo joined them in France on 12 January 1915. The winter of 1914-15 was severe, and the Indians suffered much from the cold and wet. They took part in the attack of Neuve Chapelle in March 1915 and succeeded in breaking the German line at one point but were unable to hold their gains.

Hugo was then appointed to the Hospital Ship Gascon for service in the Gallipoli campaign. She was one of twenty two vessels to be so employed; they were painted white with large red crosses on their sides. Gascon was deployed off Anzac Cove, where units of the Indian Army, including mountain artillery and Gurkhas, served alongside the Australians and New Zealanders. On board the Gascon, the veteran Irish doctor found himself working with young Australian nurses, several of whom left diaries and letters recounting their experiences. One of them, Sister Ella Tucker, recorded on the 25 April 1915:

'Red letter day. Shells bursting all round, we are off Gaba Tepe.
She continued, 'The wounded from the landing commenced to come on board at 9 am and poured into the ship's wards from barges and boats. The majority still had on their field dressing and a number of these were soaked through. Two orderlies cut off the patient's clothes and I started immediately with dressings. There were 76 patients in my ward and I did not finish until 2 am.'

That day the Gascon took on board 557 wounded. The supportive medical care, treatment and management must have simply been horrendous and overwhelming. Each day, a stream of trawlers and steamboats towed rowing boats and barges full of sick and wounded out to the hospital ships, which then carried them to hospitals on the nearby islands of Imbros and Lemnos, or sometimes further afield to Alexandria and even Malta.

Another nurse, Sister Kitchen, recorded:

'The work gets heavier daily, the flies are a continued pest and the atmosphere oppressive down below in the ward'.

Sister Tucker wrote:

'Every night there are two or three deaths, sometimes five or six; it's just awful flying from one ward to another ... each night is a nightmare, the patients' faces all look so pale with the flickering ship's lights.'

Conditions became even worse when, in the summer, the army was swept by an epidemic of dysentery. Stretchers were laid on the deck and the scuppers were used as latrines. It was '...so crowded that the nurses gave up their bunks to the patients, the men were pouring with dysentery and so weak they could not walk.' From April 1915 to January 1916, Gascon carried more than 8.000 sick and wounded from Gallipoli.

Hugo then went on to serve in Mesopotamia. In December 1915, a British expeditionary force was besieged in Kut and, throughout the first few months of 1916, other British and Indian forces tried to come to their relief. With tens of thousands of sick and wounded, the Army Medical Services broke down completely:

'A wounded man first suffered a torture worse than being drawn on a hurdle through the cobbled streets of London to Tyburn. The only transport for him was the T (Animal Transport) cart, an iron-framed box without springs jolting across the desert on iron-shod wheels behind two mules, its occupants screaming in agony whenever the mules shied or the driver had to rush them up the steep bank of a nullah. Having arrived at the river bank, only a few of the worst cases could be crammed into the hospital ships: most were dumped onto the open decks of barges in pouring rain, without even mattresses, men with stomach wounds and fractured thighs sandwiched between men with amoebic dysentery. When you went aboard, (wrote one officer), the stench almost knocked you down. I fear many poor devils died - of wounds officially - really of neglect. With luck they might reach Basra in five days, having their wounds dressed once en route. By that time the decks were slippery with blood and faeces, and the sides of the ship festooned, as though with ropes, with dried stalactites of human shit. Wounds festered, turned gangrenous and maggoty; the least of a wounded man's suffering was the unbearable irritation of ants getting under the dressing and feeding on the blood and pus. Even the lightly wounded developed huge, festering bedsores.' (C. Chevenix Trench)

Hugo distinguished himself in these difficult conditions; he was promoted to acting Colonel, was twice 'mentioned' and made a C.M.G..

In May 1919 the new Amir of Afghanistan provoked a border incident on the Frontier, and sent his army to occupy British territory, from Chitral in the north to the Khyber Pass. Although demobilisation was in full progress the British responded vigorously, and the Afghans sued for peace after only a few weeks. However, Afghan agents had also stirred up the Pathan tribes and their revolt, on a scale to match that of 1897-98, was a much more serious matter. Many British forts along the border had to be abandoned, and the fighting in Waziristan dragged on well into the 1920s.

Hugo, who had reverted to his substantive rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, participated in this campaign for which he was awarded his third campaign medal for service on the Frontier. Conditions in the summer of 1919 were particularly harsh, with temperatures constantly 7-10 degrees higher than the daily average for the past twenty years, and a scarcity of clean drinking water. In addition to battle casualties, 566 personnel died from cholera and another 334 died from other diseases and accidents.

Hugo resumed the chair of surgery at Lahore until his retirement at the age limit in 1922. He settled at Richmond, Surrey residing at 75 Queen's Road, and served on the medical board of the India Office. He took much interest in the work of the Richmond division of the British Medical Association, becoming its chairman, and was President of the Surrey Branch in 1934-35. He also worked for the Red Cross, the Royal Hospital, Richmond and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution which awarded him its Gold Medal. He died at his home on 24 December 1951. Mrs. Hugo presented his war diaries to the Royal College of Surgeons Library in 1956, where they can be viewed by prior arrangement.


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