Medals from the Collection of the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, Part 5

The 1914-15 Star awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel R. G. H. Hughes, who served as Commanding Officer of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry from 1904 to 1907, and later commanded the 5th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers during the Great War 1914-15 Star (Lt. Col. R. G. H. Hughes.) very fine £100-£140 --- Reginald George Hutton Hughes was born on 22 November 1860 and was educated at Rugby School, Brasenose College, Oxford, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was commissioned Lieutenant in the Oxfordshire Light Infantry on 9 September, 1882 and joined the 52nd at Limerick, two months later. He served in Gibraltar, in 1884 and went to India in 1886, becoming a Special Service Officer in Burma, for which he was awarded the medal with clasp. He was promoted Captain on 27 February 1892 and was Station Staff Officer at Naini Tal 1893-95, being appointed Adjutant of the 4th Battalion (Oxfordshire Militia) 1896-1901. He was promoted Major on 7 July 1900, and was appointed to be Second in Command of the 43rd, which he commanded on the voyage to India in 1903. He was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel on 2 September 1904, and was for three years in command of the 52nd at Chatham and Tidworth, until he retired on retired pay in 1907. In September 1914 he was appointed to command the new 7th (Service) Battalion of the regiment. In 1914 he took command of the newly formed 7th Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. On the 21st of January 1915 he resigned the command of the Battalion owing to ‘Ill health’. He returned to service as a Draft Conducting Officer, first landing in France on 23 December 1915. He would later take command of the 5th Battalion Royal Fusiliers and accompany them into action for the remainder of the war. At the time of his death on 9th September 1935, he was residing at The Barn House, Watlington, Oxford. Sold together with a photographic image of the recipient.