Hugh Michael Bradford was born in Tickencote in September 1879, the son of Robert Michael and Charlotte Bradford. His father had also been born in Tickencote but when Hugh was just one year old the family moved to London and were living in Clapham. At some stage the family emigrated to New Zealand. Before the war began Robert and Charlotte had settled at Westport beside the coast and in the middle of the Paparoa National Park on South Island. Hugh meanwhile had settled in Wairorongomai near Wellington on North Island. He enlisted with the 1 Battalion New Zealand Rifle Brigade in May 1915 and sailed for Egypt in December 1915. While there he spent some time in hospital before embarking for Europe. By January 1917 he was attached to the divisional salvage corps. Records described him as single and his father as next of kin. Hugh died accidentally while on leave in London. The Croydon inquest recorded: "[He] died from the effects of the inhalation of coal gas in his bedroom, he having accidentally turned on again the gas tap in his bedroom when he went to turn it off for the night." Hugh is buried in Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey, grave VIII.E.9. At some stage after he left to fight in the war, his parents moved to South Africa and were registered as living in Germiston in Transvaal. Despite the Bradford family history in Tickencote, Hugh is not remembered on the war memorial there.