Hugh St Aubyn Wake was born in Kent on 27 March 1870. His father was Admiral Charles Wake, his mother was Emma St Aubyn. Hugh was the seventh child out of ten. He attended RMC Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Northumberland Fusiliers on 2 May 1891. He served in Peshawar and was promoted to lieutenant in February 1893. He transferred to the Indian Army in May 1895 and became an officer in the 43rd Gurkha Rifles, which was redesignated the 2nd Battalion 8th Gurkha Rifles in 1907. He was promoted to captain on 10 July 1901, and major on 2 May 1909. In 1910 he was in charge of the four Indian Army officers selected as King’s Indian Orderly Officers sent to London that year.
When World War One broke out his battalion was sent to France, and he became an early casualty of the war. He was killed in action at Festubert on 30 October 1914. He was buried at Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, Departement du Pas-de-Calais. He is commemorated in the Chapel at RMA Sandhurst, also in St Giles and St Nicholas Church, Sidmouth, Devon, and at St Peter & St Paul’s Church, Courtenhall, Northamptonshire (see photo).
