PRIVATE R. HUGHES, 70TH (SURREY) REGIMENT (THE POST 1880 2ND BATTALION THE EAST SURREY REG

PRIVATE R. HUGHES, 70TH (SURREY) REGIMENT (THE POST 1880 2ND BATTALION THE EAST SURREY REGIMENT). New Zealand Medal 1845-1866, reverse dated 1863-1865 (officially impressed: 444. ROBt. HUGHES, 70th. REGt.). Small hole drilled in rim at 6 o’clock, partially obscuring the letter “G” in surname (medal probably ex-menu holder or something similar), otherwise Good Very Fine.

Medal accompanied by 7 pages of copied service papers, copied medal roll, confirming medal with 1863-1865 reverse. Robert Hughes, born Liverpool, enlisted into the 70th Regiment at Manchester on 9/3/1858. At the time of enlistment he was 21 years of age and gave his trade as that of groom. Hughes never rose above the rank of Private and was eventually discharged at Kingston-on-Thames on 29/10/1879, Hughes claiming his discharge “on completion of his second term of limited engagement”. Service papers confirm that, in addition to service at home, Hughes saw service in New Zealand for 4 years and 313 days, and India for 7 years and 153 days. At the time of his discharge, Hughes’s conduct was described as having been “good”. At the time of discharge Hughes stated that his intended place of residence was 27 Brunswick Road, Liverpool.

The New Zealand Medal was Hughes’s sole medal entitlement. His entry on the regimental medal roll for the New Zealand Medal includes perhaps the most extensive list of actions and engagements for any man, officer or other rank, listed on the roll for the 70th Foot. These include the operations on the Waikato, Taranaki and Wanganui frontiers, the actions at Kohura and Tattamaka (?), and the storming of Rangiawhia.

Brunswick Road, where Hughes stated that he intended residing on discharge, is in the suburb of West Derby, Liverpool. Now part of the inner city, it was then a rural suburb. Hughes not traced at 27 Brunswick Road, Liverpool, in the 1871 or 1881 censuses. In 1871, 27 Brunswick Road was the home of a Richard C. Orange, a greengrocer and provision dealer, who lived there with his wife, 6 children, 2 servants and a visitor.