Hugh Morgan Aplin lived at Clinton Lodge, in Golf (now Links) Road in Budleigh Salterton from the time of WWI till his death in August 1934 (1,2,3).  He had been born in St. Helier, Jersey in October 1856, the third son of Captain D’Oyley D’Auvigne Aplin and his wife Eliza Frances Morgan; his father later attained the rank of Vice Admiral just before he died (4).  His mother Eliza had also come from a naval family her father being James Morgan, a Rear Admiral.  

In 1861 Hugh was living with his mother and an elder brother Elphinstone in Hammersmith with his father away on duty, and in 1871 we find him at the newly built Christ’s College in Hendon Lane Finchley as a 14 year-old school pupil.  The school was an Anglican School, intended to provide a public school education at reasonable fees.  He joined the Royal Artillery as a Lieutenant in January 1875 and by 1882 was a Deputy Assistant Commissary-General of Ordnance at Chatham with the rank of Captain.  The same year he served in Egypt and received the medal and star for the campaign.  He was promoted Major in 1891 (5).  

In 1887 he married Annie Scott-Campbell, daughter of Lt. Colonel J. Scott.  She was from the Midlothian region of Scotland.  They had three children, Gladys born in Chatham in 1890, Muriel born in Natal in 1891, and Eric Scott born at Upnor Castle in Kent in 1896 (4).  As Muriel was born in Natal I assume that Hugh must have spent some time on duty in South Africa but this would have been in a quiet period between the two Anglo-Boer Wars. 

Hugh and his wife and family were at Upnor Castle on the Medway near Chatham in 1901 and 1911 where he was Lieutenant Colonel at the Royal Naval Ordnance Department.  By 1918 he was living in Budleigh Salterton (see below) and had been engaged in naval ordnance work during WWI. 

Unfortunately both of Hugh and Annie’s sons lost their lives in the war.  The eldest son Elphinstone D’Oyley Aplin joined the second battalion of the Gloucester Regiment in 1913 and was promoted Lieutenant in October 1914.  He was wounded in action on the 9th May 1915 at Frezenberg Ridge near Ypres and died at No.3 Casualty Clearing Station, France.  He was complimented for distinguished conduct in the field by the Major General commanding the Division of which he was a member.  He was buried at Bailleul Communal Cemetery, Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region, France (6). 

The younger son Eric Scott Aplin joined the Worcester Regiment and was promoted Lieutenant in December 1914 (5).  He had become an acting Captain by the time he died of wounds in March 1918.  He was buried in Nine Elms British Cemetery (CWGC), Poperinge, West Flanders (West-Vlaanderen), Belgium (6).  His address was given as Clinton Lodge, Budleigh Salterton in 1918, which would have been his parents’ address. 

Hugh who gave his recreations as golf & tennis (3) died in 1934.  His daughter Muriel was living at 20 High Street in 1939 (2). 

Hugh Aplin’s younger brother Stephen Lushington Aplin also lived in the town at Woodlands (3) and like his brother Hugh, was a Vice President of the Football Club (7).  Stephen was born in 1863 and educated at Bedford School.  He joined the Royal Marines Light Infantry in 1883 and was attached to the 4th Madras Native Infantry in India in 1887.  He was involved in the Burma campaign for which he received the medal and clasp 1887-8 and then in the China-Lushai Expedition of 1889-90.  

In 1890 he married Emily Wyatt in Trinchinopoly.  Her father, Rev. J. L. Wyatt, a local missionary, married the couple being assisted by Lord Bishop Caldwell, grandfather of the bride.  The couple had two daughters, Isabel in 1892 and Violet Lilian in 1893. 

Stephen was an Assistant Commissioner of the Burma Commission by 1891 and was subsequently promoted to Deputy Commissioner and then Commissioner. He was Commissioner, Mandalay Division between 1912 and 1918. He had some involvement in WWI, being mentioned in dispatches.  Between 1916 and 1918 he was attached to the Imperial Legislative Council of India.  

He became Financial Commissioner of Burma in 1919 and a member of the Provincial Legislative Council of Burma (3).  He eventually attained the rank of Colonel, was awarded the CSI (Companion of the Star of India) and retired in 1920.  During his time in India & Burma he was the author of at least two reports, one for the Burmese Government on settlement operations in the seaport of Moulmein in 1898 (8), and one on some aspects of the jute industry in Burma and India in 1907/8 (9).  He died in June 1940 in Alvingstoke, Hants. 

Compiled and Researched by Roger Lendon, © 2010 

(1)Kelly’s Directories

(2)Telephone Directories

(3)Who’s Who in Devon 1934

(4)Census

(5)London Gazette

(6)Roll of Honour

(7)The Book of Budleigh (2005), D Richard Cann, page 144

(8)Report on the settlement operations in the fourth and fifth divisions of the town of Moulmein,1898. S L Aplin. Rangoon,1902 (from Access to Archives)

(9)Indian Factory Labour Commission (1907-08), vol.II, S.L. Aplin, D.C. Maulmain, quoted in Edinburgh Papers in South Asian Studies Number 13 (2000) page 12.

97 BS-B-00031 Biography any