Alexander was born into a military family (his father was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Artillery) and he attended the Royal Military College as a Cadet. He was “Gazetted” as a Second Lieutenant in the South Wales Borderers in 1907. Having been promoted to Lieutenant in 1909 he was seconded for service with the Colonial Office in 1912. 
This appears to have resulted in him going to Africa and serving with the East African Rifles (Kings African Rifles). In November 1914 he was promoted to Captain while still seconded to the Colonial Office and medal records confirm that he was in the Cameroons when war was declared. At some point he was recalled to his Regiment to serve on the Western Front and was in command of a Company of men on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The 2nd Battalion South Wales Borderers were part of the 29th Division tasked with the initial assault on the German front line at Beaumont Hamel. Witnesses saw him being shot within about 100 yards of the enemy trenches but, such was the intensity of the fighting in this area, his body was not found until the next year. He is buried in “Y” Ravine Cemetery in the Newfoundland Memorial Park – Beaumont Hamel.
The Hughes family lived at “Darmsden Bushes” (now Tye House) in Tye Lane but moved to Sussex around 1920.
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