Education and Early Training

Hugh’s parents lived at St. Ninian’s School in Moffat so this was where Hugh was schooled initially. The building, on Old Well Road, ceased to be a school in the early 1980s and was then converted into sheltered housing for ex-RAF personnel and named Dowding House . With eligibility now extended beyond the RAF, Dowding House remains an important housing resource for older people.

In 1895, aged 14, Hugh was sent to Winchester College ( where his father had also attended). He travelled there alone, via Edinburgh and London. Hugh’s time there was unremarkable – said to be poor at games, not at all academic and not social. Later writing about public schools he noted “ where the individualist is suppressed and the good citizen mass-produced.” And whilst he expressed love for his school he commented that whilst there “I spent some of the most miserable years of my life”.

Four years later, in 1899, he entered the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich with the intention of becoming an engineer- an occupation suited to his practical talents.

However, because of the outbreak of war in South Africa, Hugh’s course was shortened to 1 year. He himself has said that “laziness” resulted in poor exam results and he failed to get in to the prestigious Royal Engineers. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery in 1900, aged 18.

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