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Colonel Alfred George Hutchins and his wife Mary came to live at Ellacombe on West Hill in about 1903 (now I think the house is called The Old Vicarage). Although he was still nominally on the Active List in the Madras Infantry until January 1898 when he was moved to the Unemployed Supernumerary List, he and his wife had left India around 1895 and back in England, they lived in London in Ladbroke Grove from 1899 -1902. 

Alfred Hutchins was born in January 1841 in Hanover Square, London where his father had a dental practice. He applied for a cadetship in the army of the East India Company during the 1858-59 intake season, and joined the Madras Infantry as an Ensign in February 1859. He had progressed to Lieutenant by February 1860 and Captain by April 1870 and at that time he was Adjutant of the 39th Native Infantry.

Earlier, in January 1862 he had married Mary Fothergill Norfor in Cuddalore on the coast of Tamil Nadu. She had been born in Madras and was the daughter of Benjamin Norfor who was the Cuddalore sea customs officer at that time. Her paternal grandfather was, I believe, a sea captain working for the East India Company. At the time of the 1871 UK census the couple were back in England living in Solihull with Alfred’s sister Georgina, her husband and children. The Army Lists tell us that Alfred was on sick furlough in England from 1871 to 1873 but by 1874 he was back in India as Wing Subaltern in the 36th Native Madras Infantry.

In 1879 he was promoted to Major and having qualified for the Army Staff and earlier passed the exam in lower standard Tamil he was able to take up the appointment of Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General (DAQMG) of the Madras Army in December 1879 and in 1881 was officiating in the Malabar and Canara region. He continued as DAQMG until December 1884. Below is an account which shows that he didn’t spend all his times in barracks (1):

“In the cold weather of 1879-80 General Prendergast went on a tour to inspect the southern districts of Madras. Colonel A. G. Hutchins, who was his D.A.Q.M.G., accompanied him as Staff Officer. They first went to Trichinopoly (where they stayed with Colonel Frank Weldon of 6th Madras Infantry) and duly inspected the 6th and 21st Madras Native Infantry. During the inspection on the Putur maidan, the General sent his Staff Officer to request a lady, who was on a noisy pony, and would insist on coming to the inspection, to move off the grounds as her pony was causing the General’s horse to give trouble. After leaving Trichinopoly, they went to Palamcottah, and inspected the detachment there, staying a night en route at Madura with Sir Philip Hutchins, the judge at Madura. From Palamcottah to Trevandrum and thence to, Quilon, Cochin, and Trichoor, and to Cannanore again by steamer from Calicut (sic). A few days later they proceeded to Mangalore by steamer, and returned by land, where the General took much interest in visiting the old ruined fortified lines at Cassagode and Baikal, some 25 to 30 miles south of Mangalore".  The above account was undoubtedly written well after the event and has an inaccuracy because Hutchins wasn’t promoted to Lieutenant Colonel until February 1885 and to Colonel until February 1889. 

After his spell as DAQMS he returned to the Madras Infantry and was made Commandant of the Nilgiri Rifle Volunteers. This must have been a pleasant appointment because Nilgiri was one of the favoured hill stations in the area. The rifle volunteers were a mixed force of Europeans and Eurasians and there were several of these volunteer forces around India which were set up after the Indian Mutiny to provide forces that were reliably loyal to the Crown. He returned to the 31st Native Infantry as a Wing Commander in 1887 and then took on the added responsibility of being Commander of the battalion in 1888 and 1889.

His last appointment in India was as Deputy Quartermaster General of the Madras Army from 1890 to 1893. In 1894 he was unattached but still living in India. In 1895-7 he is recorded in the Army Lists as “residing out of India”. He is not recorded as having had any war service during his time with the Army.

When the couple moved to Budleigh Colonel Hutchins soon became involved in local activities. In May 1904 he was elected to the Committee of the Cricket Club and in 1905 he joined a Committee to set up a Morris tube shooting club in the town. (The need for a short-range, small-calibre training rifle led to the adoption of the Tube Aiming Morris Martini-Henry Rifle, Mark I, or Morris Tube for short. The need was driven by the desire of the Army and Admiralty for more marksmanship training for soldiers and sailors. The relatively densely populated character of the British countryside provided limited venues for full-length small arms firing ranges, but a sub-calibre cartridge could easily be fired on short ranges or even indoors. The Morris Tube for the M-H rifle used a very small calibre centre-fire cartridge of limited range, which had the added advantage of low cost). Mark Rolle agreed to provide a site for the range. The Budleigh Salterton Rifle Club was set up around this time and initially used the Public Rooms for their weekly shoots (for men and women). A building was erected on an old gravel pit in Knowle Road and Colonel Hutchins, (who was the Honorary Secretary of the Club), and others provided funds in 1908 for the building fund (2). In 1906 Alfred was elected to the Urban District Council and was re-elected in 1909 (3). He served until 1912 and then wished to retire but there were no nominations for the vacancy and he was re-elected, however to avoid being fined for leaving post without giving 6 months notice he immediately resigned and there were then luckily several candidates to fill the vacancies (4).

Mary Hutchins died in early 1914 and Alfred remarried in September 1915 to Flora Eleanor Norman and they initial lived in Ellacombe but moved at the end of WW1 to 17 Hartley Road, Exmouth.

The Hutchins had obviously brought a collection of painting back from Madras with them because in November 1915 (after his first wife’s death and his re-marriage) he donated 10 watercolours to a Treasures Auction in Exeter in aid of the British Red Cross. 

Colonel Hutchins died in 1925 and his second wife in 1928.

Researched and Written by Roger Lendon © 2018

(1) From: “The Life of General Sir H. N. D. Prendergast” by Colonel Henry M. Vibart, R.E.  Eveleigh Nash 1914 London
(2) Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 31 October 1908           
(3) Exeter & Plymouth Gazette 1906 & 1909
(4) Western Times March 22nd 1912

BS-B-00083 Biography