The deceased was the youngest of nine children born to John Burn Bailey, born Surrey, England, and his wife, Ann, who was born in Bedfordshire in 1817. The couple married on 6 July 1847 in Luton, Bedfordshire. Siblings of the deceased were: Agnes Jane born 1850; Walter John born 1851; Eleanor Matilda born 1852; Edith Elizabeth born 1854; Blanche Isabel born 1855; Alice Maude born 1858; Mary Caroline born 1860; Ernest Edgar born 1861. Hugh's father died in 1895 and his mother in 1898, both in Middlesex, England.