Hugh Theodore Pinhey was born on 7 December 1858 in
Kolhapur (now in
Maharashtra,
India) to
Robert Hill Pinhey and Mary Anne Pellew (granddaughter of the
first Viscount Exmouth), the third of eight children. His father was
puisne judge of the
High Court of Bombay. One of his younger brothers,
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Alexander Fleetwood Pinhey (1861 – 1916), was awarded the
Order of the Indian Empire in November 1901. He also had an uncle who served in the
First Anglo-Afghan War and was decorated with the
Ghuznee Medal. He also trained at the
Royal Indian Engineering College. In 1888, Pinhey married Agnes Uric Ingram. ==War in Afghanistan==