[4] He topped the school cricket averages in 1897 and scored a century against Oxford Authentics in the same season.
He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in October, serving in the Army Service Corps, initially at Grove Park with the Mechanical Transport Reserve Depot.
Hutchings was seriously injured in an accident at Aldershot in 1916 and in 1917 was stationed at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain when he was fit for light duties.
[5] Hutchings was awarded the Silver War Badge and in 1918 was employed by the Admiralty at Woolwich Arsenal.
He was still working at the Stock Exchange at this time, but by the start of the war was supporting himself through private income and was the secretary of a golf course.