Katharine Keats-Rohan says that he was the son of Hamelin Bardulf, a tenant of Hugh Bigod, who held land in Suffolk.

According to Turner and Round, the younger Hugh's mother was Isabel, who may have been a member of the Twist family from Lincolnshire.

[2] The younger Hugh acquired land at Waddington, Lincolnshire as a tenant of Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester, sometime in the middle 1140s.

[2] In 1194, Bardulf was mentioned on the escheat roll as responsible for the farm of lands held by Osbert de Bayeux, an archdeacon of York.

[4] In 1189, Hugh was one of only five sitting sheriffs who retained their office when Richard took the throne; the others included Geoffrey fitzPeter, William Briwerre, and Ranulf de Glanvill.

[7] Although Bardulf set out with the new King, Richard I on the Third Crusade, he turned back after a period in Messina, and returned to England.

[2] On 31 March 1194, Hugh was named an escheator for estates confiscated by Richard in the northern part of England in relation to John's rebellion.

[11] Around 1197, Hugh was named as responsible for the "bail and custody" of the Jewish population in England, along with William of Sainte-Mère-Eglise, the Bishop of London, who was his fellow escheator in the north.

[13] His long career as a justice helped create a sense of continuity in judicial matters through the reigns of the Angevin kings.