His elder brother, Ralph, was intended to inherit the title and had been married to Maud Grosmont, daughter of Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and Isabel de Beaumont in 1344, with the expectation that he would expand the Stafford estates by inheriting the Lancastrian duchy.

Hugh joined his father in the French campaigns in 1359, being part of the retinue of Edward, Prince of Wales, spending time in Gascony and northern Spain.

The Annals of Bermondsey Priory record that he murdered Robert Hawley in Westminster Abbey on 11 August 1378.

He was on the committee of nobles who conferred regularly with the Commons, being deemed suitable by that House to be part of the new 'continual council' of state.

[4][5] The Countess Philippa died on 6 April 1386, and it was probably this combined with the death of his eldest son that pushed him to undertake a series of pilgrimages.