Hughes





Life
Thomas Hughes FSA (1826-1890). Born in Chester, he attended The King's School, which was then housed in the old monk's refectory in the Cathedral. Later in life, he became a governor of the school and founder of its old boys' association. He was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, served as Sheriff of Chester and also as warden of St Johns Church.

His home was The Mount, which formerly stood in St Werburgh Street opposite the Cathedral. Just before it was demolished, he commissioned a picture of it from local landscape artist Louise Raynor.

Not to be confused with...

 * Thomas Hughes, social reformer and children's writer sought an appointment, which he was given in July 1882, as a county court judge. This brought an end to his involvement in politics, and a move to Chester. He resigned from the Co-operative Union. His work as a judge seems to have been congenial to him although, according to John Telford, "his rough and ready justice became a byword for constant reversal on appeal" (Telford, 10). During the 1880s he wrote four more biographies, including Daniel Macmillan (1882) and David Livingstone (1889). John Douglas built him a house called Uffington, at Dee Hills Park, Chester, to which he moved in October 1885. His daughter, Lilian Hughes, perished in the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912.


 * Thomas (Leonard) Hughes, artist, who painted a few of the portraits of several mayors of Chester which hang in the Town Hall.

Works

 * The stranger's handbook to Chester and its environs by Thomas Hughes (1858);