Born at West Firle, Sussex, the second son of the seven children born to John Hughes of West Firle and his wife, Rebecca. His father was an agricultural labourer.
(Both his father and mother died in 1871, aged 66 years and 67 years respectively.)
Enlisted at Brighton on the 19th of January 1854.
Age: 18.
Height: 5' 6".
Trade: Labourer.
Appearance: Fresh complexion. Blue eyes. Dk. brown hair.
Wounded in action at Balaclava and sent to Scutari on the 26th of October 1854.
Invalided to England via Malta on the 16th of December 1854 and from there aboard the "Orinoco" on the 21st of January 1855 to Chatham Invalid Depot, arriving on the 12th of February.
Sent from the Invalid Depot at Chatham to Lewes, Sussex, on the 30th of June 1855, "on furlo till discharge."
Finally discharged from Chatham Invalid Depot on the 16th of October 1855. "Being found unfit for further military service. Right arm partially disabled after a gun-shot wound received at Balaclava. Wound situated at lower and delta edge of deltoid, with great loss of substance..."
Awarded a pension of 10d. per day.
Served 1 year 9 months.
In Turkey and the Crimea: 8 months.
Conduct and character: "Good." Not in possession of any Good Conduct badges.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Balaclava and Sebastopol, but the latter is not recorded on the clasp roll.
On the 25th of October 1997 a Crimean medal with clasps for Balaclava and Sebastopol and engraved naming in upright characters to "Private John Hughes, 4th Dragoons.", was offered in a Geoffrey Hoare auction at Toronto in Canada, with an advance bidding price of $3,000, Further enquiry showed that the medal had been (along with a number of others of various periods) brought in by a vendor who knew nothing more about them than they had been amongst items left by his grandmother, and was totally unaware of the significance of this particular medal, (See picture of this medal in the 4th Hussar file.)
(This medal was again known of in August of 2000 as being offered by an American gun and militaria dealer in his list.)
To live at Lewes, Sussex, after discharge, and was still living in the Brighton Pension District until permanently transferring to the No. 1 West London Pension District from the 31st of March 1857.
The Pension Book (WO/23/52) shows his pension as being paid to the 31st of May 1857 in the No 1 West London Pension District, but he is not shown in the "Deaths" column as dying on any particular date as is usual, the only further entry being one showing him as being "Struck off" — and dated the 4th of February 1858. There is no further explanation of this. The actual Pension Lists for the No. 1 West London Pension District (WO/22 series) confirms what is already known except that the fact of his being "Struck off" is entered under the column relating to men who had been transferred from one District to another, and not under that showing the cessation of a pension for any particular reason. i.e., for misConduct: or only being granted for a particular period, etc etc.,
Further research shows that a communication was received regarding his being struck off the Pensions List, under Letter No. 841998/17 on the 4th of February 1858. Another man, 1307 James Royal, of the 11th Hussars, also appears as being "struck-off" the pension lists on the 8th of February 1858 in the same manner, but with a Letter No. of 99000/413, but copies of the letters have not existed. In the case of the latter man however, it is known that he re-enlisted into the Bengal Artillery of the East India Company shortly before this. (See his record) As for John Hughes, because of the nature of his wound, there would have been no possibility of his ever re-enlisting. There is no record of John Hughes ever again being shown as being on the Pension Lists (as least as far as the No. 1 West London District is concerned, to the end of 1862, after which the records no longer exist.
A "John Hughes" joined the Metropolitan Police, Warrant No. 35727, on the 9th of March 1857 on a parchment "Certificate of character" from the 4th Light Dragoons. (There was none other of this name serving, or had served, at this time.) He was serving in "T" Division (which in those days covered much of West London, such as Kensington, Fulham, Chelsea, Hammersmith and Chiswick) when he died on the 11th of June 1857, the cause of death being "Inflammation of the Brain." His date (and cause) of death was obtained from Metropolitan Police records. Whether this was the same man as 1584 John Hughes cannot yet (1984) be proved, although it is most likely, but no official record in the St. Catherine's House records can yet be found..
(The Metropolitan Police "Deaths" Register covering the years 1828-1878 confirm what is already known, but show "T" Division as being specifically Kensington.) Catherine's House records show three men of this Christian and surname as dying during the April-June quarter of 1857 in the London area, (one in the St. Luke's, Fins bury, District, but he can be eliminated because he is known to have been 76 years of age and his date of death not the same, and two at Islington. Of these, the fact that their age at death was not shown at this period makes actual identical comparison difficult. A check of the Islington Cemetery records shows that neither of these two men was buried there.