William Herbert Hughes abt 1896 to ?

[Helig]

The situation with William Herbert Hughes and his wife suggests they disappeared from the UK records after they married. Since we cannot find any deaths for them, it is possible they emigrated. The question is where?

Hugo, did you get any information as to where the 2 people of that name went to when you say you saw details of their emigration? I have looked on Ancestry but cannot find anything for a William Herbert Hughes bc1896.

I wondered whether other family members might have information on what happened to him. I had a relative marry in 1899, then emigrated to Canada with her husband shortly afterwards. It is only the fact that I remembered my mother saying she had been told they emigrated to Canada that I managed to find them in the records. Their name was Davies, they left from Machynlleth, so the name was very common in the records.

Helig.

[PhilMick]

Helig - sorry there's no one alive to help.

I'm going to look in the Stoke and Stafford archives as Ellen came from this area. I've tried the Byatt family trees but there's nothing there to help.

One line of enquiry I hope to look at is the military. William enlisted in 1914 and did a 5.5 year stint. He joined the TA in Llandudno on 1/11/21 for 12 months. His marriage to Ellen was 3/10/1922 and I wonder if the marriage date is related to something he was going to do after his one year contract was complete. Please see Meleri's post above - post 11.

I'm off abroad tomorrow so I may be slow in replying if needed.

Thanks

[Hugo]

Helig,   I'm afraid that I didn't make any notes and can't even remember the site I looked at but I think one was to South Africa and the other to Canada.
I'll have another try and will make notes next time and by the time PhilMick comes back from the sunshine we might have some more answers for him.

[Helig]

The military records for John Howard Jones Hughes show that he was discharged on 5 December 1917 at age 32. His rank was Private and he served in the Labour Corps, 362 company. Regimental number 216639. He was discharged in Nottingham. His trade is shown as Newsagent. His intended place of residence on discharge given as 15 Alexandra Road, Llandudno. The reason for discharge was that he was "no longer physically fit for war service". His conduct is shown as "good". The above information was from his Army WW1 pension record which is on Ancestry.

There is a Family Tree which shows he was discharged for an "internal derangement of the left knee (congenital)".

Helig.

[Hugo]

I tried some of those ads that keep popping up on the computer such as free War Records and Free Ancestry but it turns out that nothing was free so I soon came out of them.
One search did show a W H Hughes b 1896 departed Liverpool 1925 and emigrated to Bombay India but there was nothing else to link it to William Herbert Hughes.

[Meleri]

I have looked your W H Hughes up Hugo and it's not our man  He was an Army Officer, home address The Gables, Abergavenny. What a brick wall this one is.

[Hugo]

Thanks for that Meleri, it's a tough nut to crack this one.     I called at the Archives today and had a look in the 1922 editions of the Llandudno Advertiser and the NWWN but no mention of the wedding in either paper!
Sometimes those notices do give some leads but not in this case.

[Helig]

I have searched Ancestry but cannot find any emigration travel records that are definitely for William Herbert Hughes. There are very many for William Hughes but it would take for ever to research them all.

There are people with this family in their trees on Genes Reunited. I am a member of this and a search of other members' trees for this family shows quite a few people who have them in their lines. It is possible to make contact with these people but this might be better for PhilMick to pursue.

Something that struck me as odd was that on the page for Robert Edward Hughes on one Ancestry Family Tree, it has a photo of his gravestone in St Tudno's, he was buried with J Herbert Hodson d1929, aged 37 and Margaret Ann Hodson d1958, aged 68. I looked some more and found that Margaret Ann Hughes, sister of Robert, married Joseph Herbert Hodson. So Robert was buried with his sister and her husband.

Margaret Hughes had two children with her husband, Joseph Hodson. A son was born and died in 1916, a daughter,Margery Joyce Hodson born 1917 (7 Alexandra Road) and died 1994 in The Great Orme Nursing Home, Great Orme's Road. Margery married Roland Albert Heath who died in Chester in 1996.

The family has such strong connection with Llandudno and Alexandra Road, there must be at least a few local people who would have knowledge of them. Whether anyone knows about William Herbert Hughes is another matter.

Helig.

[Hugo]

I have looked your W H Hughes up Hugo and it's not our man  He was an Army Officer, home address The Gables, Abergavenny. What a brick wall this one is.

Hi Meleri,  after some time to think about it, I'm a bit puzzled by this.     A   William Herbert  Hughes did live at Endsleigh Road  Old Colwyn from 1939 to 1955 at least and prior to 1939 there was a person of that name living in another address in Old Colwyn.
What puzzles me is why was Wm Herbert Hughes shown as living in Old Colwyn for at least over 26  years ( inc 1929 street index)  if his home address was Abergavenny?
It is just as you say hitting a brick wall.
The Register Of Electors for Colwyn Bay is in the Ruthin Archives but I'm not likely to be going there in the near future. What I was hoping to see was the record of his wife because if she was called Ellen (Eleanor) Elizabeth it would be a coincidence, although not conclusive proof.
The best bet would be if there was a present day family member who could see these postings and help to fill in the gaps

[Meleri]

I'm sorry Hugo I haven't explained myself properly. What I was trying to say was the W H Hughes you mention you found in the free search wasn't the William we have been looking for.  The one emigrating to Bombay states his home address was Abergavenny.
Good idea to try and find information from the wedding as in the past I have found loads of really good information from the NNWN articles, but sadly you didn't find anything this time. I have tried looking at local newspapers on-line but nothing there either. 

[Hugo]

Thanks for the explanation Meleri,  fingers crossed that something will turn up soon.

Hope that the meeting in Conwy last night was positive,  I've heard no feedback on how it went.

[Helig]

The other possible method of finding some more information might be to try a post, or posts, on Roots Chat. They have some good researchers and I have had some good results on that site. There is a Military Board which has some very knowledgeable contributors too. It might be better for PhilMick to pursue this if he wants to.

Helig.

[Helig]

It might be an idea for PhilMick to make contact with the person who has the Penmon.org website http://www.penmon.org/ He has a contact who specialises in Welsh military history, the Royal Welsh are his specific interests.

The Royal Welsh Fusiliers have their regimental museum in Caernarfon Castle which may be another source of information on the service history of WHH.

http://www.rwfmuseum.org.uk/

Helig

[Hugo]

Those are good sites Helig   

After PhilMick comes back after his holidays in the Sun he'll be able to follow them up and hopefully have some luck with the search.
It'll be interesting to see how this search goes.

[Hugo]

I have had a few e-mails from a good friend of mine who is keen on family history and he has been following this story with interest.
Like all family history you have to establish conclusively that the details are correct before you can say that they are the person you are looking for.
This person may or may not  be a relative as that hasn't been established but this is what I've been told:-

Herbert Hughes and his wife split up in the 1930's but they had a son born in Old Colwyn in 1930 and his name was Herbert also, and the son still lives in Old Colwyn.
The father Herbert Hughes is believed to have moved to Rhos On Sea after the marriage split.

A birth certificate or a copy of a birth or Baptism Register of Herbert Hughes born in 1930 in Old Colwyn could rule this out as the records would reveal the names of the parents or it could just add to the mystery