In memory of John Idwal Hughes
John Idwal Hughes was born in 1897 to Robert and Jane Hughes of Deanfield (Cae’r Deon), Bangor, writes Bridget Geoghegan. In 1901 the family was living at 55 Carnarvon Road, Bangor. John was three years old. His sisters Anne Jane and Charlotte Dilys were five years old and nine months old respectively. Later the family lived at 40 Penchwintan Road.
Bangor-born Robert Hughes was a clerk on the London & North Western Railway. John did not follow in his father’s footsteps, embarking instead on a career with the General Post Office (GPO). At the age of 13 he worked as a “Telegraph Messenger”. John would have been a trustworthy lad, as it was important to keep the contents of a telegraph message secret.
John also received basic military training in the Boys’ Corps of the Railway Institute. The Boys’ Corps was for sons and nephews of LNWR employees.
Most GPO boys had to seek other work when they reached 16, but John was retained as a temporary assistant postman. The GPO was a branch of the Civil Service at that time, and John had a good career ahead of him.
He worked at post offices on Anglesey, then at Llanfairfechan from 1915 until he joined the Royal Engineers in September 1916.
John served as a Sapper. In summer 1917 he was posted to east Africa, where British forces had been resisting the German presence since April 1915. His knowledge of postal and telegraph systems may have been useful to the Engineers, who ran postal and telegraph systems during the war.
John died of dysentery on 26 November 1917. He was 20 years old. He is buried at Dar Es Salaam War Cemetery, Tanzania.
Return to Bangor war memorial page
Return to Railway Institute Boys’ Corps war memorial page
