In memory of John John Hughes
John John Hughes was born in 1894 to John and Mary, writes his nephew John Hughes. The family lived at a smallholding named Hafod Owen, in Ceunant, Llanrug. After the war the parents lived at Tan y Coed, Llanrug. The photo shows John with his two sisters, Jane (centre) and Elizabeth.
They had another brother, Richard, who died at Hafod Owen, aged 23, of pneumonia before the First World War. They also had another sister, Mary, who was married by the war and later lived in Deiniolen.
John worked as a quarryman before he enlisted in the army in Llanberis. He may have been one of the many quarrymen who signed up after the visit to Llanberis of the Rev John Williams of Brynsiencyn, Anglesey, in September 1914 on a controversial recruiting mission.
John served initially as a Private with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, before transferring to the Machine Gun Corps. He survived battles at Somme, Ypres and Arras. He paid a visit to Hafod Owen while on leave in October 1917.
He returned to the Western Front and was killed in action on 24 April 1918, aged 24. He is buried at Varennes Military Cemetery, in the Somme region of France. Having lost both of their sons, John and Mary Hughes had to leave their smallholding at Hafod Owen and moved to Tan y Coed, Llanrug.
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