210127 Pte. Hugh Elias Hughes British Army 10th Battlion Royal Welsh Fusiliers from:Oak Cottage, Llanrhos, Caernarfonshire, North Wales Hugh Elias Hughes from Llanrhos in North Wales is mentioned in the nominal roll of 9th Queen's Royal Lancers as having joined the regiment in France on the 16th June 1916. At this time the 9th Lancers were preparing for the Somme Offensive and were to be used for the break-through (that never occurred). The battle of the Somme started on the 1st July with the men of the 9th being used as "vulture parties" to collect the dead and wounded from the battlefield,
On the 4th of October 1916 Hugh was transferred to the 10th Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Hugh's younger brothers, Griffith and Ivor, were also serving in this Battalion, whilst their eldest sibling, William, was transferred from the 1/6th (Territorial) Battalion to the 1st Battalion of the Regiment in February 1917. On the 13th November 1916 (Battle of Ancre), Ivor was wounded during an assault on the village of Serre, being shot through the thigh.
Sadly, less than a year later (2nd of October 1917) William was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest; he left a wife and two young children. Williams's injuries were sustained during a counter attack by the German 46th Reserve Battalion (consisting of 3 Battalions and 3 Sturmtruppe); the attack falling on the area of Polygon Wood covered by the 1st Battalion RWF and the 8th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment.
William would have first been taken to a field dressing station just behind the front line where morphine would have been administered and his wound dressed; from there he was evacuated to No. 3 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station at Poperinge where he finally succumbed to his wounds on the 2nd of October 1917.
William's grave is in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery situated 12 kilometres west of the town of Leper in Belgium, grave reference number XXIV.F.12. William is also commemorated on his parent's memorial headstone in Llanrhos churchyard.
Hugh Elias Hughes continued to serve with the 10th RWF until February 1918 when the Battalion was finally disbanded; he was then transferred to the 7th (Pioneer) Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment. It was whilst serving with this regiment that he was injured.
The story the family passed down regarding his wounding, is that Hugh was in a dugout playing cards with four comrades; the dugout received a direct hit from a German artillery shell and all four of his pals were killed instantly. The rest of the dugout collapsed down onto Hugh but he was eventually pulled from the carnage suffering with severe head injuries and associated memory loss. The family may well have been informed that Hugh was missing because, as the story goes, Hugh's mother was convinced that he was still alive and sent a photograph of him to help with his identification.
Eventually Hugh was identified and returned home to Llanrhos in December 1918. Unfortunately the tragedy does not end here, as after leaving the Army, Hugh suffered acutely from his head wound, any loud noise would result in panic, with him displaying the terrible character changing symptoms so often associated with severe head trauma and battle stress.
In August 1920, Hugh and a former sailor called Thomas Henry Lewis decided to leave the Llandudno area to try and find work; so they walked to Chester, eventually finding temporary employment at Rake Lane farm in Eccleston.
Following an unsuccessful attempt to gain work in the mines in Wrexham, Hugh found himself back in Chester, by now separated from Thomas and in in a very drunken and distressed state. Sadly, whilst in this condition Hugh threw himself from a bridge over the river Dee and drowned.
Hugh's father Owen travelled to Chester to identify his son's body and give evidence at the inquest, the city coroner Mr E Brassey returned a verdict of "suicide whilst of unsound mind".
Hugh is commemorated on his parent's memorial stone in Llanrhos churchyard and can be considered as much a victim of the Great War as his brother William.
|