The Family of Henry Hughes (1891 - 1918) - Sheffield and Merthyr Tydfil

Henry Hughes was executed by the British Army on  10th April 1918. He was 27 years old

Information on Henry is scarce but the CWGC records show that he was the son of John Charles and Ellen Hughes. 
I was researching the 1911 Census and found this entry


Name: John Hughes
Age in 1911: 52
Estimated birth year: abt 1859
Relation to Head: Head Gender: Male
Birth Place: Sheffield, Yorkshire, England Civil Parish: Sheffield County/Island: Yorkshire-West Riding Country: England
Street address: 25 New St Sheffield Marital Status: Married
Occupation: Hawker Of Hardware
Registration district: Sheffield Registration District Number: 510 Sub-registration district: South Sheffield ED, institution, or vessel: 8 Piece: 27856
Household Members:
Name Age
John Hughes 52
Ellen Hughes 42
James Hughes 12

His wife of 25 years Ellen was born in Merthyr Tydfil and a check on the BMD registers revealed this entry 

Surname First name(s) District Vol Page
Marriages Sep 1886 HUGHES John Merthyr T Volume 11a Page 659 Spouse Ellen Jones

and then there was this entry five years later

Births Mar 1891 Hughes Henry Merthyr T. Volume 11a  Page 671.

Superficially this could be Henry's family but to be certain I would need further information to verify them. I could send of for the certificates and this would undoubtedly help. But they cost £9.25 each at the moment which is prohibitive to say the least.  

Nevertheless three points on the census stand-out - firstly John was unable to read and write - he just placed his mark on the form and someone else must have completed it for him Secondly the family were living in just two rooms and finally their son James was living with them. There was another child that was still living (was this Henry who would have been 20 at the time of the census?) but was not resident at 25 New Street. John and Ellen had eleven children but only two were still living in 1911. 

If Henry was the other son it means that the British Army executed one of their only two surviving children. You are left literally speechless! 

Wingerworth Hall near Chesterfield Derbyshire - April 1924

I came across this cutting whilst researching an article for the site. I was going to incorporate it into an article but I found that there was an excellent website that was devoted to the history of the Hall and its occupants.

The cutting is dated 16th April 1924

Sadly this fine mansion with its many distinctive architectural features was demolished. According to the Wingerworth Hall website

"One of the (Wingerworth Hall) rooms was sold to the St Louis Museum in Missouri. The staircase, drawing room and library were for sale at Robersons of Knightsbridge in 1929, but their fate is unknown. The seventeenth century wing and stable block were subsequently converted and much of the park has now been built on."

And so if anyone comes across this blog and knows the fate of the staircase, drawing room and library please let me know

Hathersage Open Air Swimming Pool opened 1936

The same paper that featured in the previous blog Sheffield Telegraph dated Thursday 17th March 2016 also carried a report about the eightieth anniversary of the opening of the Hathersage Open Air Swimming Pool in 1936 

The pool was made possible by the generous donation of a noted Sheffield industrialist Mr. George Lawrence who lived in the village. I have a great admiration for George and it is marvelous to see that some of the projects he help fund are still going strong today.   

William Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875)

The following cutting is from the Sheffield Telegraph dated Thursday 17th March 2016 and concerns the composer and musician William Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875).

It was the bi-centennial anniversary of his birth and a series of events were to be held throughout the year to commemorate the event.

But what the article fails to mention is that William Sterndale Bennett is the only person from Sheffield to be buried in Westminster Abbey  I am unsure of the criteria that are adopted that permit a person to be buried in the Abbey, but a recent publication stated that over three thousand people are buried within the Abbey's precincts. For William to be Sheffield's only burial at the Abbey is rather perplexing given the City's prominence in the late nineteenth and twentieth century