Joseph Hughes was born in the March quarter of 1914 and if the 1939 National Register, which was taken on the 29th September 1939, shows the right Joseph Hughes, it states that his birthdate was 16th January 1914.
Joseph’s parents, John Joseph Hughes & Margaret Hill had married in the September quarter of 1909 in a Civil Ceremony at Chester. They are seen on the 1911 census living at Pentre, Mancot, Nr. Hawarden, Flintshire. John Joseph was head of the household, age 22 years and was a General Labourer at the Ironworks (Probably John Summers & Sons Ltd.) He had been born in Chester, Cheshire. Margaret Hughes, his wife, was 25 years old and she tells us that they had been married for 1 year and 1 child had been born to them and was still living, she had been born in Shotton, Flintshire. Margaret Hughes, their daughter, was 10 months old and had been born in Pentre, Hawarden. HH
Sadly, Margaret died and was buried on the 14th of July 1915, when Joseph would have been about 18 months old.
I believe that his father John Joseph then remarried in the June quarter of 1918 to Enid Roberts at Wrexham (Wrexham Vol. 11b Page 446).
By 1921 I can find his father and stepmother Enid, living at Chemistry Lane, Pentre, Queensferry, but I cannot find Joseph, who would have been just about 7 years old. John Joseph is now age 33 years and 1 month and a Crane Driver at John Summers & Sons Ltd., but out of work. Enid Hughes is now 26 years and 2 months, born in Wrexham and a Housewife.
I believe that John Joseph had died in 1930, his Probate shows us – HUGHES, John Joseph of New House, Pentre, Queensferry, Flintshire died 15th July 1930. Administration Chester 1st August to Edith HUGHES, Widow.
Joseph is seen for the first time on any documents, when the 1939 National Register was taken on the 29th of September 1939. Joseph was living at No. 1 Mill Cottages, Killins Lane, Shotton, with Geo. Henry Parry, born the 26th of October 1885, Margaret Parry Snr, born the 9th of June 1879, both married and in the household was Margaret Parry* Jnr., born the 2nd of October 1917 and Joseph Hughes was born on the 16th of January 1914 and was single and a Catcher at the Steelworks. There were 3 redacted records on the Register.
*Above the name Parry, which was crossed out, was the name Hughes, this was added years later, but meant she had married a gentleman named Hughes. Joseph & Margaret married a year later.
Joseph & Margaret married at St. Ethelwold’s Church, Shotton on the 20th of July 1940, Joseph,26, bachelor, Steelworker, his abode was Mill Cottages, Shotton, stating his father’s name as John Joseph Hughes, (Dec.) and Ironworker and Margaret Parry, 22, Spinster, Mill Cottages, Shotton. Her father as the above George Henry Parry, a Furnace Fitter. Their witnesses were John Parry, Margaret Parry & Gwendoline Margaret Turner.
I have no knowledge of Joseph’s early life, so any information on telling his story and making sure he is remembered will be gratefully received.
We do know that Joseph enlisted in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers on the 19th March 1942 and was given the Regimental Number of 4209786 and was transferred to the Dorset Regiment on the 16th July 1944, with his documents being sent to Exeter on the 8th August 1944.
There is a Casualty List which records the fact that Joseph was wounded on the 28th September 1944 with a written not to say he had been K.I.A. (No date.)
The next document we have is a Casualty List, and sadly this lists his death on the 16th February 1945, so he was only in the 5th Bn Dorset Regiment for just over 6 months.
This website gives some indication of what Joseph went through:-
The 4th and 5th Battalions The Dorsetshire Regiment in World War Two
Below is an excerpt that might relate to Joseph at least part anyway.
… Winter arrived and, in the snow, and mud around Geilenkirchen they fought bitter battles in the grimmest conditions. Here, despite the conditions and despite heavy casualties, the 5th Dorsets captured and held a wood west of Tripsrath, which in their honour was called Dorset Wood.
In February 1945 they returned north to force their way from Cleves through the Reichswald
Forest *and to close up to the Rhine. The 5th crossed the Rhine on 25th March and took the villages of Speldrop and Androp without much opposition. The 4th followed and captured Millingen. The British advance was rapid and the German defence was losing cohesion but pockets of German defenders, armed with Spandau machine guns and sometimes supported by 88mm artillery, often exacted a heavy toll before withdrawing. Liberating the Dutch towns of Hengelo and Borne the Dorsets and Hampshires established a lasting friendship with the inhabitants. Hengelo presented the Regiment with a Liberation Scroll while Borne renamed their town square Dorset Plein.
* Reichswald Forest War Cemetery is where Joseph was laid to rest, age 31 years, but he was probably first buried near to where he died at Materborn, Germany, and then he was reburied on the 17th January 1947 at Reichswald Forest War Cemetery.
Joseph was well loved as his name was put forward to be added to the War Memorial, so he wouldn’t be forgotten.
