It has been impossible so far to find any census returns for this family so most of  the information comes from Army records. There does seem to be a connection with Daniel Jones who is also named on the Llanasa memorial. Both men have the address Brookes Terrace, Berthengam, Holywell. They both have a mother named Eliza. It may just be a coincidence.

There is, however, an index card for Edward Hughes in The Flintshire Roll of Honour in The County Record Office in Hawarden which gives us a good start. It gives the address, Brooks Terrace, Berthengham Holywell and it gives us his regiment and number – as stated above. It says on the card that he was ‘Killed in action in the Persian Gulf’ The card was signed on the 19th September 1919 by E Hughes (possibly his mother).

UK Soldiers who died in The Great War 1914-19 accessible on www.ancestry.co.uk confirms the regimental details and adds that Edward enlisted in Mold. He was killed in Mesopotamia (now Iraq). His medal card also on Ancestry lists his three medals, confirms his death date and adds that his first Theatre of war was the Balkans (Gallipoli) which he entered on 27th October 1915.

Edward’s Service Records have luckily survived though some of the pages are quite illegible. He signed up for the duration of the war on the 25th January 1915. He was 21 years old and his Trade was ‘labourer’. He gave his address as Brooks Terrace, Berthengham. He was medically examined and was 5 feet 3 1/2 inches tall, weighed 133 lbs, had a chest measurement of 35 inches with an expansion range of 2 inches. His physical development was good. He was officially appointed to the 17th Battalion of the RWF on the 8th February 1915 by a senior officer in Llandudno.

The Records tell us that in September of 1915 when presumably he was still in training, he got into a spot of bother. On the 8th September that year he was ‘Absent off pass until reporting himself at 5.30am on the 10th September’. He was Confined to Barracks for two days and forfeited 2 days pay.  This was about 6 weeks before he went to Gallipoli.

Edward obviously survived Gallipoli. The records show that he embarked from Port Said on the 14th February 1916 and disembarked at Basra on the 28th February 1916 for service in what was then called Mesopotamia. About 5 weeks later he was dead. He had been ‘killed in action in the field’.

The records contain some correspondence between the army and William Hughes- Edward’s father regarding  Edward’s Medals,  his commemorative plaque and scroll, King’s message and his personal effects.

There is in the records a Living Relatives Form that the army required the Hughes family to complete after the war in August 1919. It listed the immediate family as follows,

Father William Hughes  and Mother Eliza  of  Brooks Terrace Berthengham. It says there were two brothers aged 20 and 17 and three sisters aged 35, 24 and 22.  But there were no names given.

Edward is also named on the Picton memorial