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George James HUGHES (1848–1908)
His wife Mrs Emma HUGHES, née Coltman (1843/4–1921)
With a mention of their children Louisa (1875–1878) and Frank (1884–1885)
St Paul’s section: Row 27, Grave H10

George James Hughes was born at 9 Friars Entry, Oxford in 1848 and baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 26 November. He was the son of the cabinet maker George Hughes (born in Oxford in 1823/4) and his wife Fanny Fletcher (born in Oxford in 1823/4). His parents were married at Summertown on 27 January 1845 and had eleven children, all born in Friar’s Entry and baptised in St Mary Magdalen Church in the years shown: Louisa Ann (1845), Sarah (1847), George James (1848), Clara Matilda (1850), Tom Percival (1852), another Clara Matilda (1855), Willie (1857), Fanny Amelia (1860), Henry Montague (1861), and Albert (1863).

George James Hughes followed the same trade as his father, and at the time of the 1871 census was a 22-year-old joiner lodging at 42 Speedwell Street with the carpenter & joiner Edward Clark and his family.

Emma Coltman was born in Uxbridge in 1843/4 and baptised there on 25 February 1844. She was the daughter of Thomas Coltman (born in Chesham, Buckinghamshire in 1810/11) and his wife Ann Adams (born in London in 1812/13) who were married at High Wycombe on 22 March 1832. Her father was a harness maker, and at the time of the 1851 census Emma was seven years old, living at Nash’s Yard, Uxbridge with her parents and four sisters: Sarah (11), Mary (9), and Christina (4). By 1861, when Emma was 17 she was housemaid to an ironmonger living at 12 Notting Hill Terrace, Kensington.

Emma’s father died in Uxbridge near the beginning of 1868 at the age of 56, and in 1871 Emma (27) was living at Hope Cottage, 33 Waterloo Road, Hillingdon, where she was working as a laundress together with her widowed mother Ann; her brother John (17), an apprentice tailor, also lived with them.

On 29 October 1871 at St Clement's Church, Notting Hill, London, George James Hughes (23), described as a joiner of 5 Mortimer Villas, married Emma Coltman (28) of 4 Holland Park Terrace. They had the following children:

• Emma Hughes (born in Uxbridge in 1872 and baptised at St Margaret's Church there on 18 August)
• George James Hughes (born at 31 Observatory Street, Oxford in 1873 and baptised at St Giles’s Church on 7 December)
• Louisa Hughes (born at 31 Observatory Street, Oxford in 1875 and baptised at St Giles’s Church on 19 December); died aged three
• Sydney Hughes (born at 31 Observatory Street, Oxford on 28 January 1877 and baptised at St Giles’s Church on 25 February)
• Priscilla Hughes (born at 31 Observatory Street, Oxford in 1879 and baptised at St Giles’s Church on 1 May)
• Alice Rose Hughes (born at 31 Observatory Street, Oxford in 1880 and baptised at St Giles’s Church on 3 November)
• Charles Hughes (born at 31 Observatory Street, Oxford on 5 March 1882 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 1 June)
• Frank Hughes (born at 31 Observatory Street, Oxford on 12 May 1884 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 15 June); died aged eight months
• Edith Clarissa Hughes (born at 118 Walton Street, Oxford on 2 July 1886 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 15 August)

George and Emma Hughes evidently began their married life at Emma’s home in Uxbridge, but by the end of 1873 were living at 31 Observatory Street, Oxford. This was in St Giles’s parish, but in the St Paul’s district chapelry: hence when their daughter Louisa Hughes who died at the age of three was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 29 August 1878, it was recorded in the St Paul’s register (Plot P.24, probably the children's area). From 1880 they also began to have their children baptised at St Paul’s Church.

The 1881 census shows George (32), now a cabinet maker, living at 31 Observatory Street with his wife Emma (37) and their five surviving children. Another baby, Frank Hughes, was born in 1884, but he died at the age of eight months and was buried in St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 27 January 1885 (burial recorded in St Paul’s register, Plot Q.24, again probably the children's area).

The family was still living at Observatory Street in 1885, but by July 1886 they had moved to 118 Walton Street. George and Emma can be seen there in the 1891 census with their seven surviving children. George James junior (17) and Sydney (14) were now both apprentice cabinet makers to their father.

Two of their sons were married in the second half of the 1890s:

• On 28 November 1896 at St Paul's Church, Oxford, George James Hughes junior (23), cabinet maker, married Clara Anne Rogers (20), daughter of Henry Rogers, a grocer of 3 Walton Well Road, at St Paul’s Church ;
• In the second quarter of 1899 in Oxford, Sydney Hughes married Lydia Agnes Wilkins.

George James Hughes senior and his wife Emma were still at 118 Walton Street in 1901 with Alice (20), Charles (19), now the third son to follow his father into the cabinet making and upholstery trade, and Edith (14). Their other two daughters were in service and living elsewhere in Oxford: Emma (29) was a housemaid at Lady Margaret Hall, and Priscilla (28) was a parlourmaid at 28 Leckford Road.

Their third and youngest son was married in 1907:

• On 4 July 1907 at St Paul’s Church, Oxford, Charles Hughes (25), cabinet maker, married Florence Minnie Steel (23), daughter of Henry William Steel, a mineral water manufacturer of 8 Union Street.

George Hughes died in 1908:

† George James Hughes died at 118 Walton Street at the age of 59 on 28 June 1908 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 30 June (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).

His effects came to £460.

At the time of the 1911 census Mrs Emma Hughes (67) was still living at 118 Walton Street with her daughters Alice (30), who probably kept house for her, and Edith (24), who was a draper’s assistant. Her other two daughters were also still unmarried and in service: Emma (38) was a domestic servant in the household of the archaeologist Arthur Evans at Youlbury on Boars Hill, while Priscilla (31) was a parlourmaid to the family of a clergyman in Devizes.

Two of her daughters were married in 1912 and 1913, and both gave their address as 118 Walton Street. :

• On 9 April 1912 at St Paul's Church, Oxford, Emma Hughes (39) married William Barnett (39), a carpenter & Joiner of 19 Victoria Road, Abingdon.
• On 23 January 1913 at St Paul's Church, Oxford, Edith Clarissa Hughes (26), a draper’s assistant, married Frank Edward Heydon (29), a pattern-maker of 109 Southmoor Road.

The two remaining unmarried daughters, Priscilla and Slice Hughes, remained with their mother.

By the time of Mrs Hughes’s death in 1921 she was living at 39 Juxon Street, which had been the home of her son George back in 1911:

† Mrs Emma Hughes, née Coltman died at 39 Juxon Street at the age of 77 on 17 August 1921 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 20 August (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).

Her effects came to £222 15s., and her married daughter Emma Barnett was her executor.

Miss Priscilla (Lily) Hughes was still living at 39 Juxon Street with her sister Alice when she died at the London Road Hospital in Headington on 9 September 1932 at the age of 53. Her effects came to £176 16s 5d., and her brother George was her executor.

Her sister Miss Alice Rose Hughes continued to live at 39 Juxon Street and was still there when she died at the Cowley Road Hospital on 23 July 1963. Her effects came to £174 14s., and her executor was her brother Charles Hughes.

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Children of George James and Emma Hughes

• Emma Hughes, Mrs Barnett (born 1872) and her husband William may be the parents of Joyce H. Hughes, born in the Abingdon district in 1913, and Hilda L. Hughes, born in the Headington district in 1916. Emma Barnett died at 34 Chester Street in east Oxford on 29 April 1948. Her effects came to £489 9s. 8d., and her husband George was her executor.
• George James Hughes (born 1873) was a cabinet-maker living at 39 Juxon Street in 1911 with his wife Clara and their children George Arthur Hughes (13), Edith May Hughes (11), Winifred Hughes (8), Dorothy Hughes (5), and Phyllis Hughes (2). George died in Oxford at the age of 89 in 1963.
  
• Sydney Hughes (born 1877) was a cabinet maker & upholsterer with a shop at 12 North Parade Avenue in 1901, and Sydney (24) and his wife Lydia (23) were living over the shop with their daughter Elizabeth Hughes (2). She remained their only child, and in 1911 the three of them were living at 6 North Parade Avenue. Sydney died in Oxford at the age of 63 near the beginning of 1941.
• Charles Hughes (born 1882) was a cabinet maker aged 29 at the time of the 1911 census, living at 12 Helen Road, Botley with his wife Florrie (27): they had been married three years, but had no children.
• Edith Clarissa Hughes, Mrs Heydon (born 1886) was living at 107 Kingston Road in 1915 with her husband Frank Edward Heydon. They had three children whose births registered in the Headington district: Edward L. Hughes (1913), Mabel A. Hughes (1916), and John E. Hughes (1918). Edith died in the Worcester district at the age of 82 in 1967.