Description:This is an abridged version of the biography from the Handsworth Magazine. The full version is available as a download.
George Henry Hughes lived at 3 Trinity Road in Birchfield.
Mr Hughes has, by persistent industry, energy and ability, made for himself an honourable career and has attained a position in life which places him among the useful citizens of his native place.
Mr George Henry Capewell Hughes is a Birmingham man, the descendant of an old Birmingham family. He was born on December 20th, 1848. The education he received was at private schools; but in those days children went to work at a very early age and before even the three Rs could be said to have been mastered, he had to leave school and bear his little part in adding to the resources of home. In a word, at an age in which at the present time he would not be permitted to work at all, the little boy Hughes had to help to gain his own livelihood. He was only twelve years old when he was articled for five years to learn a mechanical trade in which his father had been engaged. The age of apprenticeship has passed away, but at that time, though comparatively only a few years back, it was looked upon as a very serious thing; which it was. The articles of indenture under which he served were drawn up under the old system, or regime, when counsel was taken between employer and operative employees as to those who should be admitted into the trade and taught, as the indentures set forth, the secrets and mysteries thereof, which were then guarded with a jealous care. At that time it was thought to be no mean privilege, or opportunity, to became an apprentice in the hope of developing into a perfect craftsman and thus to be recognised as a member of that particular handicraft. And in this spirit the young Hughes was apprenticed.
At the age of 17 he was a fully-paid journeyman and two years later (1867) he was successful in obtaining a medal at the Paris Exhibition for the firm to which he had been articled and by which he was then employed. The medal was awarded for excellence in some special examples and specimens of their particular line of goods. In a letter dated Paris, April 1867, Mr W.H. Ryder wrote: I am so much pleased with the large reel you made me for the Exhibition that I take the first opportunity of expressing to you my great satisfaction with it, and it may be of some gratification for you to know that the French jurors have closely inspected it and seemed well pleased. I also bear you testimony that the ornamental style in which you exhibit the interior working of the reel does you good credit. I have placed it in the most prominent part of my case for the admiration of all visitors. It should be mentioned here that Mr Hughes is a fishing reel maker.
For eight years Mr Hughes held an official position on the Birmingham School Board. In this office his attention to business and the ability, which he displayed gave the most complete satisfaction; and he was continually entrusted to deal with cases of special or peculiar difficulty and was very highly esteemed for the general ability displayed.
Of course the natural result of business success in such a public-spirited man as Mr Hughes is that he should take a part in the public business of his native city. He has done this not only in Birmingham, but also in Handsworth, where he resides. His first candidature for public office was in 1890, when the Handsworth Ratepayers Association invited him to offer himself as a candidate for membership on the late Local Board. This attempt was not successful, but it led the way to public life and a field of usefulness was speedily found for his services. In March, 1891, the Board invited him as a ratepayer to serve on the Free Library Committee, which invitation he accepted. In the February following the members elected him to serve on the Board, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr Joesbury. A contested selection took place in April of the same year and this time Mr Hughes was a successful candidate. He remained a member of the Board till it ceased to exist on December 30, 1894, being displaced by the newly established District Council. For this body Mr Hughes was elected a member in January, 1895. He is chairman of the Plans and Building Committee.
Even this large and important part in public work failed to exhaust the energies or to fully engage the capacity, which he had displayed in the offices which he filled. The City Council of Birmingham exerted its powerful attraction and the burgesses of St Stephen's Ward invited him to become one of their representatives. He accepted the invitation and on December 19, 1891, he was elected to that important and honourable office. On November 1st, 1894, he was returned without opposition.