2nd Lieut Maurice Thomas Hughes

• Age: 20
• From: Birkenhead, Cheshire
• Regiment: Royal Welsh Fusiliers
• Died on Tuesday 30th May 1916
• Commemorated at: Rue De Bacquerot No.1 Mc
  Panel Ref: II.G.5

Maurice Thomas was born in Birkenhead on 11th July 1895 the son of Edward James Hughes and his wife Sarah (nee Bebb). His parents married in the December quarter of 1888 in Llanfyllin. 

The 1901 Census shows the family are living at 102 Camden Street, Birkenhead. His father, Edward James, is a 36 year old builder born in Birkenhead, his mother is a 38 year old born in Newtown, Montgomeryshire. Maurice is the youngest son but has two elder sisters; Elizabeth Dilys born 1890 and Edith Mary born 1893. Also present is Alice Williams a 20 year old servant.

By 1911 the family have moved to 65 Grange Mount, Birkenhead. Maurice Thomas is now 15 and is shown as being at cchool.  Both parents are still present, his father is now aged 46 and a builder/sanitarian, his wife is 47 years of age. They advised that they had been married for 22 years and have had four children, all of whom have survived. Elizabeth Dilys is now 21 years of age with no occupation shown, Mary Elizabeth is a domestic economy student, and Marjorie Edwina is aged 7 . Also present are a cousin, 38 year old Stephen Bebb who is a cashier and a 23 year old general domestic servant Ann Elizabeth Meredith, born in Montgomeryshire. 

Maurice was educated at Birkenhead School from 1907 to 1912. He was a school prefect for one year and played in the Football XV.  He also attended Liverpool University.

Prior to the war he was articled to a firm of surveyors and valuers in Liverpool.

On the outbreak of war he was on holiday in Wales, but returned to enlist in the 17th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 16006. After five months he obtained his commission in the Welsh Fusiliers and served in France from February 1916.  

News about his 2/Lt appointment appeared in Chester Chronicle on the 26th February 1916. 

His appointment was also reported in the Birkenhead News on the 10th April 1915 under the header:

FROM PRIVATE TO LIEUTENANT.

The "London Gazette" contains interesting local intimation that a commission has been granted to Maurice T. Hughes in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Lieut Hughes who is the son of Mr and Mrs E. J. Hughes, "Maldwyn," Claughton, was educated at Birkenhead School and Liverpool University and was an articled pupil of Messers. Weightman and Bullen surveyors and valuers, Liverpool. He was a member of Birkenhead Park Football Club and also of the Mersey Rowing Club. He joined the First City Battalion (Comrades) when it was formed by Lord Derby, and after his training in the ranks was appointed to the O.T.C. by Brigadier General Stanley, and their examination he passed with distinction.He is now at Llandudno with the Welsh Comrades.

He saw service at Givenchy, Festubert, and Laventie, and it was at Laventie that on 30th May 1916, during a very heavy bombardment  he was hit by a shell and killed instantly.  

His Colonel wrote to the family:

“He was faithfully doing his duty, as he always did, and his loss is a great blow to me personally and with his brother officers with whom he was so popular. He was a gallant boy.  Had he lived he would have won great honours.”

His Major also wrote; 

“M.T. was one of my greatest pals.  He was universally loved and respected by all of us, officers and men.  He was one of the finest and most fearless men I have ever known, and he always did his duty without question. One very marked thing in his life was his tremendous faith: he always looked upon this life as the beginning of a far better life.”

His Captain wrote:

“He was an ideal Officer, possessing those qualities which are essential to the success of a soldier in the trenches: a cheery disposition and full of grit.”

In the book “The Welsh at War”, a history of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, the author Steven John writes:  “A few miles to the south [of Mount Sorrel], the 38^th (Welsh) Division continued its policy of harassing the enemy.  On 30^th May the 38^th suffered one officer – Maurice Thomas Hughes – and six men killed, all of whom now rest at Rue-de-Bacquerot No.1 Military Cemetery, Laventie.”

His headstone bears the epitaph:

“THERE’S SOME CORNER OF A FOREIGN FIELD THAT IS FOR EVER ENGLAND”

This is a reference to the Rupert Brooke poem "The Soldier" which was published in 1915.  

The Rue-du-Bacquerot runs south-east of the village, from the Estaires-La Bassee road towards Fleurbaix, and the position of this road close behind the Allied front trenches during the greater part of the First World War made it the natural line of a number of small Commonwealth cemeteries. One of these, begun by the Indian Corps in November 1914, was the nearest to the Estaires-La Bassee road and became known as Rue-du-Bacquerot No.1.

The cemetery was used until May 1917, and for short periods in 1918, by the units holding the line. After the Armistice the small Indian plots were enlarged when graves were brought in from the battlefields and from smaller burials grounds.

Nineteen of the Indian graves were brought in from RUE-DES-CHAVATTES INDIAN CEMETERY, LACOUTURE.

The cemetery contains 637 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 61 of the burials are unidentified and special memorials commemorate 12 casualties. The cemetery also contains seven German graves.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

His parents placed a notice in the Liverpool Echo on the 05^th June 1916:  

“Killed in Action:  May 31^st [sic],  Second Lieutenant Royal Welsh Fusiliers (B.E.F.), only son of Mr. and Mrs. Ed. J. Hughes, “Maldwyn”, Claughton.

An article on the same day gave more detail under the heading

Claughton Officer:

“Lieutenant Maurice T. Hughes, R.W.F., only son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Hughes, “Maldwyn”, Claughton, has fallen in action. Lieutenant Hughes was a member of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Claughton, and was one of the 100 who volunteered in August 1914, enlisting in the first battalion of the “Pals”.  He was granted a commission in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, with whom he was serving when he met his death.  Educated at Birkenhead School and Liverpool University, he was articled to a Liverpool firm of surveyors and valuers. He was a member of the Oxton Cricket Club, a most promising young player in the Birkenhead Park Football Club, and one of the junior four in the Mersey Rowing Club. His colonel, writing to the parents expressing deep sympathy, says, ‘It is to me a personal loss, and also to his brother officers with whom he was very popular. He was a gallant boy.’ He would have attained his 21^st birthday on July 11 next.”

His death was also reported in the Birkenhead News on the 07th June 1916: 

Hughes May 31 (sic) 2nd Lieutenant Maurice T Hughes, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, only son of Mr & Mrs E. Hughes "Maldwyn" Claughton.  

The same notice appeared in the Liverpool Echo on the 05th June 1916.

Soldiers Effects to father Edward James, no Pension record found.

Records show that Probate was granted to his father on 20th July 1916.

HUGHES Maurice Thomas of 65 Grange Mount, Birkenhead temporary second lieutenant 13th service battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers died 30 May 1916 in France. Administration Chester 20 July to Edward James Hughes building contractor. Effects £272 10s

Maurice is commemorated on the following Memorials:

Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall, Panel 51 Left

Birkenhead Civic Memorial

United Reform and Methodist Church, Claughton

Trinity with Palm Grove United Reformed and Methodist Church, Claughton

Trinity Church, Birkenhead

Oxton Cricket Club   

Liverpool University

Birkenhead School.

We currently have no further information on Maurice Thomas Hughes. If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.