Individual Details
Jack Hughes
(22 Feb 1905 - 6 Aug 1976)
Jack and Chris first lived with Grannie Hughes at 356 London Road, Isleworth, Middlesex. Dad's Uncles had built the "Properties"as Chris called them, in the early 1900s and Dad's nuclear family moved there from the Midlands when Dad was about 5 yrs old. He didn't like it at first and decided to leave home and walk along the Grand Union Canal which linked Birmingham with the Thames but didn't get very far before he was taken home again.
When Dad first came to Isleworth the local children swam in the Duke of Northumberland's River which ran along side the Watneys Brewery in St Johns Road where they had dugout an area and put in stones to make a swimming pool. The Isleworth boys with their Hounslow accents spoke of their Taaoos which Dad heard as Tails and didn't understand what that had to do with swimming, he called them Tow-els and was not understood. Alfie Doolittle in Shaws Pygmalion, which became My Fair Lady, was a Hounslow dustman not a Cockney. Dad soon lost his Brummy accent but didn't adopt the local one, That matter of the towels at the swimming place had quite an effect, he was very aware of the importance of accent and that was the message of Shaw's work.
When Dad first came to Isleworth the local children swam in the Duke of Northumberland's River which ran along side the Watneys Brewery in St Johns Road where they had dugout an area and put in stones to make a swimming pool. The Isleworth boys with their Hounslow accents spoke of their Taaoos which Dad heard as Tails and didn't understand what that had to do with swimming, he called them Tow-els and was not understood. Alfie Doolittle in Shaws Pygmalion, which became My Fair Lady, was a Hounslow dustman not a Cockney. Dad soon lost his Brummy accent but didn't adopt the local one, That matter of the towels at the swimming place had quite an effect, he was very aware of the importance of accent and that was the message of Shaw's work.
Events
| Birth | 22 Feb 1905 | Horsehay, Shropshire, England | |||
| Death | 6 Aug 1976 | Cancer - 120 Haliburton Rd, Isleworth, Middx, England |
Families
| Spouse | Christina "Chris" Mackenzie (1910 - 2001) |
| Child | Frances Helen "Francie" Hughes (1943 - ) |
| Child | William "Bill" Hughes (1945 - ) |
| Child | Winifred "Win" Hughes (1940 - ) |
| Father | Henrry John "Harry" Hughes (1868 - 1938) |
| Mother | Mary Elizabeth "Polly" Davis (1876 - 1943) |