Background
He was born in Newry, County Down, the son of Bernard Hughes and Anne Fegan, and came to Toronto with his family in 1847.
He was born in Newry, County Down, the son of Bernard Hughes and Anne Fegan, and came to Toronto with his family in 1847.
He represented Niagara in the Canadian House of Commons from 1878 to 1879 as a Liberal member. He was elected to the House of Commons in the 1878 federal election for the riding of Niagara, defeating the incumbent Josiah Burr Plumb. His election was overturned on appeal the following year and he lost the subsequent by-election to Plumb.
He was a director of the Imperial Bank in Toronto, the Bristol and West of England Loan and Investment Company and the Toronto Savings Bank.
Hughes served as a member of Toronto city council in 1877 and 1878.