Stella Amelia Hughes

Stella Hughes

Stella Amelia Hughes was born in Hackney, East London on 5th June, 1926, the youngest child of Elizabeth Ellen Kershaw (1893-1979) and Thomas Griffiths Hughes (1880- 1954).

Stella's father, Thomas Griffiths Hughes, was born in Stoke Newington, London, on 8th October, 1880, the son of Margaret and John Hughes, a blacksmith & farrier from North Wales. The second youngest of six children born to Margaret and John Hughes, Thomas Griffiths Hughes began his working life as a mercantile clerk. When he first met nineteen year old maidservant Elizabeth 'Nell' Kershaw, Tom Hughes was working in the drapery trade, either as a warehouseman or as a salesman.

When Elizabeth 'Nell' Kershaw entered into a relationship with thirty-three year old Tom Hughes, she was a nineteen year old "lady's maid" in the employment of the famous actress Sybil Thorndike and her husband Lewis Casson, an actor and theatre director. Elizabeth Ellen Kershaw had been born in Hackney, East London, on 12th August, 1893, the second eldest of thirteen children born to Anne Heath (born 1871, Hackney) and her husband James Kershaw (1870-1935), an engineer's fitter who was originally from Rochdale, Lancashire.

By the mid 1920s, the union of Thomas Griffiths Hughes and Elizabeth Ellen Kershaw had already produced two children - a daughter Muriel Millicent Hughes (born 29th July, 1914) and a son named John ('Jack') James Hughes (born 11th March 1920). Stella Amelia Hughes (born 5th June, 1926 ) was the couple's third and youngest child.

WEBPAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION


[ABOVE] Stella Hughes' parents - Mrs Elizabeth 'Nell' Hughes (left) and Thomas Griffiths Hughes (right).

[ABOVE] Stella Hughes photographed around the year 1938 with her parents (Mrs Elizabeth 'Nell' Hughes and Thomas Griffith Hughes), her elder sister Muriel Hughes (on the right) and 'Ted' Simkin, Muriel's husband-to-be (top, centre).

[ABOVE] A group of holiday-makers on a charabanc outing arranged by Atlas Coaches in 1928. Stella Hughes, then aged two, is sitting in the rear of the charabanc with her father Tom Hughes and her eight year old brother John 'Jack' Hughes. Stella's elder sister, 14 year old Muriel Hughes, is the young girl in the white dress sitting at the rear of the charabanc with her family. Mrs Elizabeth 'Nell' Hughes, Stella's mother, sits alongside Muriel.

[ABOVE] Two year old Stella Hughes (left) seated in the rear of the charabanc with her eight year old brother John 'Jack' Hughes, a detail from the 1928 photograph of the chara-a-banc outing illustrated on the left . Stella's father, Tom Griffiths, can be glimpsed between his two children.

Stella's Siblings - Muriel Hughes and 'Jack' John Hughes

Stella's elder sister Muriel Millicent Hughes, who was born on 29th July 1914. Muriel was a dozen years older than her sister Stella and 6 years older than her brother 'Jack'.	John ('Jack') James Hughes, who was born in Hackney, East London, on 11th March 1920. 'Jack' was the second of three children born to Elizabeth Hughes and Thomas Griffith Hughes.	Stella Amelia Hughes, who was born in Hackney, East London, on 5th June 1926. Stella was the youngest child of Elizabeth Hughes and Thomas Griffith Hughes.


[ABOVE] Thirteen year old Stella Hughes (right), pictured with her elder sister Muriel Hughes (born 1914). Twenty-five year old Muriel Hughes married John Edward ('Ted') Simkin in 1939.	[ABOVE] Stella Hughes (centre), photographed as a teenage bridesmaid at a family wedding. The bridesmaid on the left is Lilly White and the other bridesmaid is Winifred Hodge.	ABOVE] A teenaged Stella Hughes (right), pictured with a friend in 1942 or 1943. Stella would have been aged around sixteen when this photograph was taken.

Stella Hughes and George Hume


[ABOVE] George Hume (born 1914, Hackney, London) photographed in the garden of his girlfriend, Stella Hume, in 1945.	[ABOVE] Stella Hughes (born 1926), photographed with her boyfriend George Hume in 1945. Stella Hume married George Hume two years later in 1947.	[ABOVE] Stella Hughes (born 1926), photographed in 1945 with her boyfriend George Hume and her niece Patricia Simkin (the daughter of her sister Muriel).

The Wedding of Stella Hughes and George Hume (Chingford, 1947)

[ABOVE] The Wedding of Stella Hughes and George Hume, 27th September, 1947. (Photographed by E. W. Bickford, Photographer, 18 Sunset Avenue, Chingford, Essex).

[RIGHT] Detail of the wedding photograph illustrated above. Front Row (left to right): Five year old bridesmaid Patricia Simkin; George Hume, the groom; Stella Hughes, the bride; unknown bridesmaid; unknown boy; Mrs Elizabeth 'Nell' Hughes, the bride's mother; Thomas Hughes, the bride's father; Stella's brother-in-law John Edward 'Ted' Simkin, holding two year old John Simkin. Between Mr and Mrs Hughes can be glimpsed their married eldest daughter Mrs Muriel Simkin, wife of 'Ted' Simkin. Between Thomas Hughes, the bride's father, and toddler John Simkin, stands Stella's brother, John 'Jack Hughes, and behind him, Jack's wife, Mrs Eileen Hughes (formerly Cain).

George and Stella Hume


George Hume (born 1914)	Stella Hughes (born 1926)

[RIGHT] A photograph taken at the wedding of Stella Hughes and George Hume on 27th September, 1947. (Photographed by E. W. Bickford, Photographer, 18 Sunset Avenue, Chingford, Essex). The youngest bridesmaid in the photograph is Patricia Ann Simkin (born 1942), Stella's niece and the daughter of Stella's sister Mrs Muriel Simkin.

The Children of Stella Hughes and George Hume

[ABOVE] Stella Hume photographed in 1961 with her daughter Gillian Hume (born 18th June, 1959) in the garden of Stella's sister, Mrs Muriel Simkin, who lived in a single storey 'prefab' in Dagenham, Essex, at the time.

Stella and George's son Keith Hume photographed on holiday in the Summer of 1962 when he was 13 years of age.

[ABOVE] George and Stella Hume's two children: Keith Hume (born 16th May 1949) and Gillian Hume (born 18th June, 1959). Photographed in the garden of their Aunt Muriel at Dagenham in 1961.

[ABOVE] Gillian Hume, the three year old daughter of George and Stella Hume, photographed on the beach during a summer holiday in 1962.