Hughes, William Tate (William)
Rifleman
No. 14938, 14th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Killed in action on Tuesday 14 November 1916 (aged 20)
Buried:
Pond Farm Cemetery, Belgium (Grave E. 12)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Bangor and District War Memorial
Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque
Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum
Hamilton Road Bangor Presbyterian Church
Bangor Grammar School
Brother of Rifleman Robert (Bertie) Hughes (No. 17904)
BIOGRAPHY
William Tate Hughes was born on 16 September 1896 in Belfast and he was the eldest son of Hugh and Elizabeth Hughes (nee Tate) who were married on 19 December 1893 in Cliftonville Presbyterian Church Belfast. Hugh Hughes from Larne was a son of Robert Hughes, a merchant. Elizabeth Tate from Carnmoney was a daughter of William Tate, a coal merchant.
In 1901 Hugh Campbell Hughes was working as a shop manager and the Hughes family boarded with the Patterson family in Carnmoney.
In the early 1900s the Hughes family moved to Bangor where Hugh ran his own shop – Ballyholme Stores – and they lived at 128 Ballyholme Road.
Hugh and Elizabeth Hughes had at least six children:
Constance (born 13 December 1894 at 93 Upper Canning Street, Belfast)
William Tate (born 16 September 1896 at 26 Queen Street, Belfast)
Robert (Bertie, born 20 February 1898 in Belfast)
Dorothea Elizabeth (born 13 February 1900 in Carnmoney)
Rowland Edward (born 22 January 1902 in Ballyduff)
Campbell Speers (born 2 October 1903 in Bangor)
Their father, Hugh, died on 1 June 1925 (aged 65) and their mother, Elizabeth, died on 7 June 1931 (aged 65).
William was the second of the two brothers to be killed in action.
William Tate Hughes attended Bangor Grammar School from 1907 to 1911. He enlisted in Belfast and served with the 14th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in 109th Brigade of the 36th (Ulster) Division.
Rifleman William Hughes died on 14 November 1916 (aged 20) when he was killed by a sniper’s bullet at Messines and he was buried in Pond Farm Cemetery, Belgium. There is an inscription on his CWGC headstone:
HE LOVED MUCH
Rifleman William Hughes is commemorated on Bangor and District War Memorial; in the Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum (Page 17) and on the Memorial Plaques in the Royal British Legion Bangor Branch, Hamilton Road Bangor Presbyterian Church and Bangor Grammar School.