Photos on Right:

Bottom photo: Glyn Hughes (first row, third from right). University College Hospital archives.

Between the years indicated in the top and bottom photographs, Hughes served as a regimental medical officer in World War I. All the Horrors of War describes his extraordinary and brave actions on the Western Front, as well as the severe injury that caused him to have to leave his enormously satisfying post.

Note the difference in Hughes in these two team photos. In the top photo, he is twenty-one, a young medical school student. In the bottom photo we behold a man who has seen the horrors of World War I.

Upon enrolling at University College Hospital, “Hughie” joined its rugby football team (UCH XV). He was appreciated immediately: in a December 1910 report, “H.L.G. Hughes,” a “fresher,” was considered “distinctly above average.” Perhaps it was not a coincidence that the year he signed on, the team experienced improved strength in its forwards, of which he was one, and began winning games. He was always at the front in a “forward rush.”

On 20 March 1912, Hughie was elected team secretary. The team had just completed their most successful season in years, reaching the semi-finals of the Inter-Hospital Cup. The forwards were commended for having “proved the redeeming feature of the side in the semi-final.” Hughie was singled out as being “[a]lways on the ball, and a tireless worker.”

At an election the following October, Hughie was designated Honorary Secretary. Just two months later, the team’s governing committee of three added an additional person—now, after President and Vice-President came Captain, Hughie’s new post. Hughie and one other forward were cited for “always play[ing] a splendid game.” Clearly a star, Hughie had also played in the United Hospital trial match, and for London Hospitals against Edinburgh and Dublin Universities.

In 1912 or 1913, Hughie, one of the best forwards, was invited to play for the Barbarians, a prestigious international club that recruited players of fine character. His first match with the Barbarians was during their 1913 Easter tour.

It was a great loss to the UCH XV in 1913 when Hughie played as well for Blackheath, among the oldest and most distinguished rugby football clubs. The hope, in the fall of 1913, was that he would come back to “strengthen the forwards for the cup-ties” sometime after Christmas. Shortly before the holiday, a reporter wrote, “The forwards have rarely got going so far this season. They seldom show the combined rush and dribble which they have done so well the past few years. Their screwing powers are absolutely negligible. We look forward to Hughie’s return after Christmas.”

Sources: University College Hospital Magazine, Vol. I., Dec. 1910, No. 3: 124; Vol. I., April, 1911, No. 5: 214-16, 219; Vol. II., April, 1912, No. 4: 150-52; University College Hospital Magazine, Vol. III., Oct., 1912, No. 1: 45; Vol. III., Dec., 1912, No. 2: 88; Vol. III., Feb., 1913, No. 3: 127-28; Vol. III., Oct., 1913, No. 1: 26; Vol. III., Dec., 1913, No. 2: 61; Vol. IV., May 1914, No. 4: 145.

The Barbarians were founded in 1890 by Blackheath player William Percy Carpmael. The mission of the organization was to bring together players from various clubs to play a few matches each year, to enjoy the camaraderie of the game. Hughie would play twenty matches and take part in nine successive tours, broken only by World War I. Two years after he stopped playing, in 1926, he became the club’s honorary treasurer. He served subsequently as president of the club, from 1955 until his death, in 1973.

The Blackheath Football Club, located in Southeast England, played a leading role in the formation of Rugby Football. The Club developed a code, in 1862, upon which official game rules were based, and influenced the evolution of a team structure involving “forwards” and “backs.” Blackheath’s mission includes both professional rugby and amateur games, aiming to provide playing opportunities for as many people as possible. Among highlights in Blackheath’s history was Hughie’s retirement as President, a post he held for 25 years.