| Description | The collection includes extracts from the treasurer's accounts and Chapter act books of Chester Cathedral; personal correspondence; and photographs.
The items have been grouped together as follows: /1, /27-29: Transcripts of Parish Registers; /2, /30-66: Various Transcripts, Notes and Drafts; /3: Draft Pedigrees, Genealogical Notes etc.; /4, /67-82: Printed Items; /5: Correspondence; /6-14, /83-92: Original Documents, places in Co. Cheshire; /15-25: Original Documents, places in other Counties, Ireland and Wales; /26, /93: Original Documents, miscellanea. Records relating to Chester Cathedral and St.Thomas court, and Easter rolls for Chester St.John the Baptist, which form part of this collection, have for convenience been separately listed, ref. ZCR 65.
The collection comprises transcripts of parish registers; various other transcripts, notes, draft lectures, articles etc. by Thomas Hughes and other contemporaries; correspondence with contemporaries; and miscellaneous printed and manuscript records acquired by him. Particularly noteworthy are the 17th century pedigree of the Gamull family (ZCR 60/8/6) and the manuscript catalogue of Cheshire books in the library of Edward Hawkins, Keeper of the Antiquities at the British Museum (ZCR 60/26/184). Some correspondence and other items accumulated by Thomas Cann Hughes are included. It is possible that some of the original documents have wrongly been ascribed to Thomas Hughes' Collection, the ascription being based on the evidence afforded by their arrangement at the time of the transfer to the City Record Office. It is equally possible that some items now in the Miscellaneous Collection (ZCR 74) in fact form part of this collection. |
| Administrative History | Thomas Hughes (1826-90) was one of the early members of the Chester Archaeological Society, of which he was Honorary Secretary, 1856-87., and contributed articles to the Journal from 1857 to 1883. He was also the first editor of the Cheshire Sheaf, from 1878 until his death. He served on Chester City Council and was sheriff in 1873-74. He contributed articles to the Journal of the Chester Archaeological Society and his other works include The Stranger's Handbook to Chester and its Environs, 1856. An obituary with bibliographical details of his published works is contained in the Cheshire Sheaf, vol.3, pp. i-vii (1891). |