History of Sutton in St.Helens, Lancashire
Sutton Beauty's History & Heritage Pages
Part 3) Sutton's Lords & Masters - People of Influence Pt2
The Michael Hughes Dynasty of Sherdley
Written and researched by S.R.Wainwright for Sutton Beauty & Heritage © MMVIIISutton Lords & Masters Photo Album Heritage Home Main Site Home
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In the latter annals of Sutton's history, the name of Michael Hughes regularly appears as the three Michaels dominated life in Sutton for one hundred and fifty years as land owners, employers, benefactors and patrons. The family provided a livelihood for hundreds of tenants and Sherdley Park will always be associated with the Hughes name, although their antecedents in the Sherdleys, Byroms and Roughleys arguably have a greater claim.
Michael Hughes III {1861-1938} with Sutton Road Prize Band pictured in front of Sherdley Hall c.1902
The eponymous Sherdley family were first recorded there in 1303 as freeholders of a considerable acreage of land in Sutton. In 1543 the Sherdleys sold their estates to Richard Bolde and his descendants sold it onto the Byrom family. Later Sir Henry Byrom sold it to Richard Roughly and Michael Hughes (I) bought the Sherdley estates in 1798.
It's estimated that 10,000 tons of copper ore was brought in each year, yielding over 1,300 tons of copper. Some of Michael Hughes' first investments were in purchasing some of the flats which he gave single-word names such as 'Happy', 'Betty', and 'Mersey'. Typically they were about 60 feet long by 16 feet high. Michael Hughes lived at 'The Tickles' on the Burtonhead estate which had been named after a previous resident and so Hughes decided to re-title it 'Sutton Lodge'.
Sherdley Old Hall in Sherdley Park built about 1671 and photographed c.1885
Hughes prospered and from about 1795 began to acquire land, including Whitlow in 1797 which he bought off John Drinkwater. In the following year he acquired the large Sherdley Hall estate in Sutton for £3,150 and then Leach Hall in 1800. In 1803 he paid William Greenup £2,555 for the brick-fronted 'Old End' of the Costeth House estate (21¾ local acres) located close to Sherdley Hall and then negotiated to buy the stone-fronted 'New End'. The Roughley family had purchased Costeth House in 1607 and in August 1732 after the death of Thomas Roughley (d.1729), it was partitioned into two estates inhabited separately by Thomas's daughter Mary and his granddaughter Esther. In 1820 Hughes formally exchanged an estate in Eccleston for the 'New End'. Although he lost £2000 on the deal, it didn't matter to Hughes as he was determined to possess all of the property within Sherdley Park.
Hughes had become a J.P. in 1800 and a Deputy Lieutenant for Lancashire in 1806 and soon gained a reputation for his sympathetic handling of difficult cases. He often assisted the underpriviledged from his own pocket and during the 1800 grain shortage donated contributions for the relief of the Sutton poor. Michael Hughes's first wife died in 1798 and he married Ellen Pemberton in 1807, the daughter of a neighbouring Sutton landowner with whom he had six children, including his son and heir Michael Hughes (II) {1810-1886}. Fourteen years after Hughes' death in 1825, a hurricane struck Sutton township and much of Lancashire, badly damaging Sutton Lodge (on January 6/7th 1839).
Young Michael Hughes (II) went to Eton and then joined the army. He was quite a lover of sport and in a letter written to his mother in June 1854, declared his annoyance at the prospect of his regiment being posted to Ireland at the height of the grouse season:
I hope to return to Sherdley on the 28th, after which I expect to proceed to Ireland. I have received the fatal rumours to go out with my regiment which will greatly interfere with grouse shooting. I had hoped of better things from our Colonel as he is a sportsman himself. 
The fictional upper-class Bellamy family and their servant household in television's 'Upstairs Downstairs' supposedly lived at 165 Eaton Place. American philanthropist George Peabody had resided at 99 Eaton Place during the 18th Century and this address is where Polish composer, Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) gave concerts during a stay in London in 1848 when taking refuge from uprisings in much of Europe.
The large Hughes estates including Sherdley Hall were inherited by Michael and Eleanor Hughes's only child, Michael James. By now the family had developed a military rather than industrial tradition and Captain Michael Hughes (III) after being educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford spent twelve years service in the 2nd Life Guards. In 1893 he commanded a squadron in front of Queen Victoria for the trooping of the colour ceremony. Three years later he married Edith Mary Brewster-Macpherson, the youngest daughter of the late Captain David Brewster-Macpherson. The couple settled at Sherdley Hall and decided to devote themselves to their tenants and improving their Sherdley estate. So 100 acres was added to Sherdley Park and almost 10,000 trees were planted and the lake enlarged. At Christmas a number of the Sutton poor were entertained at Sherdley Hall.
Michael Hughes believed strongly in punctuality and always arrived at engagements at precisely the appointed time and refused to see visitors who arrived late for an appointment with him. He had aversions to electricity and the telephone and so Sherdley Hall was lit by candle or oil lamp and heated by log fire. Hughes wintered in France for some thirty years and became fluent in French. In his younger days he mixed intimately with royalty and was an outrider at the funeral of Edward VII in 1910.
Michael Hughes (III) at St.Cloud, Paris in January 1907 seated and
watching Sutton Harriers athletics club beating French opposition.
He was a major owner and breeder of race horses and they would often be seen roaming Sherdley Park in the close season. This website has identified 45 different horses listed on race cards under the ownership of Michael Hughes between 1895 and 1929. Only one horse, Rainhill (ran 1909-10), had a name with a local connection. Many horses were given French names although he also had a liking for English names with a comic undertone, such as Mother-In-Law, Gals’ Gossip, Ugly Tights, Dik Dik and Orange Marmalade.
Monument to Edith Hughes wife of Michael Hughes (III) in the graveyard at St.Nicholas Church
Edith provided a nurse for the well-being of her estate's tenantry and was very generous with the Sherdley dole. Consequently upon her death a memorial to her was erected by the old people of Sutton in the graveyard of St.Nicholas Church in New Street. Hughes outlived his wife by 14 years, dying in Bury St. Edmunds at Stowlangtoft Hall where he spent much time in his final years.
Pipers from the 1st Battalion of the Black Watch played at a memorial service which was held at Stowlangtoft Church on August 24th, 1938 and then his body was transferred to St.Helens for burial at St. Nicholas the following day. His coffin was taken to his final resting place on a flower-decked farm wagon watched by scores of Sutton residents. The Times reported on his funeral
Brigadier-General and Mrs Young, Lady Hill, Mrs Glencairn Campbell, Lord Basing, the Countess of Mar and Kellie, and Mr. D. R. A. Davidson, as well as representatives of local industries.
St. Nicholas's graveyard houses the Hughes family vault, although Michael Hughes (I) is buried in Prescot, as he died prior to the building of the church in 1849.
Hughes-Young was another military member of the Hughes clan. He rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel, was twice wounded in WWII and received the award of the Military Cross. Sherdley played its part in the war effort with the cultivation of crops and the Air Ministry requisitioned Sherdley Hall for the duration. Stray bombs - which were thought to have been destined for the Liverpool docks - damaged the Sherdley estate, in particular Sherdley Home Farm, Micklehead Farm and Big Lea Farm.
Shortly after the war, Hughes-Young sold Sherdley Park to St.Helens Corporation for £18,700 before embarking on a political career. In the 1951 general election he became the Conservative parliamentary candidate for St.Helens but was predictably defeated, standing in a safe Labour seat. However he took Wandsworth Central in 1955 and when elevated to the House of Lords in 1964, chose the title Lord St.Helens. Tragedy struck the family in 1970 when his heir, Captain Patrick Michael Hughes-Young, died in a riding accident. Richard (Rory) Hughes-Young succeeded to the title of Lord St.Helens in 1980.
Incidentally, Mt. St.Helens - the volcano in Washington state, USA not far from Portland, Oregon - is named after his eighteenth century diplomat namesake, Lord St.Helens.
The Hughes family vault at St.Nicholas Church in New Street, Sutton
Research Sources, References & Bibliography for Heritage Pages
Sutton Beauty & Heritage's History Pages:
01) Township of Sutton & St.Helens; | 02) Sutton's Lords & Masters;
03) Michael Hughes of Sherdley; | 04) Dr. Baker Bates;
05) Religion and Education; | 06) Rev. Henry Vallancey
07) Mineworking in Sutton; | 08) Industry in Sutton Township;
09) Sutton Transport; | 10) Sutton Transport Timeline;
11) Health & Sanitary Conditions; | 12) Sport in Sutton;
13) The Rapid Rise of Sutton Harriers; | 14) Old Sutton Pubs;
15) Leisure & Entertainment; | 16) Origins of Sutton Streetnames;
17) Pudding Bag; | 18) Crime & Tragedy in Sutton;
19) 'Picturesque' Sutton - How it's Changed; | 20) Sutton True Facts!
21) Research Sources and Bibliography;
Plus 5 Photo-Albums: Sutton's Lords & Masters; Religion & Education
Transport in Sutton; Sport, Leisure & Entertainment; Sutton Streets
Also See Our Pages on: Sutton Manor Colliery; Clock Face Colliery;