Dr. Wilfred Kent Hughes and his second wife Constance came to Eltham around the end of 1925, ostensibly for a six-month break, but stayed for over ten years.
He enlisted at 50 years of age while in Bruce-street, Toorak, shown as a medical practitioner and with a brother, Rev Canon Ernest Selwyn Hughes, St Peter’s Church in East Melbourne as next of kin; his first wife was still living, but in a frail physical condition.
His postal address was given as 22 Collins-street, Melbourne, his medical practice at a time when the block between Spring and Exhibition streets was almost exclusively the preserve of doctors and dentists; several of his immediate family were also noted there in later years.
Hughes – the correct surname, although in many cases “Kent Hughes” was shown and we will subsequently use this version – embarked in Sydney for Egypt on board RMS Mooltan on 15 May 1915 with the rank of Major with the Australian Army Medical Corps and attached to 3 Australian General Hospital.
The hospital was based on Malta, but Kent Hughes was invalided to England with colitis and dysentery and eventually returned to Australia on 22 April, 1916. He was discharged in May, classified as fit for home service, but a letter in his archive suggests he and another doctor released at the same time were not required by the Primary Medical Officer for the 3rd Military District which encompassed Victoria.
His son Wilfred Selwyn junior or “Billy” as he was known enlisted in August, 1914 and after initially serving with the 7th Infantry in Egypt, and after he was commissioned in April 1915, transferred to the headquarters of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade, commanded by his uncle (Wilfred senior’s brother) Frederic Godfrey Hughes, later serving in the Sinai, Palestine and Syria.
In May, 1917, it was announced that Dr. Kent Hughes was travelling overseas to visit “Billy”, but he appears to have had other plans as it revealed that he had let out his Toorak mansion to a woman who intended converting it into modern apartments.
Kent Hughes extended his travels to England where he had offers of important positions in England and Russia and in September, he was appointed surgeon-in-chief of the Anglo-Russian hospital in Petrograd where he served for five months before returning to Australia.
He had married his first wife in England, Clementina Jane Rankin, a London nurse, but she died in their home in Toorak in December, 1916, just a few months after Kent Hughes arrived home.
In May, 1918, Dr. Kent Hughes’ engagement to 27-year-old Sister Constance Lilian Lelean, a nurse at Melbourne Hospital was announced, she some 25 years his junior. The couple married by Wilfred’s brother, the Reverend Hughes at his St. Peter’s Church in East Melbourne.
HUGHES—LELEAN.—On the 12th June, at St.Peter’s, Melbourne, by the Rev. Canon Hughes, Wilfred Kent, son of Ellen and the late Charles William Hughes, and Constance Lilian, daughter of Isabella and the late Rev. Arthur Lelean.
He was still shown at 22 Collins-street with a private residence Toorak, but in December, 1925, social notes reveal “Mr. and Mrs. Kent Hughes, Wallace avenue, Toorak, have taken “Stanhope”, Eltham, the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Theo. Handfield for six months.
(In December, 1923, the Advertiser (Hurstbridge) carried show large display advertisements following the subdivision of Mrs Theo Handfield’s Stanhope Estate, 80 magnificent blocks “right opposite the Electric Railway Station”, also Stanhope House of five rooms on 2½ acres of land although the names of both Mr. and Mrs. Handfield continued to appear up until the late 1920s. Theo. died in 1972 aged 94, then shown in Greensborough, his wife Muriel in 1968 in Preston – possibly P.A.N.C.H. – aged 88, although they appear to have spent a considerable number of years in Sandringham on the interim. Stanhope House is believed to have been built circa 1910-11 by the famed Great War artist, William Frederick (Will) Longstaff, a resident of Eltham for some years).
Dr. and Mrs. Kent Hughes were noted in June, 1926 at a dance at Eltham Hall and around a week later, a report on the Shire Council reveals a letter from Dr. Kent Hughes asking that the road to his property be surfaced.
It appears to be around this time that the couple appears to have decided to stay, the Advertiser noting “It is understood that Dr Kent Hughes, who is at present residing in Eltham temporarily, intends to build a house some distance from the village” (it is also reported that a dispensary would be opened in the main street “this will fill a long felt want”).
(“New house” is open to question – “Stanhope” still shown when Constance as a member of the Central Executive of Melbourne Hospital Auxiliary Committee wrote to the Advertiser in connection the Hospital’s annual Egg Day Appeal, thanking local residents for their contribution to around 100,000 eggs donated on the day.
Another account – based on a recollection – suggests the Kent Hughes’ property may have later been known as “Cherrytrees”, but whether this was “Stanhope” re-named or a different property is unclear).
With the decision made, the couple threw their weight behind several community endeavours – in July, it was reported an Eltham branch of the Australian Women’s National League had been formed with 80 members (Wilfred’s brother Frederick George was Australian President of the League). Mrs Kent Hughes as President and in June the following year after he had organised a number of meetings, the Eltham Returned Soldiers and Sailor’s Imperial League of Australia (R.S.S.I.L.A.) was officially founded with Dr Kent Hughes as President, vice-presidents Dr George C. Nicholson and Cr. Hubert Rutter, and finally, Drs. Nicholson and Kent Hughes were shown around the same time representing Montmorency at a combined meeting of north-eastern Progress Associations. George Cornwall Nicholson was an Irish-born dental surgeon, known to have been in Australia since at least 1888 and Greensborough from 1920. He was awarded his Doctorate to Dental Science in 1914, noted as dying 29 November, 1940 at “Glengariff’, Mountain View road, Greensborough at 74 years of age – his connection to the R.S.S.I.L.A. is unclear as there is no sign of him having volunteered.
Later reports have Kent Hughes owning an extensive poultry breeding property, Box Tree Farm poultry managed by Mr. Thomas Hutchinson, their birds winning many prizes at shows and Kent Hughes elected President of the Suburban Egg Producer’s Association in 1929.
At the same time, he was on the Committee of Management of Eltham Park and heavily involved as a Director raising £30,000 to establish the Heidelberg Golf Club, the project including the refurbishment of the Plenty Bridge Hotel as accommodation for visiting members.
As well as his medical practice in Collins-street and local activities, Kent Hughes was Chairman of the Melbourne Council’s Parks and Gardens Committee.
He is believed to have remained in Eltham until 1934 when he crossed the river and established himself in Warrandyte at a property believed to have known as “Yarralyn”.
Whether Constance was still with him at this stage is unknown, but probably unlikely; Wilfred Kent Hughes filed for divorce in 1936 and the following year married Dr. Mary Ethel Thornton, a divorcee (nee Cantwell) and prominent radiologist whose positions included one at the Austin Hospital.
Mary is known to have divorced her husband Angus in 1935 on the grounds of desertion, but just after she return from a 12-month posting in New Zealand in May, 1936, it was noted she “formerly lived in Warrandyte”, perhaps the reason for Wilfred’s relocation.
After volunteering her services during the early days of the Second World War, she was rejected by the A.I.F. who still refused to accept female doctors and instead travelled to England and became one of the first radiologists serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps. It is believed she also offered her services to the New Zealand military and was similarly rebuffed.
Always shown as Dr. Mary Thornton, on her return she was shown at 22 Collins-street (athough shown as a physio-therapist) along with her husband (surgeon and oculist) and one of his sons by his first marriage, Dr. Montague Owen Kent Hughes (physician).
Dr. Wilfred Kent Hughes died on 8 November, 1941 at his home in Warrandyte, one Death Notice a tribute from employees from Malvern Tramway Depot showing him as late Doctor to the Tramways Board, another from members of the Tramways Sub-branch of the R.S.S.A.I.L.A.
Although shown in practising in various locations around Melbourne over the next few years (including acting as visiting specialist in radiation at the new Repatriation General Hospital in Heidelberg), Mary retained the Warrandyte property.
Her military archive shows her in 1962 applying via the R.S.S.A.I.L.A. (on letterhead showing her as principal of the Croydon Radiology Centre) for assistance in re-building her home at Warrandyte bushfires after it was burnt-out by bushfires.
Constance Lillian Kent Hughes died in Brighton in 1973 at 82 years of age without re-marrying.
The Hughes/Kent Hughes Family
Wilfrid Kent Hughes, born Brighton in 1865 to Charles William Hughes, grazier, and his wife Ellen, née Man.
Children
Ellen Mary Kent Hughes (“Nell”, 1893-1979), medical practitioner and alderman, born on 29 August 1893 at Fitzroy, Melbourne, eldest of seven children of Wilfred Kent Hughes. Married Paul René Loubet in 1917, who died just three months later; re-married Francis Garde Wesley Wilson in 1920.
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kent-hughes-ellen-mary-10722
Sir Wilfrid Selwyn Kent Hughes (“Billy”, 1895-1970), soldier and politician, born on 12 June 1895 in East Melbourne, second of seven children of Wilfred Kent Hughes
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kent-hughes-sir-wilfrid-selwyn-billy-10723
Gwendolen Kent Lloyd (1899-1965), educationist, was born on 16 July 1899 at South Yarra, Melbourne, third of seven children of Wilfred Kent Hughes.http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lloyd-gwendolen-kent-gwenda-10841
Wilfred Kent Hughes’ other children by Clementina Jane, née Rankin
Margaret Kent Hughes (1902, South Yarra)
Kathleen Mary Kent Hughes (1903, Kew)
Winifred Powys Kent Hughes (1905, Kew)
(Dr.) Montague Owen Kent Hughes (1906, Kew), died 1976, South Melbourne
Wilfrid Kent Hughes’ children by Constance Lillian, nee Lelean
Elizabeth Kent, 20 March 1919
Margot Landsdown Hughes 1920 m William Louis Ross, 1943
Sister-in-law
On 1 October 1885 at All Saints Church, St Kilda, Agnes Eva Snodgrass married Frederic Godfrey Hughes (1858-1944), brother of Wilfred Kent Hughes
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hughes-agnes-eva-6755
Brother
Ernest Selwyn Hughes (1860-1942), Anglican clergyman, was born on 12 May 1860 at Cobram, Victoria, second son of Charles William Hughes, grazier, and his wife Ellen, née Man http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hughes-ernest-selwyn-6756
