Born in Berthengam in Flintshire, Hughes worked above ground at a local coal mine from the age of seven.
In 1875, he moved to Easington in County Durham to work at South Hetton Colliery, where he was active in supporting a strike in the mid-1880s.
He returned to North Wales in 1887 to work for the Point of Ayr Colliery Company, where he led a three-week strike, and was subsequently elected as the pit's first checkweighman.
[1] Hughes was a founder of the North Wales Miners' Federation, becoming its Financial Secretary in 1893.
During his time as general secretary of what had been renamed the "North Wales Miners' Association", membership had increased from under 3,000 to over 15,000.