Her father, a modestly successful London stockbroker, was found dead on a train line in November 1879.
[3] As head of the training department at Bedford College from 1892 until 1897, she played an important role in expanding and rationalising the teacher-training curriculum.
Molly Thomas married a barrister, Arthur Hughes (1857–1918), from Garneddwen, in 1897, after an engagement of nearly ten years.
They had one daughter, Mary Yetta Bronwen, born in the spring of 1898 who died soon after her first birthday in 1899, and then three sons : After her husband's death she returned to work as an educational inspector and settled in Cuffley in Hertfordshire.
Hughes's stated purpose in these books is "to show that Victorian children did not have such a dull time as is usually supposed".