Joseph William Hughes was the husband of Vera and two daughters, at 56 Woodville Road, Swansea. He served as Shipwright 1st Class 132399, in the Royal Navy, on H.M.S. Hawke, and was killed in action, aged 53, on 15 September, 1914 in the North Sea. He is remembered with honour on the Chatham Naval Memorial and on the Great War Road Screen Memorial, All Saints' Church, Mumbles, Swansea He received a call immediately war was declared and left at a few hours notice. He was one of 524 men who were lost when HMS Hawke was sunk by a torpedo from the submarine U9. The Mumbles Press noted that: 'Mr. Hughes first came to Mumbles as a Coastguard and since finishing his time with that service about six years ago, had carried on the trade of a joiner and carpenter'.