Born in 1894, Hughes was educated at the University of Leeds and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree.^[3] He was ordained Deacon in 1921 and Priest in 1922 after a course of study at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield.^[4] After a period as curate at St Matthew's, Leicester^[5] he was appointed Priest in charge at St Hilda's, Leicester.^[6] From there, he moved to become Vicar of St Benedict, Bordesley^[7] after which he was appointed Rector then Dean of St George's Cathedral, Georgetown, Guyana.^[8]

In 1944, Hughes was appointed Bishop of British Honduras.^[9] After a very short time in this post, he was translated to Barbados,^[10] during which time he set up the Barbados Church Association to prepare for disestablishment.^[11][12] In 1951, he returned to England^[13] to be Vicar of St George's Church, Edgbaston,^[14] and additionally served as an Assistant Bishop of Birmingham.^[15] He was also made an honorary Canon of Birmingham Cathedral in 1952.^[16] Two years later, however, he was enthroned as the first Bishop of Matabeleland.^[17][18] During his time in Matabeleland, he became known for his dry comments on the administration of the region – for example, when it was proposed to have a second capital at Bulawayo, he offered this quote from W. S. Gilbert: "Ambassadors cropped up like hay, Prime Ministers and such they grew as asparagus in May and Dukes were three a penny."^[19] After four years, he became the Archbishop of Central Africa.^[20]

In 1957, he was awarded a Lambeth degree by Geoffrey Fisher, the Archbishop of Canterbury.^[21] He was a Sub-Prelate of the Order of St John of Jerusalem from 1958^[22] and in 1961 he was translated for the final time to Trinidad.^[23][24] He retired in 1970 to Canada, where he continued to minister at Holy Trinity, Port Burwell, Ontario.^[25][26] He died whilst visiting friends in Harare on 5 December 1979.^[27]