Roman Catholic Prelate. Born in London to a working class couple, Arthur Walter Hughes left school at the age of fourteen due to his family's precarious financial condition in order to work as a newspaper copy boy, but still managed to find enough time to pursue his studies personally through the use of local libraries. This reading led him to join the Roman Catholic Church, with Cardinal Bourne of Westminster eventually sending him to White Fathers of Africa, where Father Pierre Travers enrolled him at the junior seminary near Southampton in order to learn French and Latin, needed for further study in North Africa. Suffering a health crisis at the theology college in Carthage, he regained his health after following the doctor's orders assiduously, including eating a dozen eggs a day, with his professors soon finding out what a brilliant student they had. Ordained priest in June 1927, he was in England for the next few years teaching at the junior seminary of his society. Moving to Uganda as a missionary in 1933, Bishop Joseph Michaud soon put him in charge of the local Catholic education and of the relations with the Protectorate Government, noticing his fluency in the Luganda language, which he studied while in England. Soon in charge of seven types of schools, Hughes was appointed apostolic delegate in Egypt by Pope Pius XII in March 1945. With Italy driven out of Ethiopia, Italian missionaries found themselves in disarray. The British government felt that the named office, then served by Msgr. Gustavo Testa, would be more appropriate if it was filled by an Englishman. The appointment went to Hughes, who on the following May 20 was consecrated bishop of the titular see of Hieropolis. A warm and deeply cultured man, he befriended King Farouk, who held him in great respect, known to have held the traditional dancing usually reserved for special guests in his palace until the prelate was gone. Attending special religious services since his early missionary days in local churches of the countries he served in, it is to be mentioned that his pectoral cross and episcopal ring were gifts from Eastern church groups which ordinarily would have dreaded having so influential a Roman Catholic in the country. A deeply humble man, who though he could have rightly lived in a certain elegance, rejected anything resembling luxury, it is known that if he was invited to some sumptuous banquet he would privately fast for days before it. Appointed intercuncio of Egypt in August 1947 and transferred to the titular archbishopric see of Aprus, Hughes was a highly popular figure among Catholics and Muslims alike. Despite such popularity he had to be on continuous alert for spies with Hughes posting diplomatic correspondence himself at local letter boxes, sometimes not without an adventure, such as during a trip to Jerusalem, when he allowed spies to steal his briefcase while he calmly carried the secret documents out of the station stuffed in his pockets. Hard work and stress forced Hughes to leave Egypt in June 1949. Back home in London, he stayed with his parents, rising early for mass at the local church, then lighting a fire and making them breakfast. A visitor is said to have remained scandalized to find him drying dishes for his mother. Falling asleep in his clothes after a visit to the White Fathers for thirty hours from sheer exhaustion, relatives and fellow priests insisted he would see a heart specialist, being known that doctors had already warned him of having a bad heart. The appointment was however never kept, for three days preceding it he suffered an attack while driving in London, and although he managed to arrive home safely, he suffered two other massive heart attacks, dying in the arms of his brother on July 12. King Farouk was among those who paid tribute to this beloved figure, sending him a wreath at his funeral service. Hughes was laid to rest in the small cemetery of the White Fathers in Bishop's Waltham, near Father Travers, "who had first fostered his missionary vocation and guided him to the altar."