John Hughes (businessman)

Welsh businessman (1814–1889)

John James Hughes (1814 – 17 June 1889) was a Welsh engineer, businessman and founder of the city of Donetsk. The village was originally named Yuzovka (Hughesovka, Юзoвка) after Hughes, ("Yuz" being a Russian approximation of Hughes), formally becoming a town in May 1917 and later, in 1924, being renamed to Stalino (Сталіно); in 1961, the name was changed to Donetsk. He then moved to Ebbw Vale, before joining the Uskside Foundry in Newport, Monmouthshire, in the 1840s. It was here that Hughes made his reputation and fortune, patenting a number of inventions in armaments and armour plating. He formed the 'New Russia Company Ltd.' to raise capital, and in the summer of 1870, at the age of 55, he moved to Russia. He sailed with eight ships, with not only all the equipment necessary to establish a metal works, but also much of the skilled labour; a group of about a hundred ironworkers and miners mostly from South Wales. Hughes personally provided a hospital, schools, bath houses, tea rooms, a fire brigade and an Anglican church dedicated to the patron saints St George and St David. The land around the metalworks quickly grew to become an industrial and cultural centre in the region; the population of the city founded by Hughes now exceeds one million. Over the next twenty years, the works prospered and expanded, first under John Hughes and then, after his death in 1889, under the management of four of his sons. Hughes couldn't write and could only read capital letters.

Hughes died on 17 June 1889 during a business trip to Saint Petersburg. His body was repatriated to the UK for burial beside his wife at West Norwood Cemetery in London. Several of his sons are also buried there.

By the end of the nineteenth century, the works was the largest in the Russian Empire, producing 74% of Russian iron in 1913. A period of relative decline in the early years of the twentieth century was followed by expansion during World War I. Many of the men who accompanied John Hughes settled in Hughesovka and brought their wives and families. Over the years, although a Russian workforce was trained by the company, skilled workers from the United Kingdom continued to be employed, and many technical, engineering and managerial positions were filled by British immigrants; who were overwhelmingly Welsh. A thriving expatriate community was established, living in good quality company housing, and provided with an English school and an Anglican church. Despite the cold winters, hot summers and occasional
cholera epidemics, some families remained in Hughesovka for many years. The Bolshevik revolution of 1917 ended the Hughes family's connection to the works. The Hughes brothers and almost all their foreign employees returned to Britain or other countries. The works were nationalised by the Bolsheviks in 1919. The town of Hughesovka was renamed "Stalino" in 1924, and then the present name "Donetsk" in 1961. The works survived and prospered despite regime and socio economic change, and Donetsk remains a major metallurgical industries centre today. A monument to Hughes by sculptor was erected in Donetsk in 2001. In March 2014, following the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, a humorous campaign advocated that Donetsk join the United Kingdom because of the city's connection to Hughes. Shortly afterwards, the Ukrainian government lost control of Donetsk to militants of the self declared Donetsk People's Republic, who declared the city to be independent of Ukraine and advocated integration with Russia. In 2014, an instrumental song on the Welsh band Manic Street Preachers' album Futurology paid homage to John Hughes, referring to Donetsk by its former name. In 2017 there was an event in Merthyr with contemporary archival film as well as new music and photographs about the historic connections of migration between Merthyr and Hughesovka.