Dee ihe ndị ọzọ dị na paragraf a - A mụrụ Hughes na January 8, 1853, na Solina nke dị nso na Bowmanville n'ebe a na-akpọ Canada West n'oge ahụ. Ọ bụ nwa John Hughes si Tyrone, Ireland, na Caroline (Laughlin) Hughes, onye Canada nke sitere na Huguenots na Ulster Scots. Ọ gụrụ akwụkwọ na Durham County, Ontario ma mesịa gaa Toronto Normal School na Mahadum Toronto. N'afọ 1866 ọ sonyeere ndị agha nke 45 West Durham Battalion nke ndị agha na-eje ozi n'oge mwakpo ndị Fenian
na 1860s na 1870s. N'oge ndụ ya niile, Hughes tinyere aka na ndị agha, na-aga ọzụzụ ọzụzụ niile, ma na-agba egbe egbe na oge ya iji meziwanye ihe ya. N'ịbụ onye na-agba égbè nke ọma, Hughes na-arụsi ọrụ ike n'òtù ndị na-agba égbè ike ma mesịa ghọọ onyeisi oche nke Dominion Rifle Association. Hughes hụrụ onwe ya n'anya ịhụ onwe ya dị ka onye na-egosipụta ụkpụrụ ndị Victoria nke ịrụsi ọrụ ike, ịdọ aka ná ntị onwe onye, ike na nwoke. Hughes toro ogologo, gbasie ike, ma nwee ubu sara mbara, ọ na-eme nke ọma n'egwuregwu, na-enwe nkà karịsịa n'egwuregwu lacrosse. O mesịrị kwuo, na British "Onye bụ Onye", na ya "nyere onwe ya iji bulie" ndị agha Canada maka ọrụ na "mgbasa ozi ndị Ijipt na Sudan, Agha Frontier Afghanistan, na Agha Transvaal".