An important Commander fo the Order of The Bath and Commander of the Order of The British Empire group of nine to Major-General William Dillon Hughes, CB, CBE, QHP, MD, FRCP, Royal Army Medical Corps, one of the senior British military medical officers of his generation. His career spanned the treatment of casualties in the North African campaign, the medical response following D-Day, and the humanitarian crisis after the liberation of Bergen-Belsen where he served as Senior Medical Officer; followed by decades shaping British expertise in tropical and military medicine, appointed Honorary Physician to the Queen in 1957, he went on to serve as Colonel Commandant of the RAMC from 1961- 1965.
Group of 9: The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Companion, C.B., Military Division, neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels, with neck ribbon, housed in its Collingwood ‘To Her Majesty The Queen’ fitted presentation case; The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Commander, C.B.E., 2nd type, Military Division, silver-gilt and enamels, with full length of issued neck ribbon, and housed in its Garrard and Co, Ltd ,’The The King’ fitted presentation case; Order of St John of Jerusalem, Officer, slivered metal and enamel; General Service Medal 1918-1962, 2 clasps: Palestine, Malaya (CAPT W. D. HUGHES, R.A.M.C.) 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; France and Germany Star; WW2 War Medal with M.I.D. emblem; 1953 Coronation Medal, mounted swing-style as worn.
Condition: Good Very Fine.
Sold together with the recipient’s dress miniatures, mounted court-style as worn.
At the end of the Second World War Britain had to deal with many of the legacies in Europe from the six year Nazi led campaign, and in doing so, became aware of its darker secrets. The task to deal with one of the horrific products of the defeated regime fell upon Ardglass native Dr William Dillon Hughes, who at the time was a Senior Medical Officer with the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC).
William Dillon Hughes's family had a long connection with Ardglass, his great grandfather was Bernard Hughes (1799-1888). Bernard, originally from Inch, was Master of Ardglass Nautical College and the first teacher of the new Erasmus Smith School on High Street. His grandfather, Richard Hughes (1821-1906), was a baker and confectioner with premises originally in Bath Street, but later moved to Kildare Street. One of Richard's sons was William Dillon's father, Richard Hughes JP (1860-1949) who had become a successful businessman and auctioneer in fish sales, with an office at Ardglass harbour. The family lived on High Street, close to where William Dillon attended primary school.
He was the eldest of two children to Richard Hughes and Hannah Barton, schoolteacher, and was born in 1900. Following his local schooling he attended Campbell College in Belfast and then Queen's University, where he qualified in medicine in 1923. Dr Hughes first worked as a GP in south Wales before joining the RAMC in 1928. He served in Hong Kong and Palestine before becoming Medical Officer of general hospitals in Egypt during the early desert campaign. He was Mentioned in Despatches for his service in North Africa.
M.I.D. London Gazette 31 Dec 1941. 40252 T/ Lt. Colonel W. D. Hughes, Royal Army Medical Corps.
By 1944 he was head of the 105th General Hospital medical division, the first of such units to land in Europe after the Normandy invasion.
Bergen-Belsen in Germany's Lower Saxony had become a Nazi concentration camp and was used as a collection centre for survivors of the death marches. The camp got extremely overcrowded and, as a result of neglect, conditions deteriorated further in the last months of the War, causing many more deaths. Belsen was the first main concentration camp to fall into British hands and got liberated by its forces on 15 April 1945. At this time thousands of bodies lay unburied around the camp and some 60,000 critically ill people were packed together without food, water or basic sanitation; many had contracted disease and were severely under-nourished.
In early May 1945, whilst working with the RAMC at a hospital near Bergenhausen, Germany, Dr Hughes was given orders by the Director of Medical Services at HQ British Army of the Rhine. He was to be the Senior Medical Officer in charge of the hospital and relief operation at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where health conditions were now serious. A typhus epidemic had broken out at the camp and the German Army, who had lost control of its conditions, abandoned the patients to avoid its personnel catching the disease, plus no doubt to evade responsibility.
Glad to take on a task he never had before, Dr Hughes formed a team of around 30 RAMC officers and left within 24 hours of receiving his orders; he was advised Red Cross medical equipment had already been delivered to the camp. When he got there it was apparent the site had been cleaned up to a degree by initially sent personnel, which included British medical students, so the grim task of burying the huge number of corpses had begun. The camp had a hospital of approximately 100 patients, but there were thousands more accommodated on beds in the surrounding former SS barracks, the majority of which were critically ill. In addition to the many patients afflicted with typhus, others were found to have TB or were suffering from chronic malnutrition and severe diarrhoea.
Without having received any type of handover, nor there being any figures or information available, it was difficult for Dr Hughes' team to assess the situation. However, each morning when the dead were collected from the barracks and hospital, it was noted the number of corpses being placed on the death cart was decreasing. The dusting of patients with a DDT powder efficiently dealt with the lice responsible for spreading the typhus and within the barracks area for the staff there to act on. Equipment and food became more readily available at the camp and the situation began to improve.
The management of the recovery process by Dr Hughes at Belsen was however hampered in late June by the arrival of hundreds of extra TB patients who were ex-Russian PoWs. They had been working in coalmines in the Ruhr area of Germany and the country had no capacity to care for them before their return to Russia could be organised. Dr Hughes even had to contend with a difficult Commandant who accompanied these patients and would not permit them to have chest x-rays.
The weakened Belsen patients were cooperative, but most were from eastern European countries, so there was a language barrier with their British carers. A few who had some English spoke of their hunger, the lack of warmth and poor sanitary conditions at the camp before the Germans left. Patients even resorted to protecting themselves from the cold by making suits out of blankets provided by the Red Cross.
Towards the end of July 1945 Dr Hughes' original orders had been achieved and he was able to hand over to a mostly British United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration team. As part of this transfer he was asked for an inventory of equipment, but due to the camp's unique situation, it was impossible to provide one. When the Belsen site had been eventually emptied it was burned because of the louse infestation.
Post-War Dr Hughes specialised in tropical medicine and was a consultant to the Far East Land Forces in Singapore for which service he was appointed Commander in the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of The British Empire.
C.B.E. Military London Gazette 1 May 1953. Colonel William Dillon Hughes, Conuilting Physician, Medical Directorate GHQ, FARELF (Singapore, Malaya and Hong Kong). Dec 1950 - Dec 1962.
The citation states:
From December 1950 to the present date Colonel HUGHES has carried out his duties in an exemplary manner.
He has worked long hours night and day and has not spared himself. His work has been of a high order and by his skill, kindness and sympathy ha has been a great source of comfort to his patients.
By virtue of his appointment Colonel HUGHES has had to travel long distances by train and aeroplane at very short notice. He, has always been willing and anxious to undertake journeys at any time he felt that a patient would benefit by his advice and presence.
He is held in high esteem by his brother Medical Officers who greatly value his opinion. In addition, Colonel HUGHES has shown much interest in the training and coaching of young physicians for higher degrees, Both Regular and National Service Officers, In off duty hours he has held teaching rounds in the wards. of the British Military Hospital Singapore, and by courtesy of the Medical Faculty of the University of Malaya, in the wards of the Civil General Hospital, Singapore. This has stimulated the interest of the Medical Officers in the Army generally and several have taken regular commissions
I feel the excellent and devoted work carried out by Colonel HUGHES has contributed to the high morale present in the Army and to the confidence felt by the Army in the Medical Services.
Recommendation submitted by Brigadier C. W. Greenway, Director of Medical Services, FARELF.
Hughes went on to became Professor of tropical medicine at the Royal Army Medical College, London plus its Commandant and in 1957 was appointed honorary physician to the Queen. He served as Colonel Commandant of the RAMC 1961-5 for which service he was appointed Commander of the Military Division of The Order of The Bath.
C.B. Military London Gazette. 23 Jun 1960. Major-General William Dillon Hughes, Commandant and Director of Studies, Royal Army Medical College, Millbank, S.W.1. 1957 to date.
The Citation states:
Major-General W. D. Hughes has been Commandant of the Royal Army Medical College from the 1st April, 1957 to date.
During the whole of this time he has carried out his exacting duties in his exemplary manner.
He is responsible for the direction of studies of the medical officers of the Royal Army Medical Corps, which include National Service, Short Service and Regular medical officers, both specialists and non-specialists.
Under his guidance the post-graduate training, academic achievements and professional standards of the Corps have been greatly enhanced. This is now well recognised in the civilian world.
Through his efforts the liaison between the Royal Army Medical College and the academic bodies and civilian research institutions has been strengthened.
By his outstanding attainments and by his energy, tact, enthusiasm and pleasant personality he has achieved a close liaison which is of the greatest value to officers under instruction.
Major-General Hughes is strongly recommended for the C.B.
The recommendation was submitted by Lieutenant-General Sir Alexander Drummond, Director-General, Army Medical Services.
Following his retirement, Hughes played golf every day and took A'Level German at the age of 80!
He married Kathleen Thomas in 1929 and after she died he re-married Jennifer Stedall in 1989. He had one son who also became a medical doctor, as did his two granddaughters and two nephews.
In his lifetime Dr Hughes rarely spoke of the what he had witnessed at Bergen-Belsen, but late in life he was interviewed about this time for the Imperial War Museum oral history collection and his words and his 27 minute account can be accessed via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website.
collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn510828
