Mary Hughes

Mary "May" Hughes (1860–1941. Apr 2nd) was an English social worker in Whitechapel. Biography Born at 80 Park Street, Mayfair, Mary was the youngest daughter of Thomas Hughes, Christian Socialist and author of Tom Brown's Schooldays. At the age of 23, she left home to become housekeeper for her uncle John Hughes, a vicar in Berkshire, and in 1892 joined the local Board of Guardians, who helped run the local workhouses. She reportedly caused controversy by suggesting the paupers who lived in the workhouses might be allowed to drink tea twice a day instead of once. The resulting row lasted several months, but Mary got her way in the end. In 1895, her uncle died, and Mary went to live with her sister Lily, wife of the Rev. Ernest Carter, in Whitechapel, East London, and soon joined the Board of Guardians for Stepney. After her sister and brother-in-law drowned on the Titanic, in 1915 Mary moved to live with friends, Doris and Muriel Lester, in the buildings that were later to become Kingsley Hall, Bow.