Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - An haifi Hughes a ranar 8 ga Janairu, 1853, a Solina kusa da Bowmanville a cikin abin da ke yammacin Kanada. Shi ɗan John Hughes ne daga Tyrone, Ireland, da Caroline (Laughlin) Hughes, ɗan Kanada wanda ya fito daga Huguenots da Ulster Scots. Ya yi karatu a Durham County, Ontario kuma daga baya ya halarci Makarantar Toronto da Jami'ar Toronto. A 1866 ya shiga 45th West Durham Battalion of Infantry kuma ya yi aiki a lokacin Fenian raids
a shekarun 1860s da 1870s. A tsawon rayuwarsa, Hughes ya kasance mai shiga tsakani a cikin 'yan bindiga, yana halartar duk zaman atisaye, kuma yana harbi da bindiga a lokacin hutu don inganta burinsa. Babban harbi tare da bindiga, Hughes ya kasance mai aiki a cikin kungiyoyin bindiga kuma a ƙarshe ya zama shugaban kungiyar Dominion Rifle Association. Hughes yana son ganin kansa a matsayin wanda ke nuna dabi'un Victoria na aiki tuƙuru, horo na kai, ƙarfi da namiji. Dogon tsayi, tsoka, da kuma kafadu masu fadi, Hughes ya yi fice a wasanni, yana da ƙwarewa musamman a lacrosse. Daga baya ya yi iƙirarin, a cikin "Wanene Wanene" na Burtaniya, cewa "da kaina ya ba da damar tara" sojojin Kanada don yin aiki a cikin "kamfen din Masar da Sudan, Yakin Afghanistan na Afghanistan, da Yakin Transvaal".