| Notes |
- Thomas Hughs Ford Hughes had a brilliant career in the army, was very much "man about town" and enjoyed life to the full. He dropped out and became a recluse round middle age. He lived in squalor in a room in a whole terrace of houses that he owned, and was very strange. What he had been doing was, when a worthwhile Estate came on the market, he mortgaged another of his properties to buy it to keep the "foreigners" out. He would continue the lease of the land, but shut the main house up. In one mansion he had installed an expensive organ before shutting the doors. Another he had ordered a grand piano to be installed, but when it was delivered they could not get it in through the doors, so it had been left to rot outside.
Thomas was found dying of thirst - he had not paid his water bill and it had been cut off. He was taken to the poor house where he died. The estate which they believed was entailed, had been disentailed. Because Thomas had died 6 weeks before his sister (Ellen) and there was no valid will, Ellen inherited. Her will was in favour of her companion/housekeeper with residue going to Sophie Elinor White, Evan's daughter. However when the estate was wound up and all the mortgages settled and solicitors paid, it left only 500 pounds stirling. "Nant Gwylan" was then sold and lost to the family.
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The following is a transcipt of a newspaper article following his death;
LANDOWNER'S DEATH IN THE WORKHOUSE
ECCENTRIC RECLUSE LEAVES £74,000
Mr. Thomas Ford Hughes, who died in the Carmarthen Workhouse on March 8, has left estate worth £74,000, and letters of administration have been granted to his sister, Miss Lloyd Davies, of Carmarthen.
For many years Mr. Hughes has lived the life of a recluse in a cottage in Carmarthen, which no one was allowed to enter. When he became seriously ill he still refused all help, and on March 2 last the authorities made a forcible entry and removed him to the workhouse.
Mr. Ford Hughes owned the Aberceri and Nantgwilan Estates in Cardiganshire, as well as land in North Pembrokeshire. He was born in 1840, and his original name was Davies, but he adopted that of Hughes by deed poll on succeeding to the estate of his material uncle.
He lived a normal life until he was about thirty years old, but then for some unknown reason he became addicted to solitude. He took a cottage in Carmarthen, and when he visited his mansions he would hire a carriage and travel at night. After a time he gave up even these visits, and he never left the Carmarthen cottage after 1887.
For years nobody visited his house except a barber, and when the barber died Mr. Hughes allowed his beard and hair to grow. His meals were sent in form hotels, but nobody got further than the door.
The grimy windows of the house were familiar to Carmarthen people for nearly thirty years. The town council often discussed the possibility if the sanitary inspector preparing a warrant to enter but no action was taken, as no nuisance could be proved. Two years ago there was a fire at the cottage, and persons who saw the interior declare that ashes had accumulated in piles round the fire, and that newspapers and books were staked to the ceiling.
When the authorities entered the house on March 2 the door of the bedroom had been pushed back inch by inch as the ashes and rubbish were shoveled out.
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Barton Family History
1840 - 1914 (74 years)
