Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hughes, William (1793-1825)
HUGHES, WILLIAM (1793–1825), wood-engraver, was born in 1793 in Liverpool, where he was an apprentice to Henry Hole [q.v.] Some of his earliest works illustrate Gregson's 'Fragments of Lancashire,' 1817. There are a few woodcuts by him in Rutter's 'Delineations of Fonthill,' excellent in manner and carefully executed. Specimens of his work are to be found also in Dibdin's 'Decameron,' 1817, Johnson's 'Typographia,' 1824, and Ottley's 'History of Engraving.' Puckle's 'Club,' 1817, contains three beautifully finished head-pieces and five tail-pieces by Hughes. Some capital cuts by him are in Butler's 'Remains,' 1827, in 'Mornings in Bow Street,' 1824 (after Cruikshank), and in Washington Irving's 'Knickerbocker's History of New York,' about the same date. Like his master, Hole, he engraved much in the style of Thurston, and his name is only found on good and careful work. He died at Lambeth, London, on 11 Feb. 1825, aged 32.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists of the English School; Bryan's Dict. of Painters and Engravers; Linton's Masters of Wood Engraving, 1889, p. 187.]