HUGHES, Wilfrid Selwyn Kent

Wilfrid Kent Hughes, known as Billy, was born in East Melbourne on 12 June 1895. Members of his extended family had achieved, or would later achieve, some prominence in various aspects of public life. He attended Trinity Grammar School in Kew till he was aged 13, at which point he won a scholarship to Melbourne Grammar School. At Melbourne Grammar he had an outstanding record academically and in sporting pursuits, and had strong leadership attributes. He was an officer in the cadets, captain of football and athletics, and School Captain in 1914.

Kent Hughes attested for the AIF on 17 August 1914, shortly after war was declared, and was promoted to Sergeant on 27 August - although his record shows that he contested these dates, saying that both events occurred on 14 August 1914. In a note in his military file hand-written by him in 1919, Kent Hughes states that he enlisted on 14 August and "did duty at the Recruiting Hall until the opening of the Broadmeadows camp on 17 August."   

According to an article in Melbourne Grammar's Grammar News in 2014, a "throng of students" followed Billy down to Victoria Barracks to watch him enlist - it must have been quite a sight, consistent with contemporary reports of the fervid atmosphere of the opening days of the war when sentiments of honour and gallantry were high, and the carnage of Australian soldiers had not yet started. All prefects from 1914 followed Billy's example and enlisted; the then President of the Old Melburnians, Casimir Woinarski, KC, and former Prime Minister and past Old Melburnians President, Alfred Deakin, travelled to the Broadmeadows Military Camp in early September 1914 to present a badge and a letter to Old Melburnians. The letter said : "To each of you we give an Old Melburnians badge. Let it be placed inside your uniform as a token that each man is wearing the colours of the School. Let it be a talisman, a treasured possession and may it ever remind you that The Old Melburnians are with you."

Billy's attestation papers indicate that he was a student, of height 5' 10 1/2" and weight 148 pounds. He had been in school cadets for 8 years.

Kent Hughes was assigned to the 7th Battalion on enlistment, and after undergoing training embarked for Egypt on 18 October 1914. On 1 April 1914 he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on his transfer to the 8th Regiment of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade, which was commanded by his uncle, Brigadier-General F. G. Hughes. In volume VII of the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18, H. S. Gullett writes (p.29) that the Australian Light Horse "was in body and spirit the true product of the wide Australian countryside" which "as a whole was essentially a force of countrymen, most of whom actually bred and owned the horses on which they did their few weeks of compulsory annual training." 

Although his background did not seem to meet the Gullett characterisation of the typical candidate for the Light Horse, Kent Hughes had an outstanding career with the AIF. He served in Palestine, Syria and Sinai and at Gallipoli. He arrived at Gallipoli on 16 May 1915, and was wounded in action on 19 June (gunshot wound to forearm); he was admitted to the hospital ship Gascon, and returned to duty on 23 June. On 31 August he was evacuated to hospital in Egypt (his record states "sick"), and he returned to Gallipoli on 20 September. 

Kent Hughes was awarded the Military Cross on 4 October 1917; the citation was for "distinguished service in the field", and the recommendation for the award referred to him as "a young officer of great promise who has shown marked ability and energy in the performance of his duties as Staff Captain of a Mounted Brigade."   

Kent Hughes was Mentioned in Despatches on four occasions: 30 November 1916, 19 April 1917, 11 October 1917 and 23 May 1919. He was promoted to Captain on 28 January 1916, and to Major on 28 May 1917. 

On 13 January 1918 he embarked from Suez for leave in Australia, and returned to Suez on 29 April 1918.

In early 1915 Kent Hughes was informed that he had been awarded a Rhodes scholarship. In January 1919 he travelled from Suez to Southampton to take up this scholarship. He began his studies at Christ Church College, Oxford, in April of that year, and was awarded his BA in 1923.

At Oxford, Kent Hughes was awarded half-blues for athletics and lacrosse, and captained the ski team. He represented Australia in the 400 metres hurdles at the 1920 Olympics at Antwerp (Billy comfortably won his quarter-final in this event, but did not proceed past the semi-finals).

On 3 February 1923 he married Edith Kerr, an American, at Monclair, New Jersey. 

On his return to Australia in April 1923, Kent Hughes joined his father's publishing business. A close friend of Robert Menzies, in 1927 he launched a long political career by contesting the seat of Kew in the Victorian Parliament. Winning this seat as an independent after failing to win pre-selection for the Nationalists, he subsequently re-joined the Nationalists and held the seat till 1949. He held numerous portfolios when his party was in government in the 1930's.

Kent Hughes resigned as deputy leader of the Opposition in August 1939 and joined the Militia with the rank of Major. He was seconded to the AIF in June 1940, and following service in Malaya he was captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore in February 1942. He endured 6 months in Changi prison, and spent a further three years in labour camps in Formosa (Taiwan) and Manchuria until his release in August 1945.

In 1947 he was awarded the OBE for his conduct during his three and a half years in Japanese hands. The citation refers to a "devotion to duty that was outstanding" in Changi POW camp, and further states that "During this most difficult period, immediately following capitulation, his conduct was an inspiration to all ranks. He assisted in the task of improving morale in a most marked manner as a senior staff officer." Referring to the three years in Formosa and Manchuria, the citation says that "Throughout the whole period he continued to show outstanding devotion to duty and was an inspiration to all with whom he came into contact."

Moving from State politics to Federal politics in 1949, Kent Hughes became the member for Chisholm for the Liberal Party until his death in 1970, and held ministerial office in the Menzies Government in the mid 1950's.

One of his most significant roles was as Chairman (from 1951) of the Organising Committee for the Melbourne Olympics. In that role he was successful in ending the local squabbling that threatened to have the Olympics removed from Melbourne. He accepted a knighthood (KBE) for his efforts, only after he was assured that other committee members would be given awards.

Kent Hughes died at his home at 4 Selbourne Road, Kew from a heart attack on 31 July 1970. He was survived by Edith and three daughters.

I. R. Hancock in his entry on Kent Hughes in the Australian Dictionary of Biography wrote of him as follows: "Looking and sounding like a survival of an earlier age, when Melbourne Grammar boys rushed to serve king and country, he sat erect on his mount on Anzac Day in 1968 wearing the uniform of the Light Horse. Friends and political opponents recognised in the man a dignity, integrity, vitality and kindliness."

Billy's father, Major Wilfred Kent Hughes, also served in the First World War as a doctor in France.