Life

Born in Southwark

Southwark

Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...

, he was sent to Corpus Christi College, Oxford

Corpus Christi College, Oxford

Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...

 aat the beginning of 1619. He was admitted B.A. on 19 February 1623, and proceeded M.A. on 23 June 1625 as a Fellow of Pembroke College

Pembroke College, Oxford

Pembroke College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located in Pembroke Square. As of 2009, Pembroke had an estimated financial endowment of £44.9 million.-History:...

. About 1628 he was ordained, and, after serving curacies in and near Oxford, he was chosen in 1631 lecturer at All Hallows, Bread Street, London, where he was popular as a preacher. He commenced B.D. on 10 July 1633.

For his refusal to comply with the rubrics he was suspended by William Laud

William Laud

William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...

, and would have emigrated to America had he not been dissuaded by John Dod

John Dod

John Dod , known as “Decalogue Dod”, was a non-conforming English clergyman, taking his nickname for his emphasis on the Ten Commandments. He is known for his widely circulated writings...

, on whose recommendation he was appointed chaplain to Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke

Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke

Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke was an English Civil War Roundhead General.Greville was the cousin and adopted son of Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, and thus became 2nd Lord Brooke, and owner of Warwick Castle. He was born in 1607, and entered parliament for Warwickshire in 1628...

 at Warwick Castle

Warwick Castle

Warwick Castle is a medieval castle in Warwick, the county town of Warwickshire, England. It sits on a bend on the River Avon. The castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1068 within or adjacent to the Anglo-Saxon burh of Warwick. It was used as a fortification until the early 17th century,...

. During his residence there he married a Coventry lady. The mother of John Maynard

John Maynard (MP)

Sir John Maynard KS was an English lawyer and politician, prominent under the reigns of Charles I, the Commonwealth, Charles II, James II and William III.-Origins and education:...

 persuaded Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford

Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford

Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford PC was an English politician. About 1631 he built the square of Covent Garden, with the piazza and church of St. Paul's, employing Inigo Jones as his architect...

 to obtain for him the rectory of Tavistock in Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, and the earl also made him his chaplain.

The outbreak of the First Civil War

First English Civil War

The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War . "The English Civil War" was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, and includes the Second English Civil War and...

 obliged Hughes to move to Exeter

Exeter

Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...

, where his wife died. Here Prince Rupert and his staff heard him preach. On his deciding to leave the city the prince provided him with safe-conducts, which enabled him to travel in peace to Coventry

Coventry

Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...

. On 21 October 1643 the corporation of Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

 elected him vicar of St. Andrew's Church. He dedicated to the corporation a work; Richard Baxter

Richard Baxter

Richard Baxter was an English Puritan church leader, poet, hymn-writer, theologian, and controversialist. Dean Stanley called him "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen". After some false starts, he made his reputation by his ministry at Kidderminster, and at around the same time began a long...

 considered it the best of its kind.

In 1647 he was appointed to preach before the House of Commons, and received a vote of thanks. The following year he subscribed with seventy-two other ministers to the Solemn League and Covenant

Solemn League and Covenant

The Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement between the Scottish Covenanters and the leaders of the English Parliamentarians. It was agreed to in 1643, during the First English Civil War....

. In 1654 he was made one of the assistants to the commissioners of Devon.

Though expelled from his living in August 1662, he continued to reside at Plymouth. For holding services in secret he was arrested in 1665 and, with his brother-in-law and assistant Thomas Martyn, confined on St. Nicholas Island

Drake's Island

Drake's Island is a island lying in Plymouth Sound, the stretch of water south of the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The rocks which make up the island are volcanic tuff and lava, together with marine limestone of the mid-Devonian period.-Early history:...

 for about nine months. His health was now failing. Friends managed to procure his release by giving security; but he was forbidden to live within twenty miles of Plymouth. He lived at Kingsbridge, Devon, where he died on 4 July 1667, and was buried in the church. A memorial tablet was erected to him about 1670 by Thomas Crispin, for which Hughes's son-in-law John Howe wrote a Latin inscription. His son Obadiah (1640-1704) was grandfather of Obadiah Hughes (1695-1751).

Works

On his island prison he wrote a reply to John Sergeant

John Sergeant (priest)

John Sergeant was an English Roman Catholic priest, controversialist and theologian.-Life:He was son of William Sergeant, a yeoman in Barrow-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire, and was admitted in 1639 as a sub-sizar at St John's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1643...

's 'Sure-footing in Christianity,' 1665, which appeared after his death under the title of 'Sure-footing in Christianity examined,' London 1668.
His other writings are, besides sermons preached at the funerals 'of … Captaine Henry Waller,' London, 1632, and 'of Master William Crompton … pastor of Lanceston, Cornwall,' London, 1642:

• 'Aphorisms, or Select Propositions of the Scripture, shortly determining the Doctrine of the Sabbath' (edited by 0. Hughes), London, 1670.
• 'An Analytical Exposition of … Genesis and of xxiii. chap. of Exodus,' fol., Amsterdam, 1672.

He also edited R. Head's 'Threefold Cord to unite Soules for ever unto God,' 1647.