Mr Evan Henry “Harry” Hughes was born in Rock Ferry, Cheshire, England on 2 March 1879. He was the son of Welsh parents Lewis Hughes, a tailor, and the former Elizabeth Adams. He had four siblings.

A Freemason, Hughes was married in 1899 to Maud Fanny Keysell (b. 30 January 1879 in Birmingham) and the couple had two daughters, Irene (b. 1899) and Lillian (b. 1903); by 1911 the family lived at 5 Finchley Road, Liverpool and Hughes was then described as a ship’s steward for the Cunard Company. 

Hughes was chief steward aboard the Carpathia when that ship rescued the survivors of the Titanic disaster; an unidentified steward said of him:

'The men were then mustered in the saloon and addressed by the chief steward. He told them of the disaster and appealed to them in a few words as Britishers to 'show the world what stuff they were made of and to add a glorious page to the history of the empire, and right well did the men respond to the appeal. Every lifeboat was manned and ready to be launched at a moment's notice. Nothing further could be done but anxiously wait and look out for the ship's distress signal… — The New York Sun, 19 April 1912

After the Titanic disaster Hughes worked aboard the Saxonia and then Franconia, emigrating to the USA aboard the latter in November 1914, making his home in Queens, New York whilst continuing to work at sea; he later became a US citizen and was joined in his new home by his wife and daughters and a new addition to the family, his son Evan who had been born in October 1913. 

Evan Hughes died in New York on 30 September 1963. His son Evan died in New York in April 2010.