John Hughes is the founder of Donetsk. Biography

One of the most outstanding industrialists of his time was John Hughes - the founder of Donetsk. Thanks to him appeared this one of the largest industrial cities of Ukraine. What else was remarkable about the biography of John Hughes? Let's learn in more detail who he is and what he did.

Youth

First of all, let's find out in which year John Hughes was born, where and in whose family. The future large industrialist was born in 1814 in the town of Merthyr-Tidvil, in Wales. He came from the Welsh family of engineer Hughes (in modern pronunciation - Hughes), who ran a local steel works.

In his early youth John James Hughes worked at his father's enterprise, but at the age of 28 he was able to accumulate a certain amount of capital and acquired his own shipyard.

Activities in the UK

In 1850 John Hughes acquired another enterprise - a foundry in Newport. However, this did not prevent him from simultaneously improving himself, working as an engineer at the Milvolsk Iron-Rolling Plant, where he moved to the late 50-ies of the XIX century. Already in 1860 John Hughes became the director of this enterprise.

One of his achievements of the time was the creation of a gun carriage for heavy guns, which he designed in 1864. This mechanism attracted the attention of many European countries, where orders were showered. In addition, John Hughes was engaged in the development of armor for ships.

The name of John Hughes became one of the most famous in the British metallurgy and shipbuilding.

Offers from Russia

Developments of John Hughes were interested in the Admiralty of the Russian Empire, which planned to use armor to fortify the fort "Konstantin" in Kronstadt.

In the course of the negotiations on the supply of armor, Yuz got close acquaintances with Russian officials, among them were Colonel Ottomar Hern and General Eduard Totleben. They suggested that the British industrialist implement a project in the south of the Russian Empire to build a plant for the production of iron rails, which was previously taken by Prince Kochubei. Hughes agreed.

Reasons for accepting a proposal

The main reason that prompted John Hughes to concentrate his main activity on the Russian Empire was the industrial crisis that broke out in Britain after the catastrophic fall of the London stock exchange in 1866. This led to a significant increase in the unemployment rate in the country and the outflow of investment. At this time, the volume of orders from buyers dropped significantly.

Russia was then a state, whose economy was developing with leaps and bounds, trying to narrow the gap between the countries of the West. Therefore, it was a rather attractive field of activity for a foreign industrialist. He intended to attract to the projects implemented in Russia, labor from the UK, which in his native country fell sharply demand.

In addition, Russian officials made Yuzu a number of rather profitable proposals, which in this situation seemed even more attractive.

The beginning of activity in Russia

So, John Hughes was busy with the Russian project, which promised a big profit.

In 1868, he went to Russia, leaving his wife at home, since she completely refused to move.

First of all, Hughes acquired the right to extract coal on the lands that belonged to Prince Paul Liven. In the same year, the British industrialist bought out a concession for the activities in the metallurgical industry in the Yekaterinburg province of Prince Sergei Kochubei, which was promoted by the Grand Duke Constantine himself, who was the brother of Emperor Alexander. Officially, the transaction was registered in April of the same year.

Thus, John Hughes prepared the ground for the development of large-scale metallurgical production and coal mining.

Novorossiysk Society

But in order to launch production, considerable financial investments were required. John Hughes decided to attract them by creating a joint stock company. With his help, he wanted to direct British capital for the development of industry in the south of the Russian Empire. The organization was called the "Novorossiysk Society", and specialized in attracting investment in metallurgical, coal and rail production. The company was registered in 1869 in London.

The main shareholder of the company was a member of the British Parliament, Daniel Gooch, and the total number of participants reached nineteen people. Among them were Russians, in particular the above-mentioned Sergei Kochubei and Pavel Lieven.

Foundation of Donetsk

Now let's find out in which year John Hughes founded Donetsk. An exact dating of this event does not exist, but it is considered to be the year of foundation of 1869, when the Novorossiysk Society near the village of Alexandrovka started to build a metallurgical plant. At the same time, a working settlement arose, which in honor of John Hughes was called Yuzovka, or Yuzovo. From this settlement the modern city of Donetsk has grown.

Originally Yuzovka had the status of a village with a simplified city administration, and territorially belonged to the Bakhmut district of Ekaterinoslav province. In 1870, it numbered 164 inhabitants.

Then, in 1869, there was another village - Smolyanka. A smithy and two mines belonging to Hughes were built near it.

Production development

Although the plant was originally planned to be launched in 1870, the first blast furnace was completed only in April 1871. By 1872, the construction of the plant was completely finished. He counted eight coke ovens. At the very beginning of 1872 the smelting of pig iron began.

Workers at the plant were not only subjects of the Russian emperor, but also persons recruited in the UK, in which, due to the crisis, many free workers appeared. A particularly large influx of labor was from the home of Hughes of Wales. Most British workers lived in the Yuzovka quarter, which was called the English colony.

If at first production developed quite heavily, then over time it reached a considerable scale. The Yuz factory became one of the largest metallurgical enterprises in the Russian Empire.

In 1880, the factory for the production of refractory bricks was put into operation. In nine years, the iron foundry and machine-building enterprise also began to function. True, this was already the work of not Hughes, but other industrialists - Gennefeld and Bosse. But nevertheless it is John Hughes who is the person, thanks to which the industry began to develop industry with leaps and bounds.

To ensure the transport accessibility of the developing region in 1872 the Konstantinovskaya railway was launched.

House of Hughes

Originally, John Hughes lived on an estate bought from the landowner Smolyaninovoy, where Smolianka village was founded. The house where he lived was a building similar to the Ukrainian hut. Its walls were made of adobe, and the roof was made of straw. However, to this day this building has not survived.

Another house of John Hughes represents significant historical and architectural value. It was built in Yuzovka specifically for the Welsh industrialist. The beginning of construction was timed to the second half of 1873. Already in the middle of next year the house was built. It was a one-story brick building of red color and consisted of eight rooms. The roof was covered with sheets of iron. In addition, the house was adjoined by many buildings of an economic type, ranging from the basement to the kennels. On the territory of the estate there was a garden. Also in the house were such attributes of the new time, as water and electricity.

House Hughes was a distance of one and a half kilometers from his plant.

The wife of John Hughes moved from England to Yuzovka much later than her husband, already when the mansion was built. Her appearance did not suit her, in particular, that the house was one-story. Therefore, it was decided to rebuild it in two floors.

But no project of Russian architects could satisfy the taste of the Yuzov family, so the specialist was hired in the UK. The fact that the design was approached is evidenced by the fact that it stretched for several years. And in 1880, work on the project was interrupted in connection with a number of force majeure circumstances, namely because of the death of his son and wife John Hughes. The works were resumed only three years after their suspension. As a result, the project was a plan of the building in the Renaissance style.

Directly the construction began in 1887 and ended in four years, that is, after the death of John Hughes. Neither he nor his wife survived until the moment when the house was finally built. However, other representatives of the family moved into the mansion already in the autumn of 1891. They lived in the house until 1903, after which they left the place for good.

At present, the building that used to be the Yuzov house is one of the attractions that adorns the city of Donetsk, although it is in a dilapidated state. It is located at ul. Clinical, 15. A modern view of the building can be seen in the photo above.

Death

As already mentioned above, John Hughes (1814-1889) died without waiting for the completion of the construction of his new home. It happened in June 1889, when Hughes stayed in the capital of the Russian Empire in St. Petersburg. His death was over at the age of seventy-five at the Angleterre Hotel.

John Hughes was buried in his homeland, in Great Britain, at the West Norwood Cemetery in London.

A family

Now briefly look at other representatives of the Yuzov family.

John Hughes was married to Elizabeth Lewis. She did not dare to move from her native Britain to the south of the Russian Empire for a long time. But in the end she followed her husband and sons. Died nine years before the death of John Hughes, in November 1880.

The Yuzov family had seven children: five sons and two daughters. The eldest daughter, Sarah Anna Hughes, married Lemon, was born in 1846, and died in 1929 in London. Another daughter, Margaret, died young in Yuzovka. In 1948, her grave was opened and ransacked.

The eldest son of the Yuzov family was John James. He was born in 1848, and died in 1917. It was John James who, after the death of his father in 1889, became the head of the Yuzov family.

The second son, Arthur Hughes, was born in 1852, and died, like his brother, in 1917. He was married to Augusta James, married with whom four daughters were born.

Ivor Edward, born in 1855, was the third son of John Hughes. He died in 1917 in London.

Another child in Yuzov's house was Albert Evelin (born in 1857), who died in 1907 in London. His daughter was Kira Hughes, who was married first to Russian Sergei Bursak, and then Englishman Ambemarle Blackwood. From both marriages she had children.

The youngest children in Yuzov's house were David and Ovan Tudor.

In addition, John Hughes had an illegitimate son Ivan, born in 1870, and died in 1910. He had nine children.

The hobby of John Hughes

The main hobby of John Hughes, besides engaging in engineering, was collecting. He spent a considerable part of his fortune on the acquisition of various valuable relics. He kept in touch with antique shops.

Toward the end of his life, John Hughes assembled a rather impressive collection of antiquities.

The legacy of John Hughes

It is difficult to overestimate the legacy that John Hughes left behind him. He first put the metallurgical industry on the industrial track in the Donetsk region, made a significant contribution to the development of coal mining and engineering. But, most of all, he is known by our contemporary as the founder of the city of Donetsk.

At the same time, it is necessary to state the fact that we know too little about the youth of John Hughes, his personal life, motivation in making important decisions.

The memory of John Hughes

Even during the life of a British industrialist, the name of Yuza was named the working village, which in the future became the center of the entire Donetsk region. By 1884 the population of this city numbered almost 5,5 thousand people, by 1897 - 29 thousand people, and by 1918 in Yuzovka already lived 67,000 people.

But after the October Revolution the government circles tried with all their might to conceal the role of Hughes in the development of the region, since, in their opinion, the foreign capitalist is not worthy of the people's memory. In 1924, it was decided to rename the city of Yuzovka in Stalino. In 1961 the city acquired its present name - Donetsk.

After the fall of the communist regime, it became possible to rethink the past. The British industrialist finally managed to take that place in the domestic history, of which he is worthy. In September 2001, a monument to John Hughes was opened in the Voroshilovsky district of the city of Donetsk. The author of this creation is the Ukrainian sculptor Alexander Skorykh.