Len Hughes

Leonard Chester "Len" Hughes (1899 – 1958) was an English professional footballer who played as a wing half.

Len was born on 27 February 1899 at St Roy's Road, Tottenham N17. His father, Thomas Hughes, was a general labourer and his mother was Ellen Hughes.

On 19 July 1915, Len started a 5-year apprenticeship to Edmund Henry Matthew of D. Matthew & Son, Tariff Road, Tottenham as a Journeyman Brushmaker. He did not complete the apprenticeship, but left to join the army. Lying about his age (he was 16 at the time), Len became a machine gunner, i.e. the person in charge of a machine gun team. He was gassed and invalided out before the end of the war, but made a full recovery and became a professional footballer.

He married Edith Elizabeth Lomax (1900 - 1982) on 18 September 1921 and they had one child, Winifred Joan Hughes, who died in 1983.

Len was an able all-round sportsman and, as a professional footballer, was employed through the 1920s & much of the 1930s, which enabled him to support his family during the depression whilst many others struggled. However, this was at a very modest level and during his time playing for first division Burnley, the family lived in back-to-back millworkers' houses. Nothing like the palatial living of top-flight footballers of today, but secure by comparison with many of his contemporaries. During the football season, Len and his family lived in the town he played for, but during the summer they often returned to Tottenham.

After retiring from professional football, Len became a school caretaker and groundsman, working for Rowland Hill School, Tottenham and lived at the cottage in the grounds. A cigarette smoker throughout his life, Len contracted lung cancer, which became systemic and he died at the Cottage on 19 August 1958.