Hughes was born January 8, 1853, at Solina near Bowmanville in what was then Canada West. He was a son of John Hughes from Tyrone, Ireland, and Caroline (Laughlin) Hughes, a Canadian descended from Huguenots and Ulster Scots. He was educated in Durham County, Ontario and later attended the Toronto Normal School and the University of Toronto. In 1866 he joined the 45th West Durham Battalion of Infantry and served during the Fenian raids in the 1860s and 1870s. Throughout his life, Hughes was very involved in the militia, attending all of the drill practice sessions, and taking up shooting with a rifle in his spare time to improve his aim. A superb shot with a rifle, Hughes was active in gun clubs and ultimately became president of the Dominion Rifle Association. Hughes liked to see himself as embodying the Victorian values of hard work, self discipline, strength and manliness. Tall, muscular, and broad-shouldered, Hughes excelled at sports, being especially talented at lacrosse. He later claimed, in the British "Who's Who", to have "personally offered to raise" Canadian contingents for service in "the Egyptian and Sudanese campaigns, the Afghan Frontier War, and the Transvaal War".