Hughes was born in Beernem, Belgium, in October 1931, the son of Count Rodolphe van Der Stegen De Schriek, a resistance fighter in the Belgian army and self-described ‘Professional Hunter’ with the ‘Safarriland’ company in East Africa. Hughes was educated in a Jesuit school in Bruges before studying architecture at the University of Cape Town from 1951-c1957. His family at this time was living in Lumuru, Kenya and prior to his university studies Hughes appears to have worked in Uganda on a road construction project. In 1960 he is recorded as attending ‘lectures only’ on the Architectural Association Department of Tropical Architecture six-month course – this arrangement would have meant that Hughes was not eligible for an AA Tropical Certificate upon completion of the course. Subsequently, he joined the Architects’ Department of the London County Council, where he stayed from 1961-1970. In 1963 he married Sylvia Tysick, a West End and Broadway actress, and in 1970 they both moved to Paris. Details of his later career, prior to his 2002 death in Paris, are not yet known to us.

 Sources

• Architectural Association Student Register, 1945-71. AA Archives
• Architectural Association List of Members, 1961, 1969.
• General Register Office; United Kingdom; England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005  Volume: 5c; Page: 618
• Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (Insee); Paris, France; Fichier des personnes décédées; Roll #: deces-2002
• RIBA Members, 1992. Royal Institute of British Architects, 1992
• Morum, R.D. Six Generations in Southern Africa, Lulu.com, 2016