The fonds consists of a memorial scrapbook and research material related to Sir Sam Hughes. The scrapbook contains newspaper clippings from the period immediately following the death of Hughes in 1921 and a signed Hughes's photograph. The research material consists of political poems, pamphlets and ephemera concerning Hughes's career; photocopied correspondence of Hughes, 1917-1919; and original correspondence of Alan R. Capon relating to Hughes, 1969-1979, 1984.
Also included are photographs relating to the political and military career of Sir Sam Hughes, particularly as Member of Parliament for North Victoria and for Victoria and Haliburton, 1904-1921, and as Minister of Militia and Defence for Canada, 1911-1916. The events are as follows: ceremony honouring Colonel Sam Hughes upon his return from South Africa, Lindsay, Ont., 1900; Colonel Sam Hughes campaigning for Parliament, Wilberforce, Ont., 1911; Major-General Sam Hughes, Minister of Militia and Defence, in his office at Ottawa, visiting troops at Valcartier, and presenting colours at Lindsay, 1914-1916; and the Funeral of Lieutenant-General Sir Sam Hughes, Lindsay, Ont., August 1921. These photographs are identified in accession record 18556.
Capon, Alan R : Alan R. Capon was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England and came to Canada in 1957. He worked as a journalist and advertiser in England and Canada, becoming an editor for the Whig Standard in Picton, Ontario. Capon collected original and photocopied material related to Sir Sam Hughes and published a biography of Hughes, entitled, "His Faults lie gently. The Incredible Sam Hughes" in 1969. Born in 1853 in Durham County, Canada West, Hughes was a colourful, controversial politician whose thirty year career in public service and the militia was checkered with conflict and scandals. He was first elected a Conservative member of Parliament for Victoria North in 1892. In 1911, Hughes took the Militia portfolio in the Borden administration. He was an energetic and difficult Cabinet Minister who was fired in November 1916 as a result of charges of favouritism and patronage, many related to the Ross Rifle fiasco.
