Hughes, James Joseph (‘Séamus’) (1881–1943), broadcaster, was born in Dublin, one of three sons and three daughters of James Hughes, baker and trade-unionist of Rhode, Co. Offaly, and Elizabeth Hughes (née Doyle) of Dublin. His mother died in 1887; his father's second marriage brought a further four daughters and a son to the family. Living at Palmerston Place, he attended St Mary's CBS and then O'Connell Schools, where his excellent grades won him a series of prizes. On leaving school (1897) he entered the Dominican novitiate at Coublevie in the foothills between the north and south Alps. By 1902 he was back in Dublin and had decided against joining the priesthood. He taught French at the Dominican College, Newbridge, and Enniscorthy CBS, as well as working part-time for the Gaelic League. He later joined the egg-and-poultry merchants Carlton Bros Ltd, as a clerk in their Halston St. offices.
He immersed himself in the Gaelic cultural movements in his spare time. He played hurling with Ard Craobh, the team representing the Gaelic League, and won Dublin championships as a goalkeeper. He won the ‘Irish tenor’ gold medal at the 1912 feis ceoil, and was particularly in demand at public concerts, where his rendition of the ‘Marseillaise’, sung in French, was popularly received. He gave the first ever performance of ‘The soldier's song’ by Peadar Kearney (qv), in Clontarf town hall (December 1914). A talented musician, he was hampered by the amputation of one of his middle fingers from the bottom knuckle, but still put the verse of such writers as Thomas Davis (qv) and Douglas Hyde (qv) to music. He later wrote the music to ‘Watchword of labour’ by James Connolly (qv), which became the anthem of the Irish Labour Party.
Inducted by the IRB in 1911 or 1912, he was involved as quartermaster of the Dublin north-eastern battalion of the Irish Volunteers in the Howth gun-running of 1914. He fought at Jacob's biscuit factory in the 1916 rising, after which he was arrested and imprisoned first in Portland prison and then in Lewes, where he was an intimate of Eoin MacNeill (qv). Released in 1917, he went to work for the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union as financial and correspondence secretary and attempted to expand it to form one big union. His passionate belief in the trade-union movement came from his father; he was a regular contributor to the Irish Worker, Sinn Féin, Voice of Labour, and Watchword of Labour. A devotee of Connolly, he had supported the workers in the 1913 lockout and defended them in the newspapers and in letters to the catholic hierarchy. His position in the union, however, was undermined by internal discord and he resigned in July 1921. He also left the Irish Socialist Party before it became the Irish Communist Party (November 1921). After a short period working for the Irish Co-operative Clothing Manufacturing Society, he travelled to Paris (January 1922) to serve as private secretary to MacNeill at the Irish Race Convention. He supported the pro-treaty side in the civil war and was founder-member and first general secretary of Cumann na nGaedheal. He stood in the November 1924 Dublin South by-election but was defeated by Seán Lemass (qv).
He was then appointed as the first announcer at the Free State's first radio station, 2RN, which opened on 1 January 1926. Based firstly in its studios in Little Denmark St. and then in the GPO, the station was grossly understaffed, and as well as announcing (in his carefully modulated tones) he ran a music programme, greeted guests, and served as general factotum in his fourteen-hour days. Despite enduring criticism of his style, he was appointed acting assistant director to the station (1929) and continued to serve it in numerous capacities. Reorganisation by the Fianna Fáil government in 1934 brought a decline in his importance, as he was effectively sidelined by new appointments. Then, in 1940, cutbacks occasioned by war in Europe brought his secondment from the station to the postal censorship section of the Department of Defence.
Throughout this time, his religious convictions took precedence over his previous commitment to trade-unionism. From 1924 he wrote a column in the Catholic Herald. In 1926 he joined the newly-established catholic social movement An Ríoghacht, and was a member of its central branch. In 1930 he joined the order of the Knights of Columbanus and he later helped to found and organise the Irish Christian Front, sending aid to Gen. Franco during the Spanish civil war. He was also a member of Muintir na Tíre.
Through the many aspects of his life, he had amazing energy and the capacity to work long hours without flagging. His serious nature was also attended by a certain diffidence, yet he often entertained at the house in Glenageary that he shared with his wife (m. 1911), Josephine Hackett of Dublin, and his three children. He died 23 January 1943 in Dublin.