John Hughes
John Hughes (1814–1889)
Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, John Hughes was an engineer and industrialist who founded the city that became Donetsk. Beginning his career at Cyfarthfa Ironworks under his father, he rose through positions at Ebbw Vale and the Millwall Iron Works in London, where he won acclaim for iron-cladding warships for the Royal Navy.
In 1869, Hughes acquired a concession from the Imperial Russian Government and formed the New Russia Company Ltd. At the age of 55, he sailed with eight ships carrying equipment and a hundred Welsh ironworkers to establish metalworks on the Donbas steppe. The settlement that grew around his factories — Hughesovka — became the city of Donetsk, now home to over one million people.
Documented in films
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EuroKryvbas
2026SubjectView filmThe documentary film "EuroKryvbas" updates Soviet myths and reveals that more than a century ago, the Dnieper region was an integral part of the European economy.
Eurodonbas
2021SubjectView filmThe documentary Eurodonbas uncovers the region's forgotten 19th-century European legacy—built by international entrepreneurs and later erased by the Soviet Union—just before many of these historical sites were destroyed in the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Associated locations
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Donetsk Metallurgical Plant
donbasFoundationView locationIn 1869, the British engineer and entrepreneur John Hughes began the construction of a metallurgical plant and a railway. During Yuz's time, the city was divided into two parts: Factory, "English Colony" - a place where workers who came to Yuzivka from Great Britain lived, and "New World" - an area where local workers lived. The creation of the plant was the cause of mass migration of workers from Wales to the future Donetsk.
Yuzivka
donbasFoundationView locationFounded in 1869 by Welsh businessman John Hughes, the workers' settlement was initially named Yuzove or Yuzivka after him. It was later renamed Stalino in 1924, before finally being named Donetsk in 1961.
Biographical record
- Year of birth
- 1814
- Year of death
- 1889
- Place of birth
- Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, Wales
- Key enterprises
- Donetsk Metallurgical Plant