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Photograph (print)
Photograph of Mr Hugh Richard Jones standing outside the Engineer’s House at Gilfach Ddu (now home of the National Slate Museum).
Mr Hugh Richard Jones (known as Hugh Rich) started working at Dinorwig Quarry in April 1926 (aged 15) as an apprentice fitter. He was later promoted to Chief Engineer of Dinorwig Quarry and held that position until the quarry closed in August 1969. He played a key role in establishing the National Slate Museum at the Gilfach Ddu workshops, and his dream of safeguarding the workshops became a reality when the museum was first opened in May 1972. Hugh Richard Jones was appointed as the first Curator of the National Slate Museum and worked there until his retirement in March 1981.
Hugh Richard Jones lived in the Engineer's House on the Gilfach Ddu site between 1928 and 1936 with his father (Joseph Jones) and his family. Mr Joseph Jones (Hugh Richard Jones’ father) worked as a foreman on the Padarn Railway and lived in the Engineer’s House between 1928 and the mid 1950s.