In 1910 Thomas Barrow began working at Downton, Mrs Hughes was instantly intrigued by the young man's astounding charisma and the confidence he emitted.
Many of the staff found Thomas incredibly cocky and arrogant, Mr Carson always cynical of him even when he excelled in his work, Mrs Patmore and her snide comments about him not being the man for Daisy and even Mrs Hughes herself was unsure of the cock sure young man.
Daisy found him incredibly handsome and blushed constantly in his presence making William, the other footman extremely jealous. And why wouldn't he be, Thomas was very attractive and he knew Daisy would pick Thomas over him anytime. This annoyed Mrs Hughes, and she even thought that Thomas was bullying William, she wasn't to know that Thomas only made William feel small because that's how he was feeling inside, blighted by a dark secret that meant he couldn't be his true self in life like others had the privilege of doing.
Miss O'Brien was one of the only staff to show some kindness to Thomas, they seemed to have an understanding, yes it was mainly based on plotting and smoking together but they got on well, were as thick as thieves and always stood up for each other in all instances. It often got Thomas into trouble, Mrs Hughes and Mr Carson in particular having to scold him on a regular basis for his opinionated views, bare faced cheek and somewhat lack of respect for his superiors. Mrs Hughes secretly liked that about him, the fact that he didn't conform to the normal expectations of society, he wasn't afraid to broadcast his views and differ in opinions to the overwhelming majority of the other staff. He didn't hold the Crawley's in higher regard than the working and middle classes, he saw them as employers rather than his superiors like unlike the other staff who seemed to be fascinated by the lives of the aristocracy, Thomas was very uninterested in this and as he was fiercely proud of who he was felt no need to be in awe of the Crawley's.
Mrs Hughes didn't dislike Thomas, she just found him over confident and on occasions spiteful but she could see that he had the potential of being a good man. Over the years she could see that there were underlying hints of compassion, unlike with Miss O'Brien she could see that things affected Thomas in a way they didn't affect the cold hearted Lady's maid, for instance when the Titanic sank in 1912 Thomas seemed quite sorrowful and Mrs Hughes wondered if maybe he had lost someone on board, as far as she was aware he didn't have a sweetheart but Thomas was a private man who kept his cards close to his chest so even if he had, most people would be unaware of it. She knew very little of Thomas' background and always assumed he was maybe a little bit bitter because of a bad childhood. There were also many occasions when she was disappointed in Thomas, she could have slapped him when he showed such little empathy about Lady Grantham losing the baby, barking
"What is the matter with you Thomas?" at him.
This of course was something only Thomas knew, he was bitter because he was unsure of how to deal with sensitive situations, he knew he would never sire a string of children so didn't know the pain of losing one, maybe it was underlying jealousy or anger at living in the shadows all his life.
He in some ways redeemed himself when he signed up to be an army medic, regardless of his motives she was proud of him being the first from Downton to sign up as it showed great bravery.
It was a surprise to her when he left and she missed his presence, his smug smirk and his confident strut, she even missed her sarcasm and would often pray for God to keep him safe, she had no idea why but she cared for this boy, perhaps it was because she thought he was like the son she would never have.