William Hughes (2 March 1803 – 20 August 1861), was a British writer on law and angling in the 19th century.

Hughes, born in Maker Vicarage, Cornwall, was the fourth son of Sir Robert Hughes, third baronet, by his second wife, Bethia, daughter of Thomas Hiscutt, and was a nephew of Admiral Sir Richard Hughes. His father, who matriculated from Trinity College, Oxford, on 30 March 1757, aged 17, was a demy of Magdalen College 1758–67, B.A. 1761, M.A. 1763, rector of Frimley St Mary and Weston, Suffolk, from 1769 until his death, and was buried on 4 June 1814.^[1]

William was admitted to the bar at Gray's Inn on 11 June 1833, and practised as a conveyancer on the Western Circuit, where he was also auditor of the poor-law union district of Cornwall and Devonshire. He died at Millbay Grove, Plymouth.^[1]

Hughes's chief writings were:^[1]

• 1833: Practical Directions for Taking Instructions for, and Drawing Wills
• 1840: A Practical Treatise of the Laws Relative to the Sale and Conveyance of Real Property: with an appendix of precedents, comprising contracts, conditions of sale, purchase and disentailing deeds. 2 vols. London: Saunders & Benning
• 1842: The Practical Angler. By Piscator
• 1843: Fish, How to Choose, and How to Dress. By Piscator
  • --do.--2nd edit., 1854, entitled A Practical Treatise on the Choice and Cookery of Fish
• 1846: The Practice of Sales of Real Property, with an Appendix of Precedents. 2 vols. London: John Crockford, 1846–47
  • --do.-- 2nd ed. 2 vols. London: John Crockford, 1849–50
• 1846: The Three Students of Gray's Inn: a novel
• 1848: The Practice of Mortgages of Real and Personal Estate. 2 vols., London: John Crockford, 1848–49
• 1850: The New Stamp Act
• 1850: Concise Precedents in Modern Conveyancing. 3 vols. London: Law Times Office, 1850–53
  • -- 2nd ed. 3 vols. London: Law Times Office; Dublin: Hodges and Smith, 1855–57
• 1850: A Table of the Stamp Duties Payable in Great Britain and Ireland
• 1852: It is All for the Best: a Cornish tale
• 1856: The Practice of Conveyancing. 2 vols. London: Law Times Office, 1856–57

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Hughes, William (1803-1861)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.