Edith Burnet Hughes was born Edith Mary Wardlaw Burnet in Edinburgh, Scotland on 7 July 1888 and was the niece of the architect John James Burnet (1857-1938). She spent her early years in Aberdeen and, from 1901, in Glasgow. In 1906 she enrolled at the Sorbonne in Paris where she studied art and architecture. She then continued her studies in Germany and Italy. Following her return to Scotland in 1912, she entered Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen where initially she studied garden design but switched to architecture, gaining her her diploma in June 1914. In 1914-15 she was employed as an assistant in the offices of Jenkins & Marr and of W. J. Devlin in Aberdeen. In September 1915 was appointed lecturer in the history of art and architecture at Gray's School of Art and at the Normal School in Aberdeen. In 1918 she married the architect Thomas Harold Hughes (1887-1949) who had been her tutor at Gray's School of Art and with whom she had collaborated in a competition design for the government buildings in Ottawa in 1914.
In 1919 she joined the Glasgow office of John Burnet & Son as a partner but left soon after and in 1920 set up her own independent practice in Glasgow. She also accepted a teaching post at Glasgow School of Art that year, subsequently becoming head of architecture.
Her practice specialised in domestic architecture and the design of kitchens. She was nominated for admittance as an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects in September 1927 by John James Burnet, John Alfred Gotch and John Begg, however, the Council of the RIBA refused her admittance.
After World War Two she settled in Edinburgh where she was architect to St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Lansdowne House School and John Watson's School. She died in Stirling, Scotland on 28 August 1971
Rutherford Memorial, 1921; house, "St. Martin's", Bearsden. 1922-23. Alterations and additions to 14, Huntly Gardens, Glasgow, 1923; and to 5, Windsor Terrace, Glasgow, 1923. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1923]
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"St. Martin's", Bearsden, "Devil's Craig", Stirlingshire, "Woodcot," Dollar (extensions). Alterations and additions to 14, Huntly Gardens, 5 Windsor Terrace, and maisonettes Belmont Street, Glasgow, and other houses and flats. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1926]
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
'Obituary'. Building vol. 221, 10 September 1971 p.100
'Obituary'. RIBA Journal vol. 79. February 1972 p. 53
Who's Who in Architecture 1923. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: The Architectural Press, 1923
Who's Who in Architecture 1926. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: The Architectural Press, 1926