At least six of Grandad’s immediate family served in the Great War and World War 2. His grandfather (John Newland) and great-grandfather (John Ashmole), both on his mother’s side, had long military careers, mostly in India.
Research is still going on, but now (2022) the following family members, bearing the Conway name, have served their country in times of War:
- Isaac Conway (Grandad’s Father)
- Edward Conway (Grandad’s younger brother)
- Albert Edward Conway (Grandad’s eldest son)
- Ernest Conway (2nd son – my father)
- Cyril Conway (Youngest son) and
- William Reginald Conway (Grandad’s cousin, son of his Uncle, William)
Lance Corporal 97344 Isaac Conway
He enlisted at Birmingham, and after 4 months training at Warminster he was posted the Royal Engineers training centre at Deganwy, North Wales, opened in 1915 to “… help the flow of new recruits into the New Army units.”
His Service Papers show he arrived there on 29th September 1915. Maybe Isaac’s experience in civilian life as a Crane Driver with the Midland Railway Company was considered a valuable training skill in the Royal Engineers.
He was discharged 2 weeks later on 26th June 1916 and received a small pension for 6 months. Even so great-grandad served 1 year and 58 days with the Colours.
Despite his health problems, my Great-Grandfather, Isaac Conway, lived another 43 years before his death in the Manor Hospital, Derby, on 22nd December 1959, aged 92.
A.B. 6613 Edward [Ted] Conway (Royal Navy)
When Edward enlisted in the Royal Navy on 25th September 1915 for 12 years (5 on Active Service, followed by 7 on the Reserve) he was only just 14 years old, but “exaggerated” his age by one year!
HMS Dragon was a ‘D’ Class Destroyer of the Royal Navy, newly built and the fastest in the fleet.
HMS Dragon took part in the Russian Civil War as part of a task force aiding independent Latvia and Estonia against the Bolsheviks and German Freikorps forces in October and November 1919. On 17th October 1919 Dragon was hit by three shells fired from a shore battery while taking part in operations against German forces attacking Riga, suffering nine killed and five wounded. During the D-Day landings in 1944 she was scuttled on the Normandy beaches to aid the Allied landings.
After the War great-uncle Ted returned to his wife and 6 children in Toronto where he died on 2nd March 1989.
Private 4122041 Albert Edward Conway (Cheshire Regiment)
During his service he married Ellen Roberts in 1931. They had one daughter, Dorothy, born on 7th March 1932.
After his discharge on 7th March 1936 Albert was transferred to the Army Reserve, and just as his father had done in 1914, was recalled to the Colours on the declaration of War in 1939.
The Battalion took part in the attacks of the successive positions held by the Germans in their withdrawal along the coast before being evacuated from Dunkirk
After fighting in North Africa (1941-43), Sicily and Italy (1943-44). The 2nd Battalion and 7th Battalion took part in the assault landings in Sicily in 1943.
The British forces played the key role on the Eastern flank and had hard fighting in difficult and minestrewn country.
After Italy the Battalion came home and took part in the assault landing on D Day on the 6th June, 1944. They took part in the stubborn fighting in the Bocage to establish and extend the British bridgehead, followed by the pursuit of the Germans to the River Waal.
At this point the 50th Division was disbanded and the 2nd Battalion came home. It then landed on D-Day and fought in the North West Europe campaign.
The photo of Uncle Albert – above – was taken in Rome in 1944 as the Cheshires fought their way up Italy after landing at Salerno. After the War his Battalion was sent to Palestine.
After the War Uncle Albert returned to Chester and worked in the steel works. He died on 17th January 2002, aged 81.
Patrol Officer Ernest Conway (Auxiliary Fire Service)
He had worked there since leaving school, aged 14, in 1927 and met his wife, Doris Hendley, at work. She worked in the “Core Shop“.
They married on 25th July 1936 at St Werburgh’s Church, Derby, and had one son.
He died, in Buxton, Derbyshire, aged 83, on 15th October 1996 and was buried in Chellaston Cemetery, Derby, with his wife, Doris, who had died 3 years earlier.
Guardsman Cyril Conway (Grenadier Guards)
Early in 1940 Uncle Cyril married Gladys Booth and his wedding photos show him in uniform. They had three children.
After the War Cyril returned to work in an Iron Foundry, in Derby, like so many members of the Conway family. He died on 8th March 2006, aged 89.
The photo left, dating from 1947, is the only known photo of Grandad’s immediate family.
The author is in his father’s (Ernest) arms on the left. Next to them is Albert and Ethel, with their older daughter, and on the right is Cyril and Gladys, with their 3 children.
Missing from the photo is Ernest’s wife Doris, who was taking the picture!
Back to Top of Page
Gnr. 986385 William Reginald Conway (Royal Artillery)
William Reginald was born on 14th February 1914 and married Florence Wragg in October 1940. They had one daughter, Valerie, born on 11th October 1942. Their wedding photo shows that William is already a serving soldier having enlisted in the 4th Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery.
The Regiment was transferred to the 8th Army under Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery and helped defeat the German Army in North Africa. The 8th Army landed at Anzio and proceeded north through Italy.
Florence, William’s widow, continued to live in Derby until her death in The Derbyshire Royal Infirmary on 12th February 2001.