Pte 46129 Bernard Conroy

In 1891 Bernard, 6, and his mother are living in court housing in Paul Street, where Mary had grown up, with his widowed grandmother, Jane Conroy, 55.

His grandmother Jane Conroy lived at 4 in 20 Court Paul St, Vauxhall Rd from 1871 until 1895 (electoral rolls), she died 1899 aged 62. His mother, aged 38, is a rag sorter. 

In 1901 he and his mother are at 31 Sessions Road, Kirkdale. His mother, listed as 39 born in Hulme, Manchester but is about ten years older, is an assistant in a broker’s store, and Bernard, 16, is a mineral water labourer.

 

The 1911 Census shows the family living at 96B Fountains Road, Kirkdale, Liverpool. His mother Mary is a widow aged 57, born 1854 and her occupation is listed as a marine store labourer. She lives with her son Bernard aged 25, who is a rubber porter. 

Bernard enlisted in Liverpool joining in the 19th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 46129. 

His name appeared in the list of Wounded published in the Liverpool Daily Post on 11th May 1917, suggesting that Bernard was wounded during the Battle of Arras in April. He recovered from his wounds and returned to his unit.

He was killed in action on the 26th September, 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres.

19^th Battalion War Diary for 26^th September 1917

Classes etc continued, good progress being made. Lt Col G. Rollo D.S.O. having returned from 89^th Inf. Brigade resumed command. The brigade Concert party “The Optimists” showed to the battalion in the evening. At night the usual working parties were provided. On the returning of one of the parties 2 O.R. were killed by a shell and 2 O.R. severely wounded by the same. The wounded men died from their wounds after being admitted to hospital.       

Bernard was one of the two other ranks killed by the shell.

He now rests at Oosttaverne Wood Cemetery, Whytschaete, Belgium.

The "Oosttaverne Line" was a German work running northward from the river Lys to the Comines Canal, passing just east of Oosttaverne. It was captured on 7 June 1917, the first day of the Battle of Messines, the village and the wood being taken by the 19th (Western) and 11th Divisions. Two cemeteries, No.1 and No.2, were then made by the IX Corps Burial Officer on the present site and used until September 1917. They are contained in Plot I, II, and III of the present cemetery, which was completed after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the surrounding battlefields (including many from Hill 60).

During the Second World War, the British Expeditionary Force was involved in the later stages of the defence of Belgium following the German invasion in May 1940, and suffered many casualties in covering the withdrawal to Dunkirk.

The cemetery contains 1,119 First World War burials, 783 of which are unidentified. Scattered among these graves are 117 from the Second World War, five of them unidentified.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

His death was recorded in the Liverpool Express on 10th October 1917 :

Pte. Bernard Conroy, K.L.R., killed in action in France on Sept 26th, was 32 years of age. He was the only son of Mrs Conroy, 11 Sellar-street, Kirkdale. Before enlisting he was in the employ of the Rubber Warehouse. In a letter to his mother, his officer states: - "However, difficult or unpleasant the task, he was always ready to do more than his share in a cheerful spirit, and this alwys inspired his comrades.      

He was again reported killed in the Liverpool Daily Post on the 29th October 1917:

- Conroy, 46129, B.;

His mother received his Army effects of 5s-7d and a War Gratuity of £4. The pension card, giving his mother’s address as 11 Sellar Street, Kirkdale, shows that she was awarded a pension of 12/6d a week, from April 1918, increased to 15/-.