Nicholas Conway

Rank:Civilian
Died:24/12/1944Age:50
How Died:V.1. Flying Bomb
Incident Date:24/12/1944
Incident Address.19 Chapel Street
Died Address:19 Chapel Street
Grave Photo:No
Cemetery or Memorial:Not Known
Town Memorial:Not Listed
Extra Information:
Born during the March quarter 1895 in  the Bury
R.D. - ref: 8c/592, the son of Nicholas & Agnes
Conway (nee Haddegen).

1901 Census - 37 Central Street, Ramsbottom,
Lancashire.    Son - aged: 6 - born: Elton, Bury,
Lancashire.    Head of household - Nicholas Conway
(Snr) - Married - aged: 38 - occ: Bricklayer's
Labourer - born: Ramsbottom.   Also - Agnes Conway
- Wife - aged: 37 - born: Manchester.   Plus 4
siblings.

1911 Census - 31 Springfield Street, Ramsbottom.  
Son - aged: 16 - occ: Bleach Works at Croft -
born: Ramsbottom.    Head of household - Nicholas
Conway (Snr) - Married - aged: 48 - occ: Fireman &
Engineer - born: Ramsbottom.   Also - Agnes Conway
- Wife - aged: 47 - born: Liverpool..   Plus 2
siblings.

Served with the Cheshire Rgt (D Company) - Service
No. 21458.  Taken prisoner in the Ploesteert area
of Belgium on trhe 11th April 1918.   He had not
been wounded.   Pension Records - Next of kin -
Mrs. Agnes Conway, 31 Spring Wood Yard.

Married Mary A. McCormick during the December
quarter 1921 in the Bury R.D. - ref: 8c/1081.

1939 National Registration - 19 Chapel Street,
Tottington.    Nicholas Conway - Born on the 10th
December 1894 - Married - occ: Polisher Roller
Engraving.    Mary A. Conway - Born on the 15th
March 1895 - Married - occ: Cotton Winder.   There
is one redacted record at this address, which is
undoubtedly their daughter - Mary J. Conway born
in 1922, who is on the list of the persons injured
in this incident.

See Bury Times 30/12/1994 and the Bolton Evening
News December 27th 1944.

Chapel Street has St Ann's church on one side, and
had a row of terraced houses on the other, until a
V1 bomb landed there on Christmas Eve, 1944. One
of 45 V1 rockets launched from a modified HE-111
Heinkel bomber, I/KG53 squadron, fell short of its
Manchester target and landed on these terraced
houses. The first of the 15 that fell short landed
on Chorley at 05:30, the Tottington one hit at
05:50, killing 6 people. One can only hope they
died quickly, and in their beds with no knowledge
of the event. The highest death toll of these 15
bombs was on Abbey Hills Road, in Oldham, where 27
people died with a further 49 injured. In
Tottington, the Whitehead family of Stormer Hill
paid for the Remembrance Gardens to remember the 6
who died. A plaque at the rear of the garden
carries the names of those who lost their lives.
They are :-
1.Mr Nicholas Conway, a 50 year-old dye-plant
worker and his wife Mary Ann, who was 48. They
both died in their home at 19 Chapel Street. 
2.Miss Annie Greenalgh age 75 died at home at 21
Chapel Street. 
3.Elizabeth Hodgkinson Draper, age about 55 died
at home at 31 Chapel Street. 
4.Mr James Dyson age 52 and his wife Teresa were
visiting Teresa's sister, M Rooney, a nurse, for
Christmas. They were from Bulwell in Nottingham.
They died at 33 Chapel Street. 

People injured;
Miss Mary Conway - 19 Chapel Street.
Mrs Bertha Greenalgh - 21 Chapel Street.  (died
February 20th 1945)
Mr Dewhurst Greenhalgh - 21 Chapel Street.
Mrs Alice Midgley - 39 Chapel Street.
Miss Ethel Riley - 15 Chapel Street.
Mrs Mary E. Hodges - Printer's Arms P.H.
Mr Herbert Young
Miss Norah Hamer - 33 Chapel Street.
Miss Ellen Barnes 

Bury Times 31/12/2013 - At 19, Chapel Street,
Nicholas Conway, aged 50, a dye plant worker and
his wife Mary Ann Conway, aged 48, were killed,
and their daughter Mary Conway, aged 22, was
seriously injured.     Miss Conway, who is now
aged 91, said: "Mrs (Bertha) Greenhalgh worked as
a nurse and her husband had been begging her for
months to retire and move away, but she was so
passionate about her work that she wanted to
stay." 

In Tottington, 14 injured people were put on to
stretchers at The Printers' Arms near the bomb
site and then taken to the infirmary, including
were Miss Conway, Ethel Riley, Herbert Young and
Ellen Barnes. 

Numbers 21 and 23 Chapel Street were destroyed,
while two neighbouring properties and a shop were
severely damaged. A total of 27 houses suffered
serious structural damage and eight of those had
to be demolished. 
St Anne's Church nearby had all its windows blown
out, save for one behind the altar and clothes,
bedding and furnishings were scattered into trees.
Showing true resilience, the congregation turned
out for a Christmas Day service, despite the
devastating damage of the previous day. 

CWGC - of 19 Chapel Street. Husband of Mary Ann
Conway. Died at 19 Chapel Street.   His wife -
Mary A. Conway was also killed in this incident.

The 2nd September 1949 edition of the Manchester
Evening News reported that the houses damaged by
the V1 bomb are to be demolished.  The owner of
the properties - Mr. George Ormerod, fought a
claim with the War Damages Appeals Panel to
rebuild the houses, but the local council hoped to
turn the site into a Garden of Remembrance.

There were four banks of houses, including the
Printer's Arms P.H. along the western side of
Chapel Street.   There is now only one bank which
is currently a restaurant, that has a different
shaped footprint to the old plans of the street,
so was probably rebuilt????.   Then came the
Printer's Arms P.H., with a long row of cottages
attached.   The third bank was situated directly
opposite the Church and the fourth sited between
the Church and the Vicarage.   The dwellings were
odd numbered from Turton Road, but are not easily
reconciled with the early map of that Street and
the 1939 National Registration records.    That
census records the public house, next is No.5,
then No.9.   After that comes Nos.15, 17, 19, 21
and 23.    There is then a gap in the numbers that
start again at No.29 and go through without a
break to No.43.   The evens side is almost
identical to that today, again starting from the
Turton Road junction - Nos.1 - 4 Churchgate, the
Village School which was also destroyed, the
Church and the Vicarage.



District:
Tottington (Bury MBC)
Memorials found on:
Tottington V.I.
C.W.G.C.
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