Leslie McCarthy is currently looking for any relatives of Charles Francis Conway.
A PRESENTATION student has been selected to represent Kerry at a World War One memorial event in the Somme in France this Summer and she needs our help in helping to make the trip more of a success.
Leslie McCarthy, a 17 year old fifth year student from Presentation Secondary School here in Tralee was chosen after she entered the ‘2015 Adopt a WW1 Soldier’ competition earlier this year.
The competition was targeted at young students from fourth/fifth year who have a keen interest in history. A student was then selected from each county in Ireland and was given a soldier from his/her county to research.
She will be presenting all the findings of her research in a presentation in Dublin on March 7, along with 31 other students from around Ireland who have been researching their own soldiers.
They will also be visiting the Somme battle region in France towards the end of June.
The soldier that Leslie has been tasked with researching is Charles Francis Conway, born in 1897 and who was raised here in town along with his parents and six brothers.
He first lived in 29 Lower Abbey Street with his family, but after the death of his mother, they had moved to 50 Abbey Street by 1911.
After enlisting in Tralee when he was 17 he became a Private in the 8th battalion of The Royal Munster Fusiliers and was given a service number was 10403. Charles was sadly killed in action during the Battle of Ginchy on the 9th of September 1916 in France aged 19.
He is now buried in Delville Wood Cemetery, Longueval France. His grave reference number is XVI. O. 3.
Leslie is currently appealing and on the look out for any living relatives of Charles that may be able to give any information on the early childhood of Charles, or indeed any information on his time spent in France during the war.
She will visit the grave/memorial dedicated to Charles Francis and will be attending a special memorial service dedicated to all those lost during the many battles of the Somme.
Any information that people may be able to offer Leslie would be a massive boost to her research and would add great resonance to her presentation.
If anybody has any knowledge of Charles and his family or knows of any existing relatives of The Conway’s of 29/50 Abbey Street, it would be much appreciated if you could contact Leslie at her email: lesliemccarthy1397@gmail.com
