I started to search for J. HALLIWELL in 2018 and on the 16th of December 2024, I was contacted by Joseph Keith Halliwell, 2nd cousin of Joseph, through his father Joseph Halliwell. Joseph Keith Halliwell lives in Connah’s Quay, and he gave me the first clue to who this soldier was. I was so pleased, as I don’t like any serviceman who gave his life for us all to be just a surname and an initial on any war memorial. So, between us we have tried to tell his story. Many thanks to him.
Joseph Halliwell was born in the September quarter of 1921 (Holywell Vol. 11b Page 340) the son of William & Martha Halliwell (nee Bowker) who had married on the 4th of March 1911 in St. Mark’s Church, Connah’s Quay. William Halliwell, 31 and a Bachelor was an Ironworker, and his address was 14 Prince’s Park, his father Joseph Halliwell was a Dyeworker. William’s bride, Martha Bowker was 24 and a Spinster, her address was 15, Prince’s Park and her father, John Bowker, was a Chemical Worker. A Joseph & Margaret Hellewell* were witnesses.
*The surname Halliwell is spelt in many different ways, (Hellowell, Hallowell, etc.) as seen by the witnesses to the wedding.
The first time we see young Joseph Halliwell is on the 1921 census which was taken on the 19th of June 1921, which means that he was born early June, before the census was taken. However, his parents mustn’t have registered him till the September quarter started in July.
We see the family in 1921 living at 1, Saltney Square*, Connah’s Quay, Connahs Quay, Flintshire, with William Halliwell as head of the household, he was now 43 years and 3 months old born in Dukinfield, Cheshire and an Ironworker (Pickler) at John Summers & Sons Ltd., Hawarden Bridge Ironworks, Shotton, but was ‘Out of Work.’ Martha Halliwell was 32 years and 8 months old, born in Chester, Cheshire and was doing ‘Home Duties.’ There was a Richard Bowker, stepson, 13 years and 6 months old, born in St. Asaph, Flintshire with an Elinor (sic) Halliwell, 1 year 11 months old and Joseph Halliwell under 1 month old, all born in Connah’s Quay, Flintshire.
*Golftyn.
If we look back on the family to the 1911 census, we see it was taken on the 2nd of April 1911 and although I have gone through the 1911 Census Summary Book, the only HELLIWELL, HELLOWELL families I find are at No’s 14 and 15 Prince’s Street as on the Marriage certificate. I can only presume that just before her marriage Martha was lodging at number 15 Prince’s Street, the home of Joseph & Margaret, the parents of Joseph Keith Halliwell’s father, Joseph Halliwell, born in 1904.
After that I cannot find William & Martha anywhere. I have searched the 1911 census on Ancestry and on Find my Past, but to no avail, it could be that their names were transcribed wrongly, or they may have been abroad, but I can find no trace of any of the family, even Martha’s son Richard Bowker, who had been born in 1908.
By the 1939 National Register, which was taken on the 29th of September 1939, 26 days after war was declared. I believe that William had died in the March quarter of 1937 (Holywell Vol. 11b Page 237) so Martha is now living at 10 Kent Road, Connah’s Quay, Connah’s Quay with her family, she is now head of the household and this source gives us dates of birth. She was born on the 6th of October 1888; she was widowed and doing ‘Unpaid Domestic Duties.’ Eleanor Halliwell* had been born on the 23rd of July 1919, single and was a Reeler in the Silk Works. Joseph Halliwell had been born on the 5th of June 1921, was single and a ‘Coal Heaver.’ Frederick Halliwell was born on the 9th of September 1926 and was ‘At School.’ There were 2 redacted or ‘Closed’ records.
*Eleanor Halliwell was to go on and marry Richard H. Rosedale in the December quarter of 1939 (Holywell Vo. 11b Page 715)
Sadly, I have no information on Joseph Halliwell, neither his early or teen years, but he must have either enlisted early in the war as soon as he could or was conscripted as can be seen on the website: –
Your Country needs you. – On the day Britain declared war on Germany, 3 September 1939, Parliament immediately passed a more wide-reaching measure. The National Service (Armed Forces) Act imposed conscription on all males aged between 18 and 41 who had to register for service.
I do not know when Joseph Halliwell was to enlist or was conscripted but he was to find himself fighting and laid down his life for our freedom.
We do know from the Royal Artillery Attestation Records that he either enlisted or was conscripted in 1941 and the Records show that on the 28th of August 1944 he was transferred to the Royal Scots Regiment.
It may be when he was transferred that he met his future wife Ivy Beatrice Clark and they married in East Ham, London in the March quarter of 1943 (E.Ham Vol. 4a Page 223), she is mentioned on his Commonwealth War Graves Citation as living at Manor Park, Essex.
We also know that on the 25th of January 1945 he was Killed in Action. Please read some of the links to websites, they will give an idea of what he went through.
https://www.royalscotskosbwardiaries.co.uk/7-9th-bn-rs-1944-45
War Diary of the 7/9th Bn Royal Scots, but Joseph isn’t mentioned. But 23rd January 1945 – KONINGSBOSCH 23 1800 “O” Gp for attack on HEINSBERG.
2100 Bn moved off by march route to assembly area.
2359 APHOVEN 8373. Lt STEWART and 2 ORs wounded by shell fire.
https://www.theroyalscots.co.uk/the-territorial-battalions-in-ww-2/
The Territorial Battalions in WW2 From Walcheren to Bremen and Normandy to the Baltic
In September 1939 the Regiment had three Territorial Battalions all of which were mobilising, the 4th/5th (Queen’s Edinburgh) manning searchlights, the 7th/9th (Highlanders) and the reforming 8th (Lothians & Peebles) both in the infantry role.
Scroll down on the 7th/9th (Highlanders) Battalion to the paragraph after a drawing of a map and the last but one paragraph and you read this: – “During the winter the Battalion was involved in Operation Blackcock holding the Heinsberg salient near Maastricht to clear the last German pockets of resistance on the west bank of the Maas. This was finally achieved with a pincer attack on the town, in conjunction with 4 KOSB, on 24 January 1945. (4th Kings Own Scottish Borderers).
Joseph was killed in Action the next day. Casualty List 1679 Page 9 tells us so.
https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/13216/Memorial-7th-and-9th-Battalion-Royal-Scots.htm
Memorial 7th and 9th Battalion Royal Scots
Second World War (1939-1945)
Couburg 41, Nieuwdorp +31(0)113613365 info@bmzeeland.nl bevrijdingsmuseumzeeland.nl
Netherlands, the Zeeland Nieuwdorp
Memorial 7th and 9th Battalion Royal Scots #1
On Saturday 29 May 2010 in the Bevrijdingsmuseum (Liberation Museum) a memorial plaque together with the belonging texts of the 7th/9th Battalion Royal Scots was handed over. The transfer took place on request of the Commanding Officer Major Joe Brown CBE TD DL of 7th/9th Battalion Royal Scots, the transfer was made by Mr. Jan H. Wigard as their representative.
The original memorial plaque was handed over to the manager of hotel Britannia in Flushing in 1964 by Lt.Col. Mike E. Melvill, who was the Commander of this Battalion in 1944. In this hotel the plaque was situated in a conspicuous place in the lobby up till the closure of the Britannia. That plaque had disappeared since.
On request of Major Brown, Mr Wigard started a search for the plaque with a letter to the Court of Mayor and Alderman of Flushing. Not because the plaque represented a huge value in money, but it did have an immense emotional value for the veterans that delivered an intensive battle to conquer the hotel in 1944, where the German headquarters had been established. In that fight 20 young men lost their lives. The capture of the Britannia signified the end of the battle for Flushing, but 7th/9th Battalion was again engaged on November 6th, 1944, and conquered Middelburg. Also, this operation cost them one life.
On July 28, 2009, Mr. Wigard received the message from the Court of Mayor and Alderman of Flushing that the plaque had been traced and also the announcement that an appropriate location ought to be proposed. A few months passed and Mr. Wigard was approached again with the message on 15 April 2010 on behalf of the Court of Mayor and Alderman that the plaque had not been located after all.
All this had been the reason for Major Joe Brown to request the Bevrijdingsmuseum, established in Nieuwdorp, to incorporate a replacement in their museum collection. The acknowledgement of the museum has pleased the major very much. If and when the original plaque will ever be located, it can still be placed in the Bevrijdingsmuseum of Nieuwdorp.
History information from the CWGC website: –
The burials in the cemetery, apart from a few dating from November 1944, are almost all from the months of January and February 1945. The men buried here belong mostly to the Scottish regiments of the 52nd (Lowland) Division, engaged in the battle in this vicinity from 18th to 24th January 1945, which had as its object the clearing of a salient west of the River Roer which was still held by the Germans. There are now over 230 1939-1945 War casualties commemorated in this site.
Joseph came from a large family, and he was loved and missed by them all as can be seen with the Personal Inscription the family put on his gravestone. His mother Martha had already, in her early life, suffered very bad hardship while growing up and her parents died in 1911 and 1921, in sad circumstances, so she had already suffered long before losing both William and Joseph.
Personal Inscription – WE THINK OF HIM IN SILENCE HIS NAME WE OFT RECALL NOTHING IS LEFT TO ANSWER BUT HIS PICTURE ON THE WALL
Martha Halliwell died in the June quarter of 1954 and her death is registered in Holywell (Vol.8a Page 498).
Joseph’s family made sure he would be remembered for perpetuity by putting forward his name to be added on the Connah’s Quay & Shotton WW2 Memorial.
