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Connah, Lee

I believe that Lee’s parents married in St. Mary’s Church, Chester in the December Qtr. of 1888.(Cheshire West CE14/10/37).

Lee Connah was recorded on a census for the first time in 1901. He was living with his family at Warren Broughton, Hawarden (Flint), Broughton.  Alfred, 35,  the head of the household was a General Labourer who had been born in Hawarden. His wife,  Rose Hannah who was 33  had been born in Hope, Flintshire. Their listed children were Jane age 11, George  9, Arthur  7 and  Lee was 4.  All the children had been born in Hawarden.

By the 1911 census they had moved to Stony Hill, Near Hawarden.   Alfred  43 was a Woodman.  His wife of 22 years Rose Hannah was mother to a large family. Their listed children were Jane 21, George Edward 19, was a Platelayer,  Arthur  17, was a Bricklayer’s Labourer,  Lee  14 was an Under Gardener, John  10,   Alfred-Junr, 7,  Hannah  4 and  Eleanor the youngest was 1.

UK, Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919 accessible on www.ancestry.co.uk  confirms Lee’s regimental information and tells us that he was born in Hawarden and enlisted in Caergwle, Hawarden, Flintshire. His medal card also on ‘Ancestry’details his medals.

There is an index card for Lee Connah in The Flintshire Roll of Honour at The County Record Office in Hawarden. The card informs us that Lee served for 2 years 9 months, so he must have been just 18 years old when he enlisted. Alfred Connah, the father of both Arthur and Lee, signed the Flintshire WW1 Index Cards for both of  his sons on the same day.

Lee was killed in action on the 29th April 1918, only 7 months before the war ended.  His death was the first of three to strike that family in that tragic year. On the 27th October 1918,  Lees’s  sister Nellie Connah died in the flu epidemic. She was 9.   On the 16th November 1918, Arthur Connah died of his wounds at Netley Hospital. He was 24. He was buried in Penymynydd, near his family home. Arthur is also named on Hawarden’s memorial and has his own page on this website. Follow the link to read his story.

Their sad family story was kindly given by Mary Lewis, the daughter of John Connah – Lee’s brother.

I remember during visits to my grandmother, there was a set of huge photographs of the family on the wall and whenever tea was made, she would say, “Show it to the pictures!” In other words, let it brew a bit.

Lee, Arthur and George Edward were sons of Alfred and Rose Hannah Connah. Lee served as a gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery and was killed on 29th April 1918 in Belgium; he is buried at the Hoogestadt Belgian Cemetery. George Edward, the third brother of my father John, returned safely from the War. My father was only seventeen so was too young to enlist.  Nellie, their sister, died in the flu epidemic which followed the end of the war.”

Below is the text of the funeral card for Lee, Arthur and Nellie Connah, who all died in 1918.

In Loving Memory of the dear beloved children of Alfred and Rose H. Connah, (of Pentrobin)

LEE – Who was killed in Action in France April 29th 1918 Aged 21 years.  Also dear little NELLIE who died Oct. 27th 1918 Aged 9 years. 

Like the lilies fair and green

Soon cut down and no more seen;

In life beloved, in peace they died,

We craved their lives but God denied.

Also of ARTHUR The beloved husband of Josephine Connah (of Park Head) who died at Netley Hospital, England, from wounds received in Action in France. November 16th 1918 Aged 24 years.

He suffered much but murmured not,

We watched him day by day

With aching hearts, grow less and less,

Until he passed away.

We loved him, yes, no tongue can tell

He loved us too and Oh, how well;

God loved him too and thought it best

To take him home with him to rest.


Learn more about the other soldiers on the Hawarden Memorial

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