Tag Archives: anzac cove

Baroness Sal Brinton writes…How Gallipoli marked one young life forever

2nd Lt "Mary" Coningham of 32 Squadron, The Somme, 1917Today marks one hundred years since Gallipoli and my brother and I will be at the Cenotaph to mark this special ANZAC day, as my grandfather, Arthur Coningham, a very young New Zealander, was there and survived. We never knew him because he died in an air accident in the Bermuda Triangle in 1948 but we know from family that his experience in the Dardenelles affected him greatly.

Arthur Coningham later went on to join the embryonic Royal Flying Corps (where he was known as Mary, thought to be a distortion of Maori), and became a fighter pilot. However, he nearly didn’t make it because of his early experiences as an ANZAC.

He was born in Australia in 1895, and after his parents’ notorious behaviour in a celebrated court case they moved to New Zealand where he grew up. His parents subsequently divorced, especially outrageous in the early 20th Century, and the whole family really suffered, with all the children being bullied and humiliated. His mother was a hairdresser, doing her best to keep herself and her three children. He went to Wellington College on a Junior Free Place, where he excelled at sports, but wasn’t at all academic. When he left, he went to work on a sheep farm as he had no idea of what he might do.

Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 3 Comments
Advert



Recent Comments

  • Michael BG
    Michael Kilpatrick, There were two consultation papers on UBI which included how the £30 billion needed on top of abolishing the Income Tax Personal Allowan...
  • Martin
    In my experience of paying any local government tax – I’ve never seen it reduced ….& no doubt this pen pushers 4 day week won’t make one iota of...
  • Martin Gray
    @Martin...."So we await the results of the experiment, and hopefully the reduction in council tax that will follow its successful completion, with great interes...
  • Martin
    So why have local government at all? So that those who are responsible for spending local taxpayers’ money on local services are democratically acc...
  • Peter Watson
    @Martin Gray "Would this be available to all at the council – the refuse operators , gardeners , labourers , porters , care home workers etc …Or is it anoth...