Captain Edward Bruce Conybeare, MC (MiD)
1st Battalion attached to 9th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment
Killed in Action
Date of Birth: 1893
Place of Birth: N E Province India
Date of Death: 5 April 1916 aged 23
Buried: Basra Memorial, Iraq; Stokeinteignhead War Memorial
Awarded the Military Cross, Meritorious Service Medal, 1914 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal, Territorial Force Efficiency Medal. Mentioned in Dispatches, Two Citations
Captain Edward Bruce Conybeare, MC, age 23.
Edward was the son of Henry Crawford Arthur Conybeare, of the Indian Civil Service (died 1916) and his wife Amy Maxwell Brodhurst.
The 1911 census shows Edward's father and mother living at Platway, Shaldon. With them are three of Edward's siblings*, 16 year old Marion Amy who was born in Muttra, India, 9 year old Edith Alice who was born in Gorakhpur, India, and 7 year old Beryl Amy who was born in Shaldon. Also present are three servants who live-in the house with them, a nurse, a house-maid and a cook.
Edward was born N E Province India in 1893, educated at Cheltenham College 1902 - 1910 and went on to Sandhurst.
Mentioned in Despatches twice
The 1911 census shows him serving as Gentleman Cadet with Royal Artillery Unit, Army Service Corps Barracks, Woolwich.
On being commissioned he was attached to West Yorkshire Regiment and became Adjutant of his battalion.
Meritorious Service Medal
Territorial Force Efficiency Medal
He was afterwards transferred to the 1st Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 18 September 1914. While fighting in France he was twice wounded, the first on 28 April 1915 at Neuve Chapelle for which action he received the Military Cross.
'He handled his trench mortars with dash and ability on March 10 and did not retire until two of his guns had been damaged by shell fire and his powder exhausted. He then rejoined his battalion with the gun teams and subsequently led forward his platoons very ably.'
Exeter & Plymouth Gazette
On recovering from his second wound he was dispatched to the Dardanelles and arrived in Gallipoli at the end of September 1915. He reached 9th Worcestershire Battalion on October 6th and was first in charge of the evacuation from Suvla Bay and later assisted in evacuation at Helles Point.
He is described in a history of Worcestershire Battalion as 'fearless, sturdy and capable. He was a fine type of Regimental Officer and one of the most popular leaders in the regiment.' He was twice mentioned in dispatches, receiving Meritorious Service Medals and Territorial Force Efficiency Medals.
Captain Edward Bruce Conybeare died in action after being wounded by a Minenwerfer on 5 April 1916 in Mesopotamia.
Remembered on Basra Memorial, Iraq; Stokeinteignhead War Memorial.
Mrs Conybeare's eldest son, Lieutenant Maynard Henry Crawford Conybeare
had sadly died in the early months of 1915. She had lost her husband
quite suddenly just one month before the death of Edward in 1916.
