Col. Conyers William ALSTON [4105]

  General Notes:

Name:Conyers William Alston
Event Type:Birth Registration
Registration Quarter:Jan-Feb-Mar
Registration Year:1873
Registration District:St. George Hanover Square
County:London
Event Place:St. George Hanover Square, London, England
Volume:1A
Page:372
Affiliate Line Number:300

Alston Conyers William, born in London, 1st of February 1873; 4s Sir Francis Bilby Kt. Queens, matric, 27 October, 1891, aged 18, from Rugby.
Oxford Men and Their Colleges.

Alston Conyers William. Corps. S.A.H.A., Roy: Fus: Lt. Col.
War Medals: Victory, British, Star, to be issued by S Africa Authy. Miny. NW/5/8168
AO/760. Address: C/o Messrs Drummond, 49 Charing Cross 15.9.20.
WWI Medal Rolls 1914-1920.

Conyers and his wife travelled 1st Class on the P&O ship Garth Castle from Cape Town to London arriving 3 July 1926. His UK address is given as C/o Drummond & Co.49 Charing Cross London. He is recorded as, aged 53 as was his wife Jane Madeline, a farmer, a resident of South Africa.
Ref: TNA Incoming Passenger Lists 1878-1960

Conyers and his daughter Diana aged 21 travelled 1st Class on the German ship Ubena from Cape Town to London arriving 3 October 1933. His UK address is given as 21 Belgrave Rd SW1 London. He is recorded as, aged 60, Military, a resident of South Africa.
Ref: TNA Incoming Passenger Lists 1878-1960

OBITUARY
The Times 16 May 1934 pg 18 col C.
Colonel Alston
Colonel Conyers William Alston, who died last week at the age of 61, at King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers, Grosvenor Crescent, after an operation, was the fourth son of the late Sir Francis Bielby Alston, of the Foreign Office. He enlisted in the ranks, obtained a commission and during the South African War was for some time in command of an independent section of guns, being afterwards appointed to the Headquarters Staff. At the end of that war he settled in the Eastern Transvaal as a farmer, but when the Great War broke out returned to duty. In 1915 he was given the command of a South African Heavy Artillery Battery which was preparing for service in France, and from there he was appointed to the command of the 72nd (Griqualand West) Battery, South African Heavy Artillery. He commanded this battery at Ypres and in 1916 was severely wounded. Afterwards he was posted to Alexandria as Permanent President of Courts Martial, joining the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, and later he was placed in command of the Officer's Retraining Depot. He was mentioned in dispatches by Lord Allenby, and was awarded the Order of the Nile by the King of Egypt. Afterwards he was gazetted Honorary Colonel of the Cape Field Artillery. At the close of the war he returned to South Africa and settled in the Banhoek Valley at Stellenbosch, where he devoted a great deal of his time to the interests of ex Servicemen. For a number of years he was a member of St Dunstan's Aftercare Fund for South African blinded soldiers.

The Times 19 May 1934 pg 14 col E.
Colonel Conyers Alston.
Sir Charles Grant Robertson writes:
Conyers Alston of whom an obituary notice appeared in The Times on Wednesday, was the son of Sir Francis Bielby Alston, of the Foreign Office. Educated at Rugby and the Queens College Oxford, he served in the South African War, the first in the Bucks Yeomanry and then in the RA. He returned to South Africa as a settler in 1903, and on the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 was given command of the Artillery Training Depot at the Cape. With Colonel Rose he raised the S.A.H.A. and came to the European front in August 1915. Severely wounded at Ypres, he served for 2 1/2 years in Egypt in command (as Lieutenant Colonel) of the Mustapha Depot and the camp at Sidi Bishr. He returned to South Africa in 1921 and took up fruit farming near Stellenbosch, and at once resumed a prominent and energetic part in public work, particularly in such organisations as the St Dunstan's Committee and the British Empire Service League, as the President of the War Star Club and the Farmers Association, and in varied political activities. He was an official representative of South Africa at the unveiling of the Delville Wood Memorial, gave the address at the memorial service in Cape Town, and as honorary colonel of the Cape Force Artillery unveiled the Artillery Memorial in Cape Town.
Throughout his life his friendship to all who knew him was a perpetual inspiration. His charm of manner, his simplicity and integrity, his belief in a great British tradition of service, won for him a notable position in South Africa. Although he lost both an eye and an arm in the War, and his health was seriously undermined, he refused to give in, and continued to carry on with more success and courage than most men in good health. His death will be widely mourned in South Africa, for, indeed, he was a very gallant Christian gentleman. Noblesse oblige was in practice his principal throughout a life of high endeavour and unflinching obedience to duty.

Alston Conyers William of Seven Rivers Stellenbosch Cape Provinces South Africa died 11 May 1934 at 17 Grosvenor-crescent Belgrave-square Middlesex Probate London 18 December to Madeline Alston widow
Effects L1453 16s 9d
Ref: National Probate calendar

  Research Notes:

Images Courtesy of Carl Hoehler researcher of the S.A.H.A. 2011.

  Other Records

1. Census: England, 3 Apr 1881, 69 Eccleston Sq MDX. Conyers is recorded as a son aged 8 a scholar born St George Hanover Sq

2. Conyers William Alston: Images from his life.
Conyers was a compeditive cyclist in his youth

The South African Heavy Artillery were on the Western Front in 1916 for the Battle of Mount Sorrell outside Ypres. Conyers its Commander, was badly wounded in this action.
http://www.mountsorrel.org.uk/about/history/battlej.html
Ref: Hoehler Carl

Conyers married Jane Madeline McEACHARN [4117] [MRIN: 1420], daughter of John McEACHARN [11692] and Jane E [11693], on 25 Mar 1905 in Amersham Transvaal SA. (Jane Madeline McEACHARN [4117] was born about 1873, died on 9 Feb 1958 in Penryn Bury Rd Gosport HAM and was buried on 14 Feb 1958 in Sharnbrook Church.)