Biography of Dennis Albert Conroy.
Waghorn is an ancient English name. In the late 18th century and early 19th century all the Waghorns listed as being christened lived in Kent.
Den’s older brother, known as Son, was 9 years his elder. For the first 4 or 5 years of his life he lived with his mother, father and brother at 17 Somerset Road, a house rented by his maternal grandparents, ‘Granbob’ (Robert Smith) and ‘Nan’ (Annie Smith). His mother had three younger brothers, two of whom, Leonard and John, were also living at home at this time. Then in 1929 his mother and father moved with their young family, which included Eric Cave, a foster son, to 84 Crompton Road, still in Tottenham, but closer to White Hart Lane.
Den was a lifelong supporter of Spurs. When asked once if he ever went to see them play he said, “No….well yes I did go once with John. John had a very large personality and a very large voice!” He remembered that during the game there was a silent moment and John’s voice rang out across the pitch! After matches John and Len, two of his uncles, and Son would sit in the front room arguing about the match, “We heard them from the other room”.
He attended Devonshire Hill Primary School. We have a photo of his class.
Den only ever mentioned visiting one of his Waghorn relatives, his father’s father ‘grandad’. He said that he had no memory of visiting other family even though his father had two brothers and a sister who lived in Tottenham. He recalled how he would visit Grandad at his home in an almshouse in Bruce Grove, and how at the end of the visit Grandad would give him a silver threepenny piece from a box in the attic.
When Den was 9 years old his father left the family, taking Eric with him. Den only remembers seeing Eric once after that. Den with his mother and brother moved back to Somerset Road to live with his grandparents. Granbob was a boot finisher, who used the lean-to at the back of the house as his workshop. Den remembered Nan as being a very good cook, ‘She made lovely puddings and pies’. She could conjure a meal out of nothing and made ‘exquisite dumplings’. Her ‘seed puddings’ were very savoury, made of layers of potatoes and vegetables. She had a pantry full of sauces, gravies and left-overs. ‘Mum did cook as well, although shse was often out. She did a great Sunday roast’. Den remembered singing round the piano, which was in the front room, and thinks that it was Nan who played.
Having moved to Somerset Road, Den went to Earlsmere Road Junior School, then, aged eleven he moved to Page Green Elementary School.
For their holidays Florence took Den and Son to Llandudno each year in the summer. They stayed with the same landlady in a house which had a front garden overlooking the road that the tram went along on its way up to the Great Orme. One day they took the boat to Douglas on the Isle of Man. We have photographs showing an elegant woman with her son walking along the street, and pictures of the landlady chatting in a sunny garden.
As well as this major holiday they would visit Southend for a good day out, and Den remembered going to Sheerness ‘for a week or so’. His father lived in Sheerness between 1946 and 1954, as can be seen in the telephone directories, perhaps he lived there before the war too?
When the war broke out Den was still at school, and was evacuated to East Mildenhall, Norfolk, with his school. He and two other boys were billeted with a family that had two children of their own. He said that it was ‘not a good placement’. They had to help pick beets in the fields and washed under a tap, but this was probably normal for country folk in 1939.
His 14th birthday was 25th September 1939. He could not remember when he left school, but did remember that he and his mother then evacuated to Llandudno to get away from the blitz, “we scarpered to Llandudno”.
Den could not remember how long they stayed in Llandudno, but they did return to London, and Den got a job in the body shop at Gestetners. He remembered cycling down a hill and over tram lines. He also remembered the first trolley buses in Tottenham, and catching one with Son to Seven Sisters.
He joined up as soon as he could, becoming an RAF cadet in 1942/3. Conscription was at age 18, but all aircrew were volunteers as he was, volunteering for the aircrew, as a communications officer, when he was 17½years old (his 17th birthday was 25.9.42). The training took a year, during which time he moved around from centre to centre for different courses. Firstly St John’s Wood for the induction. Then Yatesbury, Wiltshire, for which we have a photograph. In this photo are Bill Basey, Jack Cornell and McWilliam, Den’s close mate. They played a lot of table tennis in their time off. Den said he never beat Jack. McWilliam was a Glaswegian and his broad Scots accent meant that Den “couldn’t understand a word he said!” In the photo they have the white flash in the cap of a cadet, they would get their wings and stripes when they passed out. Then there was time at Bridgenorth, Shropshire and Creedon Hill, Herefordshire. It was whilst here that his training was interrupted by illness. He says that he was out drinking and singing one evening, and the next morning he was ‘on sick parade’ with no obvious reason for it. He had developed pneumonia, and at one stage of the illness was ‘at death’s door’. This, of course, was in the time before the use of penicillin. He was nursed at the RAF medical centre in Hereford by a Welsh teenager WRAF Joan Locke. When he was well again he returned to his base, the radio signals training school at Madley, just outside Hereford, and began courting Joan, visiting places near their bases in Herefordshire. On one famous occasion they visited Ross on Wye and hired a boat to row on the river. Den stepped into the boat, but it began to drift away and he found himself in the river! Forty years later, whist looking at lots in a local auction sale in Pembrokeshire, Den and Joan saw, and bought, a photograph of the Wye at Ross showing the boat hire location and boats beside the pontoon. The photograph was mounted. It was a railway photograph that would have been fixed in a carriage to illustrate the local area. What a find!
Den stayed in the aircrew until VE Day, 8th May 1945, by which time he was a Flight Sergeant. He had not flown any missions during his time in the aircrew. He then took up the offer of training to be a Physical Training Instructor, PTI.
Den’s time in the RAF made a great impression on him. He could remember clearly the people he met and places he visited despite a generally poor memory of other events in his young life. Years later, when he and Joan were in poor health, he used his RAF number, 7480, to open the keysafe outside his backdoor.
Den and Joan were married in Swansea on 22nd April 1946, and he brought his bride to live in the family home at 17 Somerset Road. His ‘Granbob’ had died of throat cancer in 1939, but ‘Nan’, Annie, was still living at 17 Somerset Road with her daughter, Florence, Den’s Mum. He was married in uniform, and continued for a time as a PTI, based at RAF Hednesford, Cannock Chase where there was a ‘School for Technical Training’. It was convenient, easy to get to Birmingham and thence to London to be with Joan at weekends. By the end of his time here he was a Sergeant PTI, but liked to say that he always got the higher rank pay, ie that of Flight Sergeant.
When he left the RAF he went home and back to his job in Gestetner, “banging nails into wood” in the body shop. The government was offering a range of work options to ex-servicemen and Den applied to go into forestry. At this time, however, Joan discovered that she was pregnant, “and that put pay to that”. Unfortunately the deal was so close to completion that Den had already resigned from Gestetner. He said that he had a job in an upholstery firm, on a conveyor belt assembly system. Then he “and a mate” touted themselves round Curtain Road in the East End getting job after job in the upholstery industry. Why job after job? “Because we were so bad we kept getting the sack!” Eventually he got a post as an upholsterer in Harold Levy’s, a well respected furniture shop. He took evening classes in upholstery during which he upholstered the 3-piece suit that graced the living room of 17 Somerset Road for more than 20 years. It took two years to complete, then he took it home. Joan said that it was made for her as they could not afford to buy one. During his time at Levy’s, Primrose Hill, he became a shop steward.
Den had a life-long interest in politics and was a member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain. He had a regular news sheet from them during the 1950s and 60s and would argue strongly against the capitalist society throughout his life.
Den’s first born child was David Keith, Dave, who was born at the end of 1947, when rationing was still a fact of life. Annie, ‘Nan’, died in March 1949 having been nursed by Florence. Josephine Philippa, Jo, was born in April 1951.
During 1949 Den and Joan decided to change their surname to Conroy. Neither Den nor Joan talked about this in later years. It could have been that Den did not want his son growing up with the nickname ‘Waggy’ as he had been called at school, or because Den was starting a new life in an insurance firm and Joan thought that Waghorn, if pronounced ‘Vāghorn’, sounded like a German name? Their change of surname is recorded in the Electoral Registers for 1949: the first register has their surname Waghorn, in the second register they are named Conroy. Jo, born in 1951, is called Conroy on her birth registration, but it was only on 5th September 1952 that he made a formal Declaration of his change of name before a Commissioner of Oaths.
Their house in Somerset Road had been rented by Granbob Smith, then by Florence, but Den took the opportunity to buy it during the 1950s, and to carry out a whole series of renovations. Over the course of the next decade he had an extension built to give his mum a sitting room downstairs and the family an extra bedroom upstairs; he installed central heating; changed wiring; altered the living space down stairs from being two rooms connected by large wooden doors to one large through room; and generally modernised the rooms. The effect, Dave was later to say, was of living in a continual building site!
During the 1950s and 1960s Den worked for Allied Insurance as an insurance agent which included going to clients’ home to collect their payments. It was in this job that he worked with Ken Edwards, who, together with his wife Barbara became lifelong friends. They enjoyed many happy times together, with much laughter. Den also worked at home to set up an insurance brokerage, selling low cost car insurance.
There were many hobbies and activities enjoyed by the family. He and Joan went to a weekly dance club to learn ballroom dancing. He was a very good dancer, and he and Joan would regularly, throughout their lives, put on dance music and waltz and foxtrot around the living room. They enjoyed going to the West End to see musicals, whilst his mother could look after the youngsters at home. Den and Joan were extremely good swimmers, and the family would go swimming every Sunday morning to Tottenham Municipal Baths. Dave and Jo learnt to swim here. Dave and Jo became members of the Tottenham Swimming Club where Den formed some lifelong friendships among the parents of the swimmers including Harry and Dora Wells and Stan and Elsie Woodlands. At galas Den would help with timing, whilst Joan did some announcing. As Dave and Jo’s swimming ambitions advanced Den began coaching them and worked to achieve certificates from the ASA in coaching and advanced coaching to give him the knowledge to coach to a high level. After a few years Dave, then Jo, both joined Brian Crompton’s ‘Sharks’ swimming squad, and Den ceased coaching.
The post-war years were hard for Londoners. Rationing persisted until the early 1950s, but things did improve, and by about 1953 Den was able to buy his first car, an Austin7. In this car he took the whole family, himself, Joan, his mum, Dave and Jo, on day outings to Leigh-on-Sea, and visits to Joan’s sister Ena and her husband John in Staines. In Leigh-on Sea the family would walk along beside the beach and buy sea food from the stalls, mussels, winkles, crab, always a mixture, then look at the boats. Florence always wanted to buy one.
Family holidays always involved the sea-side. For many years he drove the family to Cornwall in their Ford estate car, stopping off on Dartmoor for a night camping beside the River Dart. Their destination was Porthtowan, where the family all loved belly-boarding and sea swimming. One year they went to Ullapool, Scotland. Dave remembers the water being ‘freezing’, and Den and he going fishing in Loch Broom.
These family holidays stopped when Dave and Jo became good enough swimmers to compete at the British National Championships in Blackpool, and so the whole family took their holiday in Blackpool each summer.
By the late 1960s life was changing again. The house in Somerset Road came under a compulsory purchase order: the area was to be re-developed. With the proceeds of the sale Den was able to buy an Edwardian semi-detached house in Alexandra Park Road. Backing onto the Alexandra Palace grounds, the house had six bedrooms and three beautiful reception rooms downstairs. It was at this house that he began his love of gardening, both flowers and vegetables. At Somerset Road he had done little more than mow the lawn.
The whole family moved in, but more changes were afoot. In 1970 his mother, who had become increasingly frail and senile, died. Within a year or two both of Den’s children, now adults, moved out and were married. Den had always wanted to live in the country and own enough land to grow his own food. After the wedding of Dave to Jill in South Wales, Den and Joan spent a fortnight in the Brecon Beacons and fell in love with the area. It rekindled the ambition to move out of London. In 1973 they sold their house and moved down to Pembrokeshire, which was already the favourite holiday destination of Dave and Jill, whose enthusiasm for the area around St David’s convinced Den that this would be the perfect place to live. They had plans to run a Bed and Breakfast business.
They spent their first weeks living in a caravan at Newgale, then renting a caravan in a field near Narberth, whilst they looked for a suitable house to buy, renovate and live in doing B&B. They chose to buy Blaen Cloddi, an old farmhouse of a decent size with a large barn and animal sheds situate in a valley north of Carmarthen. Den had plans drawn up, then he and Joan did all the work of renovation including some new building, living on-site in a caravan. They always had dreams for the site: the barns would be converted to summer lets and the passing trade would supply enough clients to support the enterprise. Unfortunately they were doing this work through the early 1970s as inflation reached about 10%. All the materials became more expensive and Den found himself using up his savings and selling most of his furniture as well as his pension plan to continue the project. In 1974 he took up the post of swimming instructor at St David’s Secondary school, commuting from Blaen Cloddi each day. Blaen Cloddi was sold as soon as it was finished as they no longer had the funds to start a business.
They moved to St David’s, renting a summer chalet overlooking Porthsele and Whitesands Bay whilst a bungalow that they had bought was being built on a plot alongside the school. Living and working in St David’s meant that they could join in the life of the town. They made good friends in the area and Den became involved in the work of the Lifeguards as well as enjoying playing pool in the RAFA club. He also realised a dream and bought a large open wooden boat which was moored at Porthclais and in which they would go fishing. He bought lobster pots, but Dave doubted that they ever caught anything in them. Mackerel, however, was caught, as well as Pollack, and many happy hours were spent in and around the harbour. Den was continually learning new skills, so at this time, settled in a new house, with a permanent coaching job and his garden flourishing, he decided to learn to play the piano and guitar. As with all his other enterprises he worked hard at this.
There was still the ambition to run a B&B, so in the late 1970s they extended the house and started their business. It was a success in satisfying the clients, but did not make much money, and was found to be very tying.
The next 10 years became the ‘wandering years’. Their plan was to build or renovate properties and make a profit on the sale of each to fund their old age. Den had always enjoyed doing alterations to homes. He had modernised 17 Somerset Road; put in a central heating system at 228 Alexandra Park Road; and renovated Blaen Cloddi, so had acquired the necessary skills.
Their next house, Dinas y Fran, was within walking distance of Solva. It was an old house with a cow byre, gardens front and back with a 2 acre field behind, bought in 1980. Having lovingly renovated it they had a delightful home, an aga in a large kitchen, much to Joan’s delight, and a good sized living room. Den had always enjoyed growing vegetables, and here again he developed a good veg garden. They kept geese for a time and talked of doing up the byre for renting. Sadly, in 1986, Dinas y Fran was sold to pay off their mortgage. They moved into rented accommodation at Llandinog Old Farmhouse and, whilst waiting for the right property or opportunity, they put their profit into shares. Then came Black Monday, October 19th 1987, stock markets crashed around the world and Den’s savings were badly hit. In 1989 they received planning permission to have a bungalow built on a plot of land in Whitchurch, very close to Solva. This was never meant to be a permanent home, and after a short stay it was sold and Den and Joan moved into rented accommodation once again.
Their last property adventure was at Llanfallteg, where they bought a plot of land and had a wood-framed dormer bungalow designed and erected. The design closely copied the original St David’s house, which had been such a happy family home. Den had the walls built but did the roof himself and all the fitting inside. This home was delightful, with half an acre of land, plenty for him to enjoy landscaping and developing a large vegetable plot. He had finally settled. He had to struggle to make ends meet with mortgage to pay, but was able to enjoy 20 years of happy life in Aros Yma (a name Joan had chosen, Welsh for ‘rest here’)
Den and Joan settled into an easy retirement. They went swimming in Haverfordwest pool and visited the library during their weekly shopping visit. Throughout their time in Pembrokeshire they had enjoyed walking the cliffs and byways, and often took a picnic to eat down by the Haven. They also indulged their love of seafood by picking mussels from the rocks in Little Haven and Druidstone. Den was always very committed to his fitness, and developed a series of stretches and exercises which he did daily, up to the last couple of months of his life. His garden took up much of his time. He enjoyed buying plants and was a good landscape gardener, creating a pergola covered with espalier fruit trees, a pond with stepping stones, a copse, and many different beds for herbs, roses and shrubs. He remembered the name of each plant. He bought a greenhouse, in which he sowed seeds and brought on young plants, and planted a vine which gave huge crops of grapes each year. In his later years he bought a polytunnel, to improve and extend the range of vegetables he could grow.
Den was a family man and enjoyed being with his grandchildren and great grandchildren, and having them to stay at Aros Yma. Ken and Babs, their friends from London would come to stay once a year, and Den and Joan would visit them in Norfolk annually.
Den and Joan were not great travellers, they did not have the spare cash. Den kept a detailed accounts book, listing every item of expenditure, and managed their money so well that they were able to put money by each month. He continued to detail his expenditures until his last month of life. Their major expenditure was the car, which Den liked to change every 2 or 3 years. He enjoyed having a good reliable car. They twice found the money to visit France and loved the experiences. They went to evening classes to learn the language, then stayed in tents and B&Bs, travelling widely, reaching the Auvergne one year. These holidays were fondly remembered in later years.
Den was a fit man all his life, even into their 80s they enjoyed taking a good walk, often 2 or 3 miles every other day. They walked to the petrol station one mile away to buy their Sunday paper. It was, therefore, a shock to the family when he became ill and was diagnosed with terminal duodenal cancer in 2010. He carried on as usual, maintaining his gentle, out-going character and usual pursuits. He was determined to visit Ken and Babs in Norfolk one more time, and enjoyed a happy week with them. He also took the usual trip north to Jo and Vin in the autumn. His only concession to his condition was to be driven by others, driving becoming too tiring. There was a conservatory at the back of Aros Yma, facing southwest, catching sun all day. Den and Joan enjoyed many afternoons sitting in the warmth, watching the extraordinarily large number and variety of birds that were attracted to the feeders hanging from the pergola and bird table on the patio just outside the conservatory.
He continued to have plans for the future, but by the spring of 2011 he was becoming very frail. He died on 30th March 2011 in his own bedroom with family around him.
He was a highly principled family man, well-read in both English history and modern literature. He had no sentimental attachments to objects, keeping almost no pieces of trivia, and selling all furniture and most fittings on each move. He and Joan would buy what they needed at auctions. He was a quiet-spoken man who remained interested throughout his life in politics, which he would discuss passionately. He had a great sense of humour, much appreciated by his grandchildren, and a love of the world around him. He was a principled hard-working man with a love of family and well respected by his neighbours. He had been married for more than 64 years, had two children, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, and lived to follow his dream to a life in the country supported by his own labour.