The Great Famine that devastated the Irish countryside from 1845 to 1852 fell hardest upon County Mayo. By 1851, nearly 30 per cent of the population of the region had died or emigrated. Conway was no exception. At the time he enlisted in 1857, it appears he had already moved across the Irish Sea to Yorkshire where he had been working as a casual labourer near Beverley. Upon his discharge on 14 October 1861, he claimed his pension, paid a visit to relations in Kilkerry and returned to England, this time to Newcastle, where he stood a better chance of making a living.
