Walter Conway

Walter Conway (1873-1933) was the distinguished Secretary of the Tredegar Medical Aid Society in South Wales. This society contributed the model which established the British National Health Service.

Walter Conway had a deprived childhood. Upon being orphaned at an early age he was placed in Bedwellty Workhouse, where he lived for 2 or 3 years. As he was to describe himself, he was a 'workhouse boy'. For two reasons his stay in the workhouse was useful. From the Master he learnt the lesson 'to do everything well' and while there he acquired a 'great love for books', which he later described as being his best friends.

Conway was a miner and an enthusiastic member of the Independent Labour Party. In 1915, the Medical Aid Society which had been formed to develop the older idea of a "Doctor and School Fund" appointed Conway as its secretary. The development of this society's work is attributed to the energy and commitment of Conway who served as its secretary from 1915.

It was Conway who became a mentor and teacher to the teenage Aneurin Bevan and he assisted Bevan in ridding himself of a disabling stammer. The Medical Society was already employing doctors under its Medical Supertendant, but it went on to open offices and a dentists and a central surgery.

During the winter of 1920-1921, Conway, Aneurin_Bevan and other friends formed the Query Club, which was a radical debating society. The members of the Club paid a weekly subscription to create a fund for members who were experiencing hardship, an arrangement which was to prefigure the creation of something much greater. Conway was also a prominent trade union leader and occupied important positions in workmen's organisations. Doubtless it was because of his ability that he came to hold at least three prestigious positions in Tredegar. He was Chairman of both the Board of Guardians of Bedwellty Workhouse and the Assessment Committee of Bedwellty Union. But it was as Secretary of the Tredegar Medical Aid Society that he is most remembered. Conway enabled the Society to provide medical services to twenty thousand local inhabitants. By 1925 They purchased the redundant Palace cinema which they converted into an additional surgery as well as establishing space for their own dental mechanic. These surgeries liaised with the local general hospital which had existed since 1904.

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