Arthur William Field Connery was born in July 1887 in Ashton-under-Lyne. He was the son of Major Michael Henry Connery and the younger half-brother of Hon. Lieut. Joseph Michael Connery.
Educated at the Victoria Street boarding School in Southport he joined the Great Central Railway Company and served for about 12 years in Manchester and London. Around 1913 he resigned his position in order to take up an appointment with the Central Argentine Railways in Buenos Aires.
At the outbreak of war he returned to the UK and was awarded a commission on November 14, 1914 with the 9th Battalion Manchester Regiment and joined them in Southport for training. He volunteered, along with 2nd Lieut. JOHN MATLEY ROBSON and 2nd Lieut. ALLAN H. HUDSON, for active service with the 1/9th Battalion. On April 1, 1915 the three officers were sent to Egypt, where they joined the Battalion around April 13th. He landed with the 1/9th in Gallipoli on May 9, 1915 as a platoon commander in “C” Company.
He was involved in the bayonet charges of June 7th and June 18th, the latter undertaken by “B” Company but he and 2/Lt. John (Jack) Wade both volunteered to join them. Despite surviving these events, on July 5th 2/Lt. Arthur William Field Connery was badly wounded in the mouth by shrapnel and was evacuated to hospital in Malta. On August 8, 1915 he was invalided to the UK arriving back in Ashton on August 16th. He did not return to Gallipoli.
By November 1915 he was with the 3/9th Battalion in Southport and paid a brief visit to Ashton on December 8th before rejoining the 3/9th prior to their move to Codford, Salisbury Plain. On March 8, 1916 he was seconded to the Machine Gun Corps and promoted to temporary Lieutenant on the 6th of July.
In early 1917 he married Gladys Frances Botwell (ne Salter) a widow but sadly she died 18 months later on October 9, 1918, possibly of the Spanish Flu.
On August 9, 1917 he was promoted to full Lieutenant with precedence as from 1st June 1916, and ordered to remain seconded to the Machine Gun Corps where he remained until November 29, 1918 when he was seconded for service with the Royal Engineers (Railway Troops). On February 1, 1919 he became a Railway Traffic Officer and on June 1st was promoted and awarded the rank of temporary Captain. On November 16, 1919 he was seconded to the British Military Mission to South Russia and was awarded the Military Cross in the 1920 new year’s honours list. On August 13, 1920 he relinquished his position with the Mission and rejoined the 9th Battalion Manchester Regiment on October 15th. He continued to serve with the Manchester Regiment until he resigned his commission on February 28, 1925 retaining the rank of Captain.
On leaving the Army he returned to work in Argentina for the Central Argentine Railways. Captain Arthur William Field Connery, M.C. died in Argentina on October 15, 1934. He was 47 years old.